Our annual impact report argues that COVID-19 is creating a whole new world – and we must make sure it is one that we want to live in. This is why our work on the priorities identified long before the pandemic has never been more needed.
After the initial shock of lockdown, families taking part in OCF’s Growing Minds early years programme are adapting to the ‘new normal’: social distancing, fewer face-to-face services, and rapid acceleration in the development of online services.
As the fallout of the pandemic becomes apparent, we have made three large grants from our Community Resilience Fund that aim to help local communities recover stronger.
The Westgate Fund was established in 2017 with a £125,000 donation from John Lewis, and is held and managed by Oxfordshire Community Foundation (OCF). Since then it has funded 18 different community initiatives across Oxford.
How can we ensure that no school-age child in Oxfordshire falls further behind due to lack of digital resources? Oxfordshire Community Foundation (OCF) commissioned Oxford University’s Student Consultancy to measure the size of the digital exclusion problem, and consider solutions.
Having made online statistical mapping tool Local Insights freely available in April, we have now updated the data sets and area reports. The latest data is showing the economic impacts of COVID-19 locally.
Following the lockdown of educational and childcare services in March, think tanks and educators alike have predicted the widening of the attainment gap for disadvantaged children. Growing Minds has quickly responded, adapting the project to offer the best support to our families during lockdown, and planning for a more challenging future.
Oxford City Council has secured 124 rooms of interim housing for the next year, meaning that there need be no return to the streets for former rough sleepers currently housed in hotels and student blocks.
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..