Oxford Community Raise £50,000 To Regenerate Children's Centre Closed By Government Cuts

OXFORD, U.K. - June 27, 2018 - PRLog -- A closed Children's Centre will reopen thanks to the dedication of Oxford residents, a social enterprise charity and an ethical investment business.

The Florence Park Children's Centre, East Oxford, shut in 2017 – one of hundreds to go following Government cuts. Research by the Sutton Trust claims that official data showing 509 UK centres were closed is a massive "underestimate", with possibly around 1,000 lost as part of a major cost-saving exercise introduced in 2009.

That's why the community enterprise - renamed Flo's – The Place in the Park and due to reopen this summer - is a great success story for people power, and the locals who have invested in it, both financially and emotionally.

"Months of hard work on the part of many local volunteers and the councils have finally come to fruition," says Candida March, Chair of Flo's Trustees. She adds: "Although it remains a great shame that the community has had to take this on in the first place, following the government cuts."

The Oxford-based groups behind the project – Flo's steering committee, social enterprise charity Aspire and ethical investment platform Ethex – have just signed the lease on the building after reaching their £50,000 target, thanks to funds raised locally via a Community Share Offer and a Co-operatives UK Community Shares Booster Programme.

Flo's – The Place in the Park will provide a place to meet, eat, work, play and learn with services including a nursery with government-funded places, sustainable café, midwifery sessions, meeting rooms and a drop-in space.

As Annie Davy, one of Flo's founding members, explains: "We want to provide a 'children's centre phoenix' offering services in a new way - supporting families and communities through locally-owned effort and funded by social enterprise."

The Flo's project is adopting a Community Benefit Society model which aims to tackle inequality by ensuring the social and economic development of a place is shared more equally among its residents.

How it works

Funds for the project were raised through a Community Share Offer via Ethex. Community shareholders become members of the organisation with voting rights at AGMs and benefit from a projected return of investment of 2% per annum.

The project also won the backing of the Community Shares Booster Programme, run by Co-operatives UK and supported by Power to Change, which match funded the £38,370 raised by the community to reach the £50,000 target.

Josh Brewer, Ethex's senior business development manager, says: "At a time where communities often lose out at the expense of government austerity cuts, this way of generating funds offers local people the chance to collectively take on ownership of a community enterprise."

The £50,000 will go towards refurbishing the former Children's Centre, which previously cost the local council £375,198 per year to run*, and will provide initial working capital.

Going forwards, various community enterprises will come into full use and the centre will become self-sustaining. With the keys now firmly in the hands of the community, the Flo's steering group hopes to open the centre by September.

-ENDS-

* Operational revenue funding from Oxford City Council (2015/16 budget)

Note to editors:

For more information, to organise a photo call, request high res images or to organise an interview please contact Scott Urban on 07737 281615 or email scott.urban@gmail.com.

About Flo's - The Place in the Park:

Flo's – The Place in the Park (known as Flo's) is being managed by the newly set-up charitable Community Benefit Society (CBS): People, Place and Participation Ltd. Funding has come from various sources including the community shares scheme, donations and revenue streams. Read about the share offer at www.flosoxford.org.uk/community-share-offer.

About Aspire:

Aspire Oxford (www.aspireoxford.co.uk) is a social enterprise which supports disadvantaged young people and adults into employment. The charity helps to incubate and grow small community projects in the city, including Flo's – The Place in the Park.

About Ethex:

Ethex (www.ethex.org.uk) is an Oxford-based social enterprise that helps people make positive investments directly into businesses whose mission they support and care about, and that also offer a financial return.

About the Community Shares Booster Programme:

The Community Shares Booster programme (www.communitysharesbooster.org.uk) is supported by Co-operatives UK and Power to Change. The programme providesopportunity for groups to develop an idea that can innovatively use community shares as a funding mechanism to develop, grow and sustain community businesses.

About Co-operatives UK:

Co-operatives UK (www.uk.coop) is a network of thousands of co-operative businesses across the UK. They work to promote, develop and unite member-owned business worth £36 billion to the economy.

About Power to Change:

Started in 2015, Power to Change (www.powertochange.org.uk) is an independent charitable trust endowed with £150 million from the Big Lottery Fund to grow community business in England.

About the Big Lottery Fund:

The Big Lottery Fund supports the aspirations of people who want to make life better for their communities across the UK. It is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by the National Lottery and invest over £650 million a year in projects big and small in health, education, environment and charitable purposes.