Our history

We’ve come a long way since our beginnings as a small group of students wanting to make the world a better place. Oxford Hub is now a place-based charity, working with residents, other organisations (and students!) to make change across the whole city and beyond. Here are some highlights from our story…

Our beginnings: connecting students to the Oxford community

Oxford Hub was founded in 2007 by a group of students at the University of Oxford who felt the need for better coordination between student charitable groups. The vision was of a network that would connect students working across different causes so they could share insight, knowledge, and experience, thereby making all groups more effective.

We soon realised that there were too few opportunities for students to volunteer in their local community, so students’ skills and enthusiasm were left untapped. As a result we began supporting students to get volunteering projects off the ground, connecting with local community partners, offering training, support and designing opportunities where students could make an impact.

We created programmes that connected students to the city, and enabled them to build relationships with local people and communities. We set up projects that provided tutoring in schools, sport opportunities for unaccompanied minors, fun activities at care homes, or campaigns focused on environmental action.

Growing and flourishing: Student Hubs and Turl Street

The success of Oxford Hub led to the creation of Student Hubs, with other Hubs being founded at universities across the South of England, and a number of national campaigns to raise awareness of student volunteering, and build on the long history of students making a contribution to society.

During this time, Oxford Hub continued to flourish locally, developing its social action activities. We helped students set up their own social enterprises, we delivered conferences for young people across the UK to learn more about social issues, and continued to innovate in setting up volunteering programmes - supporting young carers, connecting students to local sustainable food or running or building friendships with people affected by dementia. Our impact in the community was recognised by the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the ‘MBE for charities’.

In 2011 we had the opportunity to take on a building in Turl Street, to create a home for social action in the heart of the city. We also set up the Turl Street Kitchen, a sister social enterprise restaurant to showcase a more sustainable approach to hospitality. Turl Street provided a nurturing home for the growing network of changemakers involved in Oxford Hub. This network gave us a platform to reach more people in communities, and promote participation amongst everyone in Oxford, not just university students.

A greater focus on local communities: spin out and Oxford Together

In 2018, Oxford Hub formally spun out from Student Hubs to become a place-based charity focusing on making Oxford a better city for everyone. This recognised that our ambitions for social change went beyond the impact that we could have through student volunteering. The transition helped us make the most of our existing relationships with partners across the city, and grow our activities to involve residents from many different backgrounds. We continued to run structured social action and volunteering programmes, but we also started facilitating collaboration initiatives that brought together local authorities, voluntary sector partners and residents. This included the Early Years Rapid Action Lab, and the setting up of the Community Impact Zone. 

The covid-19 emergency gave Oxford Hub the opportunity to use its community networks and expertise on volunteering to deliver an impactful emergency response across the city throughout the pandemic. Under the banner of ‘Oxford Together’ we saw 5000+ people come forward to help their neighbours as street champions, offering practical support and building friendships in communities. We continue to build on the legacy of this pandemic response work, exploring ways of enabling people to connect with and support their neighbours and communities, from peer-to-peer approaches to social prescribing, to build a healthier, more resilient and equal city. (Read our blog post on this legacy to find our more.)

What’s next?

As we look to the future, our roots remain firmly rooted in student volunteering, and the support and involvement of Oxford University helps us keep our work constantly evolving. Our organisational culture reflects this, with an agile team that is able to adapt to the changing interests of young people. This in turn helps us have a nimble and flexible approach that can quickly and directly respond to community need. We’re excited about the role we can play in making social change in Oxford and the connections yet to be built...