Will you help us tackle poverty and homelessness in our community?

Aspire Oxford works with local people who have overcome real challenges in their lives. We know that by helping our clients find employment, we can break the cycles of homelessness, poverty and disadvantage – for good.

When our clients come to Aspire and start on their employment journey, they often have low confidence and serious barriers to overcome. Aspire’s Welfare Fund provides them with food vouchers, clothing, ID, household items and financial support for training courses, laptops or driving lessons.

Aspire’s Welfare Fund is a lifeline for our clients as they move closer to the world of work – and we need your help to reach a growing number of people like Mark. This is his story:

Mark joined Aspire as a trainee in April 2014 and started working intensively with Aspire’s Employment and Development Worker Christine. Mark had overcome challenges related to his mental health and had been out of work for 10 years. During his time at Aspire, Mark gained work experience on all of the enterprise projects and gradually began to build his confidence and skills. Mark completed his Health and Safety and Asbestos training, and also took courses in painting and decorating, gardening and First Aid. Aspire supported Mark through all of his training courses and helped him to get essential ID for employment. This was paid for by our Welfare Fund.

Christine supported Mark to take on external placements with Pembroke College and after attending a Capita Employment Workshop he had the opportunity to do work experience with Land Sec. Mark was delighted to be offered full time employment in June 2016. He has been able to move from Simon House hostel into his own housing association flat, which he was able to furnish with help from Aspire.

Your support can help us make sure that more people like Mark can access Aspire’s Welfare Fund on their journey into employment.
£15 could fund essential ID
£65 could pay for a construction training course
£255 could fund core costs for one client to go through Aspire’s employment programme

Get Involved

We are looking for people to take on Aspire’s Welfare Fund Challenge for 2018 and help us raise £15,000 – enough to support 58 of our clients who are vulnerable to homelessness and poverty.

You could make a donation, organise a fundraising event or take on a challenge such as Bike Oxford on Sunday 20th May, where Aspire Oxford has free charity places available. However you decide to support our Welfare Fund, every penny you raise will help Aspire’s clients to build a brighter future.

To get started, email helen@aspireoxford.co.uk or call 01865 204450. We can provide loads of support, promotion and ideas – so please get in touch today!

Find out more about Aspire by visiting aspireoxford.co.uk or on our Univ in the Community page.

Published: 12 March 2018

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