2016-17 Impact Report  
Oxford Hub is a branch of the national charity Student Hubs and the centre of student social action at the University of Oxford. We provide a whole range of opportunities for students to engage with their local communities, develop key skills, and become pioneers of social change. We strive to build a community of socially minded and enthusiastic students from all backgrounds who share the common goal of wanting to make the world a better place.
In our work, we strive towards the following values:
Ambitious
Bold
Social
Motivational Long-term
Over the past 12 months we have supported 507 students to volunteer across 70 community projects, supported 39 consultants and interns in 24 local charities, coordinated 61 events with 1383 attendees and incubated 9 new social enterprises.
507 1383 30 39 community volunteers
event attendees
community projects
consultants and interns
Oxford Hub is a branch of Student Hubs, a registered charity in England and Wales number 1122328. Strategic Partners:
Empowering students to take action Oxford Hub equips students with skills and expertise to tackle social issues now and in the future. As a result of participating in volunteering:
92% of volunteers better understood social and environmental issues. 89% of volunteers felt that their involvement had increased their confidence in approaching challenges. 92% of volunteers felt that their involvement had improved their ability to work with others to make change. 87% of students felt more connected to the Oxford community as a result of engaging with a Hub activity. I’ve learned how to prioritise myself in Oxford’s non-stop working culture. I’ve definitely developed skills in communications, leadership and organising events. I think I’ve become more organised during my years volunteering. I started as an activities coordinator, and now I’m the coordinator, so I’ve learned to juggle many different things at once, and that’s been a useful skill- keeping up with emails especially. Taking charge is now second nature for me, a prospect that used to make me nervous, but now I feel totally comfortable getting up in front of a group of people. Branch Up coordinator, DPhil Oriental Studies
Oxford Hub is a branch of Student Hubs, a registered charity in England and Wales number 1122328. Strategic Partners:
Strengthening and adding capacity to the social impact sector in Oxford As a result of collaborating with Oxford Hub:
88% of community partners agreed that beneficiaries from their organisation had benefitted from specifically working with university student volunteers. 100% of community partners agreed that they had noticed a positive change in the people that they work with as a result of student volunteers. I have noticed the children's confidence improving as a result of reading with the student volunteers. Children having regular reading volunteers allows them to progress well- Teacher at partner school, Schools Plus
The school students that I’ve volunteered with have become noticeably more confident in speaking Spanish, and also have gained more confidence in themselves generally. Initially they were scared of getting things wrong, and so wouldn’t say anything at all. I tried to create a space where they felt that they could make mistakes, and to just give things a go and now they’re happy to converse with me in Spanish! Schools Plus makes a massive difference to each class that we work with, and I believe it has really made a positive change for the local community. Languages Plus tutor, Schools Plus
He has always been a friendly, outgoing and sociable young man- Branch Up has always helped facilitate this. He looks forward to every session- even cancelling other excursions so as not to miss out- he loves the fact that he has 1-1 contact with his mentors. He has expressed his wish to go to University- he wants to be a pianist and is working towards this. He has lived in University halls with myself, so along with Branch Up this has helped to influence him on his educational career pathway. Parent, Branch Up Oxford Hub is a branch of Student Hubs, a registered charity in England and Wales number 1122328. Strategic Partners:
Spotlight on new projects In 2016- 2017, we have supported the launch of 15 new projects. Some of these include mentoring projects for local pupils applying to Oxford, providing board games to bring the fun into learning STEM, a youth group for children with a parent in prison and a ‘deliveroo’ style cycling project, taking ‘waste’ coffee grounds from coffee shops to fertilise local allotments.
Intergenerational IT classes In collaboration with the 50+ network, Oxford Hub ran IT classes for older people in Barton and Blackbird Leys. University students are paired one to one with an older learner for 4 weekly sessions. Students provide training in basic IT skills. Learning IT skills is a preventative measure to tackle elderly isolation. Being able to use the internet allows people to remain connected to society, family and friends more easily in later life.
Coffee Run The Coffee Run is a brand new project started by Oxford Hub and the Oxford Circular Collective this year. A group of students have piloted a project, transporting ‘wasted’ coffee grounds from local coffee shops to allotments to be used as fertiliser. On average, we use just 18% to 22% of the coffee bean when we make a cup of coffee. Over the course of a week this can add up to over 40kg of waste coffee ground in a cafe. Coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen, potassium, magnesium and phosphorous. This makes them great to be used for composting or as fertiliser. Next year they will be expanding to more cafes and allotments. Oxford Hub is a branch of Student Hubs, a registered charity in England and Wales number 1122328. Strategic Partners:
Celebrating 10 years of social action Over the past 10 years, Oxford Hub has placed over 6,000 students in the local community, acting as volunteer tutors, running activities in care homes, working with homeless shelters and adding capacity to a wide range of local charities and social enterprises. This work has enabled us to develop a wide range of partnerships, allowing us to join up the dots across the city and respond to community need. Over the next 10 years, we want to build on these networks to achieve more social change in Oxford. This will see us being more proactive in tackling local challenges; reaching beyond the student community; involving local residents and opening our home in Turl Street to even more community groups.
Looking forward to 2017-18 Next year we will continue to drive the growth of our programmes and improve our programmes to continue to offer a great experience for our students and community partners. This includes: • Growing the Young Trustee Programme, placing more students in local charities as visiting trustees. • Recruiting more student consultants to our Impact Labs programme, supporting local organisations to measure their impact. • Incubating more student-led community projects, responding to community need. • Holding more community events in our home on Turl Street. If you would like to find out more or be a part of the development of Oxford Hub, get in touch at manager@oxfordhub.org or input your ideas online at https://www.hubbirthday.org/
Special thanks Our impact and success would not be possible without the support of the following: All of our community partners, Emmanuel Kaye Foundation, Oxfordshire Community Foundation, St Michael's and All Saints Charities, Rothschild Foundation, Singer Foundation and Pears Foundation. The University of Oxford, The Oxford Hub Advisory Board, Jonathan Black and the Careers Service, OUSU, Emma Potts, Steven Martin, Caroline Bucklow and Research Services, Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, OCVA, Bishop Colin Fletcher, Tim Stevenson OBE, Jamie Hartzell, Marion Stevenson, Tony Stratton and Cllr Bob Price. The Oxford Hub Student Committee, the Schools Plus Committee, volunteering project coordinators and all our student volunteers. For more details on our activities, or questions about our impact, please do not hesitate to get in contact manager@oxfordhub.org