Community First Oxfordshire

11/06/2026

⭐WELL TOGETHER PROJECT SPOTLIGHT ⭐

Oxford Community Breakfast is an initiative started by Newlife Covenant Church UK, run by volunteers from local churches in Oxford and students from the Nuffield Department of Medicine (NDM), Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health.

The project received £5000 to contribute towards monthly community breakfast sessions in the centre of Oxford.

Alongside a full breakfast and embroidered tablecloths to make people feel welcome, each event offers friendship, pastoral support, and opportunities to connect with local services.

You can read more about this project and it's findings here:https://communityfirstoxon.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Ox-Community-Breakfast-Case-Study-1.pdf

Well Together is delivered in partnership by OCVA and Community First Oxfordshire. The Programme is funded by the NHS Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board.

10/06/2026

We enjoyed helping out at this workshop for Community Halls! Don't miss out on the next one about Martyn's Law for Halls on the 24th of June.... See Connecting Communities Berkshire's post below for more info

🌟 Workshop Helps Trustees Build Stronger Committees for Community Halls 🌟
Volunteer trustees from across Berkshire and West Oxfordshire came together last month at Hermitage Village Hall – braving the hottest day of the year so far – for a practical training session on building effective management committees.
Led by Kate Meads (CCB) and supported by Tessa Hall (Community First Oxfordshire) and Louise Beaton OBE, the session explored everything from governance and roles to running great meetings and keeping halls safe, legal and welcoming.

💬 Attendees described it as a valuable chance to learn, share ideas and connect with others involved in managing local venues.
A key focus was the challenge of recruiting new trustees – vital to ensuring these much-loved community spaces continue to thrive.

👏 As Volunteers’ Week came to a close last week, we’d like to say a huge THANK YOU to all the volunteers who give their time and skills to keep our village halls and community buildings running. These spaces are at the heart of our communities, bringing people together and supporting local life.

📅 Our next training session will focus on Martyn’s Law – what it is, why it matters, and what it means for community settings.
👉 Book your place:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1985703839638?aff=oddtdtcreator
🙏 Thank you to Community Learning in West Berkshire for supporting these sessions.
Action with Communities in Rural England - ACRE Hermitage Village Hall West Berkshire Council

10/06/2026

⭐WELL TOGETHER PROJECT SPOTLIGHT ⭐

The Black Women in Maternity (BWIM) project is a partnership project hosted by Oxford Community Action with support from Healthwatch Oxfordshire.

BWIM received £5,500 from Well Together to run workshops and events for Black women to hear about and document their experiences of maternity care in Oxfordshire.

You can read more about this project and it's findings on our website:https://ocva.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/BWIM-Project-Case-Study-2.pdf

Well Together is delivered in partnership by OCVA and Community First Oxfordshire. The Programme is funded by the NHS Buckinghamshire Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board.

09/06/2026

There are over 80 minibus and car schemes across Oxfordshire!

These schemes are run by over 1400 volunteers, directly responding to local needs for transport and plugging gaps in public services.

Volunteer Driver Service North Oxfordshire's post below shows their amazing work across North Oxfordshire.

Looking for your local community transport? Keen to find out more? Check our page here: https://communityfirstoxon.org/community-action/community-transport/

**We made it**
Today is the one-year anniversary of our first journey as Volunteer Driver Service Community Interest Company. The map below shows all the client and volunteer driver locations from that year. The routes are from the last 30 days. VDS CIC makes a really positive impact to all those people.

If you’d like to help us keep providing journeys for many years to come, you can donate here:
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/keith-davies-346
Thank you so much :0)

**If you aren't able to donate, sharing our post helps loads too**

04/06/2026

Intergenerational Wildlife Gardening Project in Faringdon!

Residents of Oakwood House and children from the Elms Primary School are coming together to improve communal outdoor spaces at the older people’s housing.

The design and planting plan have been co-designed by the residents and children, guided by Wild Oxfordshire's practical advice on how to help nature flourish.

Intergenerational chats have raised awareness of the impacts of climate change on local habitats eg loss of bird species, and how these might be mitigated in a small way through the approaches we are taking in transforming the outdoor areas.

Children and residents alike are enjoying their time together, sharing experiences, learning from each other as they work side by side on a shared goal.

Small nature projects that protect and enhance nature are an accessible way for people to feel they can make a contribution to tackling climate change. They also generate positive feelings and improved wellbeing, which we see on people’s faces and hear in the enthusiastic comments during the sessions.

We look forward to sharing what we create!

This project is run in partnership between Community First Oxfordshire and Wild Oxfordshire , funded by SNG - Sovereign Network Group

03/06/2026

We started the Small and Mighty Programme last week!

But who are the Small and Mighty and why are they so important? Take a look at our infographic below to find out.

Or you can read the research report we published last year to explore the benefits and challenges of Oxfordshire's smallest voluntary groups in more depth: https://communityfirstoxon.org/news-blog/the-small-and-mighty-vis-infrastructure-report/

The Small and Mighty (SaM) Support Programme is a partnership of local infrastructure and voluntary support organisations (Community First Oxfordshire, OCVA, Oxford Community Action , Volunteer Link Up (West Oxfordshire), and Charity Mentors Oxfordshire) to enhance and build on our collective support for the micro and small voluntary and community organisations across the county. Funded by the The National Lottery Community Fund

02/06/2026

Sustainability can be defined as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”.​

Environmental sustainability is a broad bucket. It includes​:
- The way we source, use, and dispose of resources​
- How we interact with nature​
- How we mitigate and adapt to climate change​

In line with our values, we also believe in Environmental Justice – the idea that everyone should have equal access to a healthy environment.

We recently went through our sustainability strategy which outlines how we will work to be sustainable across our organisation. Our main objectives are:
- To develop a good understanding of sustainability​
- To thread sustainability throughout our work​
- Support action around sustainability in the VCSE sector​
- Advocate for the VCSE sector​
- Contribute to sustainability strategies of Local Authorities​
- Ensure our sustainability strategy aligns with our wider values​

Over the next few months, we'll be sharing highlights of how we work towards sustainability in our different workstreams.

28/05/2026

Welcome to our new Stop Smoking Outreach Officer, Nathan!

The Stop Smoking project has been running since last year, offering people support to stop smoking through the Oxfordshire County Council Public Health Team. Having an outreach officer means people can find and access the programme more easily. All the support is free, and you can find more information here: https://www.smokefreeoxon.co.uk/

Nathan joined use a few weeks ago and is a brilliant addition to the team!

He comes from a marketing and communications background in the public sector and enjoys working with people and communities. He’s passionate about helping others make positive lifestyle changes and building strong local connections.

Nathan has experience engaging different audiences and supporting community-focused projects and so is a great fit for this outreach role, bringing in his friendly and proactive personality.

We're excited to have him as part of the team!

Group photo from our away day learning about Equity Diversity and Inclusion

26/05/2026

We had our away day last week!

Our staff and trustees spent the day at a makespace venue in Oxford, where we went through our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion policy in depth, and discussed scenarios to see how it applies throughout our work.

It was a great day to catch up, and everyone enjoyed:

🗨️ "hearing different perspectives on the real life examples"

💬 "taking the time to think about tricky situations"

🗨️ "not just being abstract about it, but talking about how we can make specific events or activities accessible"

12/05/2026

We’re really excited to share the launch of the Small and Mighty Support Programme 🎉

This four-year partnership brings together Community First Oxfordshire, OCVA , Oxford Community Action, Volunteer Link Up (West Oxfordshire) and Charity Mentors Oxfordshire to support small and micro community organisations across Oxfordshire.

Small organisations are the bedrock of Oxfordshire’s voluntary and community sector - making up 75% of our voluntary sector - and many are run almost entirely by volunteers. They do amazing work, often under a lot of pressure.

The programme is based on conversations with local groups as part of last year’s Small and Mighty Research Report. They told us that they needed more support with voice, volunteering, partnerships and organisational development.

Over the next four years, the Small and Mighty programme will offer:

- Advice and support outreach clinics
- Collaboration and networking opportunities
- Volunteer showcases
- Mentoring support and training sessions

– all of which will be tailored to the specific needs of the smallest community organisations. Phone and online help and advice will be available soon and the first support clinics and sessions will be launching this summer

Thank you to The National Lottery for funding this work and helping make this support possible.