COMMUNITIES AND NATURE
We’re supporting people in Oxfordshire to deepen their connection with nature. Getting out into green spaces can help improve mental and physical health, build self-esteem and confidence by learning new skills and provide a sense of belonging and shared purpose in our communities.
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We are working with groups in our CAG network and beyond who are delivering projects and activities that connect local people to nature on their doorstep and beyond.
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2024 Grant Awards
With thanks to support and funding from the Waste Innovation Station Headquarters (WISH), Oxfordshire County Council and The Big Give, we have awarded grants of £5000 (over 5 years) to groups around Oxfordshire to deliver projects that deepen people's connection to nature.
Oxfordshire Motor Project
Land Based Studies Development
Oxfordshire Motor Project takes on young people who have not attended standard education for over a year and who may be experiencing complex personal and mental health issues. By offering accredited courses in subjects such as mechanics, gardening, and land based studies, they help these young people re-enter society.
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This grant will help develop the land based and gardening sector of their charity by improving and increasing the amount of equipment they have as well as improving training of staff who teach the young people thus increasing the chances of regular qualifications for as many young people as possible.
Banbury Community Action Group's Bridge Street Community Garden
Bridge Street Community Garden aims to engage a diverse group of local participants and in particular, marginalised people in nature based activities such as; growing food, maintaining the community Garden, going on nature walks, learning about various plants and insects, scavenger hunts, and outdoor wellbeing events such as yoga, tai chi, dance, and music for people of all ages. They do this through partnerships with several dedicated organisations such as; Restore, Home-Start, Woodcraft Folk, Homeless Oxfordshire, Sunrise Multicultural Project, Age UK and Aspire as well as collaborations with local community centres and schools.
Photo's from Bridge Street Community Garden in Banbury
Parkinsons.Me
Community Garden
Parkinsons.Me are dedicated to expanding their community garden programs to engage more vulnerable groups in and around Wantage, Oxfordshire. They hope to use the grant to enhance and maintain their space where people can step away from the chaotic world and immerse themselves in the tranquillity and healing power of nature. They are focusing on involving harder to reach groups including youth, people living with Parkinson's and other long-term physical or mental illness/disease and the elderly; who are often the groups most isolated and feeling lonely.
Their outreach would include schools, community centres, doctors surgeries, youth organisations, homes for older people and care homes.
Aerial View of the Parkinsons.me community garden
Parasol Project
Ploughman Tower Plants for all
The parasol project is a charity committed to redressing the balance for disabled and disadvantaged children and young people experiencing, or at risk of, social exclusion.
With this grant, they will be able to run a supported cold frame greenhouse in the garden of Ploughman Tower Northway, growing plants with their young people, disabled adults and community
group to give out the plants they grow to residents of the tower. They hope to teach the youth and support local people to grow and maintain the plants helping with health and well being.
Transition Chipping Norton
Youth Connect
Transition Chipping Norton are committed to engaging young people from the community through a series of sessions in the Play Area at Cotswold Crescent, which is situated in the lowest 10% for deprivation, educational opportunities and child poverty nationally.
They will use the grant to bring nature-awareness into the sessions at the park, focusing on locally grown / foraged food, and connecting young people to wider opportunities for accessing green spaces such as outreach days at the community orchard. Participants will be linked up to farm visits and be provided with well-being in nature walks, exploring parts of the countryside that are within walking distance or on local bus routes and generate conversations around nature, lifestyle and wellbeing.
They will be partnering with Cottsway and SNG Housing Associations, The Theatre Chipping Norton as well as a variety of practitioners to ensure a diverse range of experiences for participants.
Oxfordshire Asian Women's Voice
Ladies' Nature Walks
Oxfordshire Asian Women's Voice hope to encourage more ladies to come to the weekly walking group and enable them to be more in touch with nature. They would like to increase the women's knowledge of the natural world by visiting various local nature reserves and joining the Oxford Urban Wildlife Group at Boundary Brook Nature Reserve.
"Many of the women were socially isolated before coming to the group and after just a few months, they have noticed huge benefits in their well-being, physical and mental health as well as increases in their confidence, self-esteem and English language communication skills. "
People's Theatre Collective
The Park Ranger
People’s Theatre Collective aims to empower and inspire young people and their communities through the arts, developing creativity, confidence, and community engagement.
The Park Ranger Project is an initiative that combines the arts with environmental education to ignite a passion for ecology in young people. Learning is facilitated through creative workshops (in schools and outdoors) where participants can gain practical skills in ecology through hands-on activities. The grant will help support the expansion and enhancement of the Park Ranger project over the next five years, especially in developing an Inclusion SEND (Special Education Needs and Disability) Strand.
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Wild about Wallingford
Wild about Wallingford plan to run a programme of community conservation days to help achieve their aim to improve green spaces in Wallingford for people and for wildlife. Open to all, the programme will build on their existing connections within the local community.
In addition to supporting ongoing conservation work they would like to hold more events on the sites they support e.g. bug hunts, wildlife surveys, community picnics. They also intend to hold two open planning sessions per year to give the wider Wallingford community the opportunity to shape their work.
They will be partnering with; Sustainable Wallingford, Wallingford Allotments and Gardens Society, Wallingford Town Council and Wigod Way Family Centre, as well as exploring new partnerships with other community groups and organisations.
The Bullcroft in Wallingford
Her Land Ltd
Her Land's Teenage Girls' Healing Garden
Her Land is a social enterprise which aims to improve the health and wellbeing of women and girls by giving them the skills and knowledge to care for themselves and the land, including regenerative farming, permaculture and life skills. The social enterprise is located on the 10-acre Weston farm in Oxfordshire.
The grant will help them to engage girls aged 13 to 18 with this nature and heritage-rich site via many activities and events on the site, which will in turn improve their health and wellbeing.
Activities will focus on creating and maintaining the space in the walled garden where girls can plant, look after and learn more about fruit trees, herbs and medicinal plants. They will also be able to participate in nature based activities in this space, such as yoga and meditation classes. The aim is for it to become their healing garden which will improve not only their own health and wellbeing, but of women and girls of other ages. They hope to partner with organisations and groups who work with girls this age in the local area, such as the Red Kite family centre in Thame and Thame Youth Theatre.
2023 GRANT PROGRAMME
​We ran a grants programme in 2023 too with thanks to ongoing support and funding from Oxfordshire County Council. We awarded grants of £500 to five groups around Oxfordshire to deliver project that deepen people's connection to nature. Read about the projects here.
CAG GROUPS WORKING TO BRING PEOPLE AND NATURE TOGETHER
There are over 100 groups in our network working in their local communities organising events and projects to take action on issues including waste, transport, food, energy, biodiversity and social justice. Over 30 of these work to bring people and nature together in a sustainable way. You can search by group, location or area of speciality in our groups page.