Excerpt:
Helsinki is engaging in an outreach programme with the local Muslim community. City employees have made visits this autumn to all 38 of the city's mosques and prayer halls, gathering a record of the community's wishes.
"We have engaged in dialogue with the imams, as we seek to understand their wishes. As part of these meetings, we also hope to relay more about how Finnish society functions," says Helsinki's Deputy Mayor for Educational and Cultural Affairs Ritva Viljanen.
Viljanen says that during the visits, those present chat about the services offered by the city and together discuss how they would work best for the group in question.