Emily Lewis-Edwards, joint-CEO of Community First Oxfordshire said: 

Guided by what people have told us and through ongoing conversations, the Small and Mighty Support Programme will hold advice and support outreach clinics in rural and urban areas, develop collaboration and networking opportunities, hold volunteer showcases, and offer mentoring support and training sessions – all of which will be tailored to the specific needs of the smallest community organisations.

Laura Price, CEO at OCVA said: “Small and micro organisations play a vital role in our communities. They help our county flourish, yet too often they are working alone, facing financial pressure and challenges that can feel isolating and lead to burnout. We are delighted that the National Lottery has recognised the importance of local infrastructure support, helping ensure that these small but mighty organisations can access the help they need to thrive.” 

Following the official launch, the Small and Mighty programme will hit the ground running. The team will develop and roll out a suite of tailored advice and organise the first in-person support clinics, with the first appointments available in the summer. The programme offers a much-needed boost to the voluntary and community sector and is a timely opportunity to roll out grassroots-led transformative change for the multiple organisations which work so hard to support the people of Oxfordshire in all its diversity.

Over the past two years, the Well Together programme has supported grassroots groups, local charities and community organisations across 10 Priority Areas in Oxfordshire, distributing £1million to strengthen community-led health and wellbeing activity. It has been a privilege to see the reach, creativity and impact of this work in local communities.

Following this, we secured a five-month extension, during which a further £300,000 was distributed. This allowed us to build on the success of the initial programme and to continue to support some of the vital work already underway.

Beyond funding activity, Well Together has contributed to a wider and increasingly influential conversation across the system: that health inequalities are everyone’s business. The programme has helped shift the dialogue away from health being solely the responsibility of Public Health teams or the NHS, and towards a shared endeavour spanning communities, the voluntary and community sector, local government and wider partners. The learning from Well Together makes a strong case for place-based, community-led approaches as essential to tackling entrenched inequalities.

As of 1st April, we moved into the next phase of the programme. Our focus is now on bringing together and sharing the learning, insights and impact generated over the past two and a half years. We are keen to ensure that the experiences of Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) organisations and partners help shape what comes next.

Looking ahead, we are hopeful about the opportunities to strengthen a collective voice across the sector, support ongoing advocacy, and, most importantly, continue championing the role of communities as leaders in their own health and wellbeing. There is an important role for this learning in informing emerging neighbourhood health approaches and the changes that local government reorganisation will bring.

So, while the future of Well Together as a funded programme remains uncertain, the learning is not. It is already clear that the vision for Neighbourhood Health and the embedding of the Marmot principles cannot be realised without strong, well-supported communities at its heart. Community leadership, trust, and locally-driven action are fundamental to sustainable, equitable health and wellbeing.  Our commitment to working alongside you continues. Community First Oxfordshire and OCVA remain here to support local organisations, and our doors are very much open as we move forward together.

 

We've so enjoyed spending time with the groups and organisations we have got to know better through Well Together - learning more about them and their work - visiting activities, spending time together at community events, or welcoming to events that we have hosted.  Thank you for the warmth, kindness and positivity.

Thanks again for your partnership, insight and dedication throughout the programme. We look forward to staying connected and continuing the conversation.

With gratitude,

Assia, Dolcie, Jane, Taymur, Vicki, Lisa, Laura & Emily  

Drawing on extensive experience and the insights of our team, over the last few months we defined guiding principles. These principles describe how we work, recognising that community development can be complex, challenging, and iterative.

Community development threads through our placemaking work as much as community action and advocacy. Tied together with these principles, our team works to strengthen Oxfordshire’s communities and enable people and places to thrive.

We hope they ring true to others in the Community Development field and offer some inspiration.

 

Join OCVA in May as Cogges Manor Farm hosts their next ‘Let’s Talk Volunteering’ session. This event is perfect for anyone passionate about volunteering in Oxfordshire. 

Whether you’re a volunteer manager, run a charity or voluntary group, work in a public body, or are a volunteer or trustee. Join OCVA to explore the challenges and opportunities in Oxfordshire’s volunteering space. In-person events are particularly good for networking, sharing challenges and rewards around volunteering...

Our next two Asset Based Development Training sessions are set in the calendar - save the date:

September 15^th 10am -12pm online

December 7^th 6-8pm online

The BWIM project arose out of concern regarding Black women’s experiences of maternity care in Oxfordshire. Run and overseen by local Black women, a key purpose was to provide a maternity peer support and mentoring group for Black mothers living in priority neighbourhoods in Oxfordshire. 

BWIM endeavours firstly, to provide a safe and supportive environment for them to voice their maternity experiences and secondly, to assist in promoting the mental health and wellbeing of Black mothers in the areas of pre-natal, pregnancy, and ante-natal care.

As well as providing a safe, peer support environment where Black women could voice their past and current maternity experiences, the project gathered voices and experiences to help drive improvements to maternity care and support for Black women in Oxfordshire. 

BWIM is about advocacy, building trust and continuing to bridge the gap between Black women and local maternity services.   

To read more about the project and findings from its community research, see the full report below.

BWIM is supported by Healthwatch Oxfordshire and funded by Well Together, a programme delivered in partnership by Community First Oxfordshire and Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action, funded by the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board.  

Neya is a new app started here in Oxford to help people connect and take part in local community life.

Is it possible to create community? Can you turn an area from being a group of strangers living in adjoining houses into a place where these same people know each other, connect with each other, trust each other, and choose to spend time together?

Jane Gallagher – one of our Community Capacity Builders in the Well Together Programme – shares how she and the residents of one area in Oxford created just such a connected community, outside of her work with CFO. We look to it as inspiration for grassroots community development! 

"Having lived in Florence Park in Oxford for 26 years, I’ve seen the area go through a major transition - from a place where people mostly did not know each other, to a thriving, dynamic, friendly, and sought-after place to live just a few years later. It’s a wonderful housing estate with a deep history, a beautiful park and great people, but – and this is key – when we first moved there, very few of those people got the chance to meet each other and connect."