“Little Clarendon Street, Oxford” by lucyrfisher is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
The Oxford Hub, a local charity with offices on Little Clarendon Street and in Blackbird Leys, has launched a new round of Community Enterprise Awards.
Founded by a group of Oxford University students in 2007, the charity aims to tackle inequality in Oxford and build a more connected and resilient city. At present, the Oxford Hub supports a range of volunteering programmes and community projects: these include a tuition programme for local children, a mentoring programme for young people accessing social services, and free language lessons for anyone working on their English language skills.
Speaking to The Oxford Blue, Student Social Action Coordinator, Roisin Nolan said that ‘[the Community Enterprise Awards] support Oxford University members of staff, students, and researchers to create projects that tackle social inequality in Oxford.’ The awards run biannually, with two categories of awards available, the ‘Do It’ award, and the ‘Try It’ award. The ‘Do It’ award provides a grant of up to £500 for the winner to test a brand new venture and take the first steps towards their initiative. The ‘Try It’ award, which provides up to £1500, will support a pre-existing enterprise in putting a new project into action or aiding them in developing an idea in full. Both categories will have several winners.
In addition to funding, all applicants will be able to access networking opportunities, regardless of the success of their application. The panel consists of members of the Saïd Business School, the Careers Service, Enterprising Oxford, Oxford Innovation, and Oxford Social Enterprise Partnership. Each member of the panel brings relevant connections in order to introduce applicants to members of the community that can help develop their social enterprise ideas.
There is also the opportunity for winners to use the Oxford Hub’s office space in Little Clarendon or in Blackbird Leys, access to the exclusive Steps to Startup platform, and the Oxford Hub’s social media platforms and newsletter in order to support social enterprise ideas.
Previous winners of the awards include Common Ground, a popular café and workspace in Jericho, as well as Oxfordshire Youth Cycling and Uncomfortable Oxford, an enterprise which runs walking tours on different themes of Oxford’s past ‘highlighting histories of race, gender, class, inequality, and empire.’
To apply for the grant, the proposed project should address inequality and/or disadvantage in Oxfordshire, mobilise students or harness the power of community volunteering, and should be submitted by a student or member of staff at the University of Oxford.
‘There’s nothing to lose,’ states Nolan, ‘because even if you don’t win, you can always come back and try again. But also, you’ll get access to this incredible network of people.’ She adds that ‘[your idea] doesn’t need to be perfect or fully formed. It’s very much about student leadership and getting new projects off the ground. Don’t be daunted by the technical name.’
Applications close for Hilary Term 2023 on Tuesday 21st of February. The awards will run again in Trinity Term 2023, with a deadline of Sunday 21st of May. For submissions, please contact roisin@oxfordhub.org.