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I grew up in a family deeply rooted in community engagement and a commitment to addressing the root causes of societal problems. This background naturally led me to begin my career in the voluntary sector. I studied social sciences and creative arts at university, which laid the foundation for my professional interests in working with young people, fostering creativity, and promoting nature-connected initiatives.
My first major role was with Oxfordshire Youth, where I spent over 12 years. This gave me a comprehensive understanding of the voluntary and public sector landscape, particularly in health and education networks. However, after over a decade, I felt the need to move away from an infrastructure-focused organisation. I wanted to be directly involved in creating change—a "heart-over-head" decision that brought me to Flo’s.
My connection with Flo's began during its inception. I was inspired by conversations with Annie about the seed of the idea for Flo’s and believed deeply in its mission, especially its emphasis on early childhood development. I saw the challenges that they were working with behind the scenes to get the project off the ground,
When it opened, Flo’s felt like a place of refuge and belonging for me. As a community member I spent countless hours in the café, working on my laptop, or just spending extended time in the space with my young children. It felt like a safe and nurturing space, especially when my eldest started at the nursery. Both of my children attended, and their sense of belonging within Florence Park grew because of it. It’s much more than just a play area—Flo’s fosters a true sense of community ownership.
When the opportunity arose to step into the role of Executive Director in May 2023, I jumped at the chance to take a more active leadership role in a place that means so much to me and the community.
Flo’s is more than just a space, a café and nursery — it’s a vibrant ecosystem of care, collaboration, and creativity. And so many different organisations use it for working and meeting. With the right support, we can continue to grow as a voluntary sector backbone organisation, enabling smaller community groups to flourish.
Flo’s operates as a dynamic hub for the community, providing essential services, fostering partnerships, and creating a sense of belonging.Our Services include:
Collaboration is central to our mission. We partners with local organisations - for example we work with OCA (Oxford Community Action) on initiatives like holiday programmes, Broken Spoke on cycling education, and Homestart to support families, and with together for Migrant Families to skill up our Equal Start team We work with schools such as Greyfriars and Chilworth House for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and volunteering which allows us to engage youth in meaningful ways.
We also convene the OX4 Food Crew partnership of 9 organisations which enable us to amplify our impact and theirs, providing mutual support and developing trust to address systemic challenges collectively.
Oxford University Health Trust is also an important partner- sharing a building with the midwives has enabled us to partner on community engagement with mothers from diverse social and cultural background and ensure a wrap around service can be offered to improve outcomes for less well served groups through our Equal Start scheme
Navigating our relationship with local government, funders and anchor institutions presents ongoing hurdles. Flo’s leases its buildings from both the city and county councils. Every year we are required to make the case for ongoing rent reprieve with the county. We have done a lot of work demonstrating the Social Value we generate. But to generate more funding for core costs such as rent we have to triple the monetary value in increased prices or trading. If we were charged £15,000 annual rent, for instance, it would require us to generate £45K of additional trading revenue. This would represent a significant strain on our resources.
On a broader level, engagement with larger strategic networks is vital but exhausting. While being part of discussions about county-wide initiatives is important, it often feels like voluntary sector contributions are undervalued. Our knowledge and experience is extracted, without return investment.
Simply funding processes
Funding and reporting practices need to be simplified for small organisations. Current grant applications for city council funding are overly complex, and we only ever get less than a quarter of what we applied for- this creates significant barriers for smaller organisations and grass roots organisations.Funding processes need to be streamlined and made more inclusive.
We need consistent and long term support for effective asset management
The county council should end the annual cycle of rent negotiations. A stable agreement would allow Flo’s to focus on delivering impactful community services rather than constantly justifying its existence.
Anchor organisations collaboration
It would be helpful if there was better coordination across Councils and Council departments which could vastly improve outcomes for the community. This means simplifying the number of events and networks we feel we need to attend to have a seat at the table
Support social Investment but don’t divert funds from community groups who cannot trade
Oxford has significant wealth some of which could be redirected into sustainable social finance models, helping social enterprise. We need to do this whilst not compromising grant support for community organising which creates wealth in many ways but doesn’t generate income from trading.
Champion equity
We need to work together to address the unique challenges faced by communities in Oxford by advocating for and implementing equitable practices and opportunities and trusting communities that they understand the solutions to their own problems and supporting them to implement them.
This case study is part of the 'Community wealth building: big conversations' project. These case studies are in the voice of the people who gave them. They seek to honestly present their successes, as well as the challenges of trying to build a more just, sustainable economy and community. We encourage conversation - so if you want to get in touch and talk more to any of the groups, please do.
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