Oxford students and volunteering

The Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) has a dedicated Charities & Communities Vice-President.  The post holder works full-time with the community, is the student face at council meetings and community centres, and coordinates and builds student volunteering and charity fundraising. OUSU also runs three community projects: Raise and Give (RAG), the Environment and Ethics committee (which promotes recycling, fair-trade, conservation and energy efficiency) and the Looked After Children scheme.

The society that has it all. Cocktail parties, sporting tournaments, hitch-hikes, talent shows, bungee jumping, club nights and the notorious fancy dress RAG raids! There are loads of ways to get involved with RAG from joining the RAG Exec and becoming part of the team that organises all these great events; to becoming a college charity rep, organising your own college charity events and promoting the joys of RAG within your college; or just simply coming along and having an amazing time!
 
Join us on Facebook: Oxford RAG or email the President rag.president@ousu.org

The focal point for charitable activity is The Oxford Hub, one of Oxford’s biggest student-run organisations, with over 3,200 student members. The Hub links students with local and international community activities and also advises them on setting up their own projects, as well as offering training and information on social and environmental issues, events, and careers.

"My job as OUSU President is to represent students both to the University and the wider community. In the past the Student Union has been hugely active on issues from recycling to CCTV and night safety through to protesting against the Thirst Lodge license changes. It is vitally important for students to work together with local residents on the issues that affect us all, and OUSU plays a leading role in facilitating this work."

"The OUSU Vice President (Charities and Community) coordinates RAG and Big Brother Big Sister, leads on night safety, environmental and ethical issues and sits on a variety of local panels, such as Neighbourhood Action Groups. By building relationships with local residents and councillors I connect students and the wider community, linking green campaigners and volunteers in the city and the university. Within OUSU I run the safety bus, which is staffed entirely by student volunteers and coordinate RAG. Entirely through student efforts RAG raises £100k per year for charity."

AgeAid  The Shotover Day Care Centre caters for between 40 and 80 elderly people each day, and through AgeAid, Oxford students try to engage with all of them. Whether day care visitors want someone to read aloud the papers, do the crossword with them, improve their computing skills, or just take part in some stimulating conversation, 25 student volunteers are on hand. Each student usually volunteers for one four-hour session per week.

Big Brother/Big Sister Project  Going to university becomes an attainable goal for vulnerable young people through this new scheme. Oxford students act as big brothers or sisters to children in school years 9, 10 and 11 who live in Oxfordshire and are in care, through links forged by the University access team and the County Council. The aim is to give these children a look at university life and present going to university as an attainable goal, as well as giving the children someone to talk to and have fun with.

Homeless project Through this project, Oxford students support people who are homeless or vulnerably housed, and provide support, activities and training. More than 30 volunteers run four two-hour training sessions a week during term time for around 50 members of the community, covering IT, food and health, English, sports and maths.

Oxford Student Consultancy
The Oxford Student Consultancy is a programme of learning and development activities that links University of Oxford students to local Oxfordshire businesses and community organisations. It is an innovative and unique programme, in that it provides employability skills training and work-based experiences to students and an opportunity for local SMEs, charities and community organisations to access free consultancy services. Students from all disciplines and year levels participate in the programme and work in teams to address a strategic issue or business problem affecting the organisation. In just the first year since the inaugural term in April 2009, more than 130 students have participated in the programme and worked on 25 projects including: Modern Art Oxford, Oxford City Council Housing, Oxfam, Pegasus Theatre and the Oxford Playhouse.
www.careers.ox.ac.uk/oxfordstudentconsultancy

Oxford Legal Assistance (OLA)
The OLA programme was launched in November 2009.  It provides University of Oxford law students with the opportunity to work with Turpin & Miller Solicitors LLP, a local law firm offering support to clients in legal-aid cases.  Two student co-chairs, Ayaaz Nawab (a second-year law undergraduate at Trinity College) and Daniel Cashman (a second-year undergraduate reading Law with German Law at Exeter College) helped to establish and now run the programme.  They were charged with selecting sixteen student volunteers who provide weekly assistance by updating the statements and paperwork of existing clients, and interviewing new clients. This enables the solicitors to spend more time giving higher-level legal attention to cases.  Students receive supervision and training from Turpin & Miller as well as practical skills such as how to interview clients, accurately record information and deal with difficult situations.  The OLA programme is a pilot scheme and will hopefully be extended in 2010/11 to give more Oxford students the opportunity to assist with this pro bono project.

Students Together In Reading  As every Oxford student knows, reading is not just an educational passport to more chances in life – it is a joy. Each week, 48 Oxford students devote a couple of hours to reading with the children of Larkrise Primary School who are most in need of help.

Jacari This is a student-run University charity, initially established as an organisation aiming to tackle racial intolerance. It has evolved over the past 50 years into a home teaching scheme. The project links students from both Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University with local ethnic minority children who need help with reading, writing and speaking English, and with other subjects on request.

KEEN, founded in 1988 by a New College graduate student, is a charity run jointly by students from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University. It provides sporting and recreational activities for children and young adults with special needs in Oxfordshire.

Talent Bank  Oxford student societies, groups and individuals with a particular talent in any area from music, art and performance to sports and design run workshops at various Oxford community groups.

Local charities   Students volunteer for local charities including: Asylum Welcome, Aston Rowant National Nature Reserve, Cowley Soup Kitchen, OxPAT and Winton Volunteers reading scheme.