BCA aims to enhance the life of the inhabitants of Barton by providing community facilities and developing and managing projects of a charitable nature. It has developed a strong record of developing and managing local projects such as a community larder, social events, family activities, research, youth provision and learning with the core value of the work being led and owned by the community.
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Barton Community Association is at the heart of one of the country`s most deprived areas and appears in the bottom 20% for all indices including income, health, education, employment.
We know that it is our responsibility to offer diversionary activities for our young people on so many levels. We want to see them benefit from the same opportunities as young people from more affluent areas especially around education and recreation. The other alternative on offer is a life of crime, and this is where our interventions will be of the greatest value to our community as crime can affect everyone and have a huge impact on our families as well as individuals
It is crucial that we can continue with the work that is currently being done though our Youth and Community Education post and this funding ceases in October. Our young people have benefitted immensely since this post was created back in 2020 engaging in activities that previously would have been no more than a pipe dream – visits to Bletchley Park, the creation of a coding club, working in partnership with Oxford University and Oxford Natural History Museum as well as Oxford City and Oxford United Football Clubs. But more important than all of this is our ability to offer our young people a safe and secure environment where they can build on valuable relationships with those around them and develop their social skills as well as their prospects of securing employment when the time comes. Our young people of today are our community leaders of the future if we can offer them the right support and opportunities they so richly deserve. A parent recently told us “My daughter was being bullied at school and never wanted to attend school let alone any out of school activities, but now she realizes that by addressing issues around her low self esteem she can deal with situations with a positive approach. She loves spending time at the Centre and her school attendance has improved beyond all my wildest dreams”
Alongside all the specifics we offer regular art and craft classes and youth sessions, Fun to Learn Club, healthy lifestyle projects, keep fit activities, basic cooking skills together with lots of sport and music workshops. We listen to our young people and deliver projects that illustrate that they do have a voice.
We are following the ABCD approach (asset based community development) so it`s very much Barton doing it for ourselves, but this can only be achieved with financial help to support our aims and objectives. We welcome donations of any size as we will make sure that every pound makes a difference. Alternatively, if we can secure some regular donations from our support network this will enable us to forward plan activities especially around school holidays and half term breaks. One mum recently quoted “Please don’t ever stop doing what you are doing as you enable us to cope as a family with school holidays by offering free meals as well as activities for my children to attend. It takes away all the stress and pressure of modern-day living”.
We need funding to ensure this post does not disappear so our young people can become a crucial element of our community`s future.