Oxfordshire Advocacy (OA) is a registered charity providing free, independent, non judgemental and confidential advocacy support to disadvantaged adults in Oxfordshire

They support people with a learning disability who may not have the understanding, the vocabulary or the communication to participate in decisions being made about their lives. OA can help them to understand the information that is given to them and then support them to put forward the points that they wish to make. OA help people to communicate in the way that is best for them including easy read information, pictorials or Makaton. http://www.gettingahead.org

 Monument Community Trust have helped fund the creation of an Oxfordshire Advocacy leaflet that is created as Easy Read by those with learning disabilities?

 The benefit of this flyer is that it can then be easily understood what services Oxfordshire Advocacy provides by those with learning disabilities. Oxfordshire Advocacy does work with members of My Life My Choice providing free advocacy support.

 Take a look at the new leaflet Oxfordshire Advocacy easy read

Back in May, Monument Community Trust (MCT) put on a Social Media workshop for charities. The idea for the event came from talking to local charities, who wanted to see how Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn could help raise their profile, engage with supporters, and connect with businesses. Over 40 people attended the event in Botley, with our 2 expert speakers – Sarah Fletcher from Mushroom Souffle www.mushroom-souffle.co.uk and Nick Streeter from the charity Special Effect www.specialeffect.org.uk For many it was a first step into understanding the benefits of using social media and to grow their confidence. A huge success, which also raised money for MCT that goes towards helping other local charities

Monument Community Trust (MCT) and Responsible Oxfordshire Business Involvement Network (ROBIN) jointly hosted the fundraising Charity Bowling event at Oxford’s Bowlplex in April, bringing local charities and Oxfordshire businesses together for the very first time in the Oxfordshire area!

 The event was set up as a chance for local charities to raise their profile, meet potential new business supporters, and have some fun with colleagues, trustees or service users over a game of bowling and buffet meal. The businesses sponsored the lanes so that charity representatives could enjoy a ‘free’ evening of fun, whilst also raising money for Monument Community Trust, to support its work with local charities and community groups.

We welcomed 21 teams made up of 16 local charities:

Nasio Trust & Corum Life Education Centre (tenants of ours in Hampden House), Yellow Submarine, Oxfordshire Advocacy, Style Acre, Child Funeral Charity, SeeSaw, Headway, SOFEA, Aspire, Special Effect, My Life My Choice, Ley’s Community Market, EMBS and Oxfordshire Youth…

…and ten local businesses:

Blake Morgan, Clark Howes, Collaborative Insights, Bluespires Solutions Ltd, Whitley Stimpson, Hunts, NewOrbit (tenant of ours in Hampden House), Colourful Coffins & Bridle Insurance.

including just over 130 guests in total on the night.

The night was a huge success, with well-earned fun.  Top Team Trophy going to Yellow Submarine, Top Striker trophy went to Bob Tomes from Child Funeral Charity and the Big Lime Green Teddy Bear – MCT Mascot was won by Leys Community Market for the Top Fun Team! Congratulations to our winners!

This event brought businesses and charities together for mutual benefit!

Photographs taken by Richard Wakefield https://www.richard-wakefield.co.uk

Click on the link to see all of the great fun we had on the night Testimonials

An MCT Trustee visited Sign Lingual UK, a Community Interest Company’, Sign Lingual is committed to supplying free services for the Deaf community. These include running a local Deaf meet where people can socialise & share views & information. We also run ‘correspondence sessions’ whereby Deaf people can attend the session with any letters or paperwork to have these translated for them. They also run ‘drop in’ sessions to share information & assist people with an urgent issue or concern.
Sign Lingual UK’s courses in Deaf Awareness enable people to gain an insight into Deafness and confidence in methods for effective communication. Their courses can be tailored to meet individual requirements.

The MCT Trustees had an incredible time at the Funding Network  Thursday, 22nd May 2014 held at The Old Fire Station in Oxford.
Four great charities had the opportunity to pitch their projects to persuade us of their need for funding.  The charities took to the stage with lots of preparation, full of enthusiasm, yet hugely nervous to present all that they have to offer in a snapshot and was then grilled for another 6 min with questions from the floor.

A brilliant total of £13k was raised for the four charities that presented on the night (Full Circle, One Eighty, Jaqari, Justice in Motion) by all the supporters and donors that came to the event.

The trustees attended The Oxfordshire Youth Awards on 17th March 2014 at the New Theatre in Oxford which was a fantastic exciting evening!

The award ceremony is a prestigious annual event which celebrates the achievements of young people across Oxfordshire. The youth awards raises awareness and recognition of the inspirational contributions made by many ambitious young people in Oxfordshire. Guests from across the County presented the awards on the night and the performances from a selection of the most talented young people gave us an unforgettable experience.

Monument Community Trust and Jennings sponsored The Inspirational Entrepreneur Award.  This award is for young people who are showing innovation and inspiration in the area of business development.  The young people are recognised for creative and ingenious thinking in the construction of ideas and business.

Congratulations to the all the nominee’s who won awards at the event and to Morgan Williams in 1st place, Joyce Lo in 2nd place and Marcus Tucker in 3rd place for the Inspirational Entrepreneur Award Category.

MCT is very proud to have sponsored and presented an award at Innovista’s Thrive Barton 2013 Young Achiever’s dinner. Chloe, an inspirational 13 year old picked up the Community Contribution award sponsored by Monument Community Trust for her dedicated volunteering supporting other young people in Barton.

After a warm welcome greeted invited guests, a range of refreshing home-made drinks was provided by a well-organised group of hard-working young people involved with Thrive Barton, who then prepared and served a wholesome three course meal to around 120 attendees.

Thrive Barton is committed to having a long term positive presence to the estate, a council housing estate located immediately outside the ring road to the East of Oxford. The index of Multiple Deprivation ranks Barton in the bottom 13% of deprived areas in England and Wales. The most significant issue according to research is education, skills and training, with Barton in the top 10% most deprived areas in England. 65% of working adults have no or low qualification compared with the Oxford average of 18.6%. The estate is surprisingly green but although it’s not dominated by depressing high-rise tower blocks, the social issues are similar to any council estate; unemployment, low educational attainment, broken families, high alcohol and substance abuse and crime. The deprivation here is generational and there are no quick fix solutions.

Although there is much joined up work happening in the estate, there is a feeling from community workers that help is not reaching those who need it most. www.thriveteam.wordpress.com

Grant – one of our Trustees introduces the award on behalf of Monument Community Trust to Chloe, who doing her volunteering that won her the Community Contribution Award – ow.ly/ppYRZ 

Monument Community Trust is happy to announce, the Yellow Submarine’s cargo bike has arrived and they are thrilled with it. It’s been in  action all week.

They have been training one of their trainees to ride it and it’s allowing them to involve volunteers and expand their deliveries from Yellow Submarine’s café and sandwich shop in central Oxford. The café sell brilliant food and drinks and creates opportunities for young people with disabilities.

They are hopeful that they are going to be able to use it at the Oxford train station which will give further roles still.

Yellow Submarine’s Cafe and sandwich shop is open from 8am-4pm and is located at 12 Park End Street, next to Staples – so why not pop in for a bite!