After leading Oxfordshire Community Foundation for 10 years as Chief Executive, Jayne Woodley steps down on 30th June 2020. She has led the transformation of OCF from a small grant-making body with extremely limited resources to the ambitious, sector-leading organisation of today.
With the continued lockdown, we wanted to update you on how we have adapted and what OCF and its partners have learnt in the last 12 weeks. From awarding over £500k in grants, to housing the homeless, to working and (lunching!) virtually and Zoom becoming a verb (and not just a great song!) Read on to catch up on our journey since March..
Two projects, supported by funds raised through Oxford Homeless Movement, are aiming to help homeless and vulnerably housed people transition successfully from emergency Covid-19 accommodation to an independent life in their own self-supported housing.
Services include food parcel delivery, online exercise and arts classes, and printed flyers signposting people without internet access to the facilities available.
Donors to the Step Change Fund were to gather on 7th May to hear from Project Managers and charity leaders about the impact of their philanthropy. Instead, an annual review and impact summary celebrate the achievements of the fund.
Growing Minds, the collaborative project convened by OCF to tackle educational inequality, has had to adapt quickly to the circumstances imposed by the coronavirus outbreak. Partners are moving some elements of the project online, whilst other aspects have become more important than ever in the current context.
Following the launch of OCF’s new Community Resilience Fund, over £100,000 has already been awarded to support local community and voluntary organisations meeting the new needs and challenges created by the coronavirus.
Thanks to generous donations from the public, trusts and businesses, matched by OCF, Oxford Homeless Movement successfully reached their Christmas match fund target of £150,000.
We were delighted to welcome HRH Duchess of Cornwall to Banbury on Wednesday, shining a light on its bid to become an age-friendly town. As part of her visit, the Duchess was presented with the newly commissioned Age Friendly Banbury badge by co-ordinator Bee Myson.
More than 400 local projects across the UK working with some of society’s most vulnerable women and girls have received a much-needed funding boost from their local community foundation.