Monthly Round Up — June & July
In this blog we’re reflecting on changes to the team and everything that’s been happening in our work with students — but there’s also been lots happening in our community work in OX4. Highlights include sports sessions run by and for local people, from dodgeball to roller skating, listening to 300 Leys residents to understand their views on health and wellbeing in the local area, and our Systems Changers programme, which brings together local people and early help professionals to help shape services that work for everyone.
The End of another academic year…
If the heatwave wasn’t already notice enough, school’s out! The academic year for students has finally rounded off, and summer vacations have started. This year has been a blast with all things student opportunities and programmes for young people, from the successful launch of our Schools Plus Twinning Programme to the many wonderful outings that have taken place through the Big Brothers Big Sisters programme. The team at Oxford Hub is already knee deep in the many exciting summer events we’ve had planned (read more below!).
Another massive shoutout to all of the wonderful Uni of Oxford student committee members that have been working with us throughout this year. It was a lovely (if slightly tearful) end to the year in June with the final social taking place in our Little Clarendon Street office. There were snacks, flowers, and catch ups galore… while looking forward to seeing all of the students again in the new year, we also look forward to welcoming the next student committee in October!
Summer Student Opportunities
Throughout the summer, students’ core involvement in Oxford Hub work has continued, with a range of placements and volunteering opportunities running through June to September.
These started off with a Summer Social Action Lab in June, a hybrid event that ran in a modified week-long format rather than a weekend format to make the most of the extra time that the vacations offer. The Lab involved four training sessions, including campaigning; communications; volunteer management; and project delivery. The students then worked together in response to a project brief, which focused on the Together Neighbours programmes and engaging volunteers — specifically on getting students involved in volunteering! Following on from Oxford Hub’s 15th Anniversary of all things student volunteering, the Lab explored how we might integrate students into our existing volunteering opportunities in such a way that is beneficial to all members.
In July, we hosted an Ideas Lab, a week-long virtual opportunity for students to work together to come up with, design and plan their own local student-led sustainability project. Over the course of the week, students were given time to come up with ideas then joined teams together based on what sustainability topic they’d like to focus on. The week also featured training on delivering projects, panel talks and Q&As on how to successfully set up and implement a sustainability project with local sustainability groups. At the end of the week, the students presented their ideas, which included reducing university food waste, zero waste workshops, and recycling formalwear. They outlined the benefits of, the need for and the financial planning for the project. We were really impressed with the quality of ideas and passion for sustainability shown by the students. The projects will receive support from Oxford Hub going forward (watch this space!).
In August and September, we’ve also got some exciting placements to come for scholars. To find out more about ongoing summer opportunities, visit the webpage on our website.
OxUnboxed
For the last two years, we’ve been sharing our Little Clarendon Street space with the lovely volunteers at OxUnboxed, the in-house refill shop. The time has now come that OxUnboxed is moving on and out of the Oxford Hub space to pastures greener (pun intended!), and trading for the shop has now sadly closed. It’s been a blast, but the OxUnboxed Committee are currently in the midst of organising a new location for the volunteer-led venture, which will hopefully be popping up somewhere new soon! Thanks to all the OxUnboxed team we’ve had the chance to work with over the years. Meanwhile, we at Oxford Hub are looking forward to starting on some other exciting community and sustainability-focused projects soon.
Changing Team!
In June and July, we’ve had both exciting welcomes and sad goodbyes in our team, as some of our wonderful staff base have sadly moved on to pursue exciting new opportunities. Our lovely former COO Emma has said goodbye to the Oxford Hub team after 7 amazing years! Emma has decided to pursue training to become a social worker, and no doubt she will do an amazing job at that. Nonetheless, she will (and is already) be sorely missed.
We’ve also been lucky enough to welcome two new and amazing members to the team, Donna as our Community Participation Manager and Ulfat as Student Support Officer!
Ulfat has been working on our Scholar programme, supporting students from low-income household with volunteering, as well as working with tutors on our Schools Plus programme who are tutoring local school children. Donna is working with the Parent Power team, empowering parents to support each other, and experimenting with more participatory approaches to grant-making, where local people decide which local projects get funded. It’s been a delight to have them both join the team, and excited to see what they get up to in the year ahead!
Throughout the summer, there will also be ongoing staff changes and new job opportunities popping up before the new academic year, especially within our student support team. Visit our Join the Team page for more information about upcoming vacancies, and think about joining — we’d love to hear from you!
