The NMP Anti Racist Trust is a limited company and a charitable organisation, set up to provide education and training concerning the issues of racial and civil injustice. Since its formal inception in 1998, the Trust has worked in partnership with Newham Monitoring Project to tackle exclusion and social isolation due to racial and civil injustice.

The borough where we primarily work has a population of just over 230 000, with black communities comprising approximately 51%. This is the largest proportion of any London borough. Refugee and asylum seekers include eastern Europeans. Africans, south Asians and central and Latin Americans. Estimates of refugees entering the UK since 1993 suggest there are between 16,700 to 19,500 refugee and asylum seekers in Newham. This is 7% of London's refugee constituency and the highest of all its boroughs, ahead of Haringey, which has an estimated 6.3% of London's total.

Newham is also one of the poorest and most deprived boroughs in London. Unemployment is estimated at 10.7% of the total population with youth unemployment at 17%. Educational achievement is also very low with only 28% of pupils leaving school with 5 or more GCSEs at grades A-C, compared with the national average of 43%.

The NMP Anti Racist Trust aims to promote good race relations amongst the diverse communities of Newham and east London through accessible education and training. We aim to raise levels of racial tolerance, mutual understanding and encourage equality of opportunity between racial groups and communities. Our education activities seek to promote better communication and co-operation amongst diverse communities, encouraging greater tolerance and the elimination of racism.

The high level of involvement of volunteers and people experiencing racial and civil injustice is essential to the success of our work. They play an influential role in the development of self help initiatives through participation in mutual support groups, Newham Monitoring Project's Emergency Helpline and initiatives to break the isolation felt by many victims of racist crimes. Our education and training initiatives aim to enable disadvantaged people to increase and develop their knowledge and skills and encourage people from different backgrounds to work together. The Ark is an important part of this strategy.