Banbury football club forms partnership with charity helping it add more community outreach programmes

The Easington Sports FC has joined a partnership with the charity Oxford United in the Community, which will help provide more programmes for people in the community.

Oxford United in the Community, the official charity of Oxford United, has selected Banbury as the pilot town to help deliver its new vision of increasing its social impact programmes across the county. The charity has formed a ‘hub and spoke’ operational structure to deliver programmes in up to 15 of Oxfordshire’s towns over the next three years.

The new vision aims to provide every person in Oxfordshire with a positive connection via the football club and to inspire happier, healthier and better-connected communities.

The charity has signed an initial three-year agreement to partner with Easington Sports FC.

The partnership will see the Hellenic League Premier Division Club assist with the delivery of social impact programmes by providing fully funded programmes such as Premier League Kicks and Premier League Primary Stars.

The club will also offer a range of paid football-based services and other football in the community activities in addition to identifying new opportunities to work with other organisations by offering activities to the people of Banbury.

Jamie Hunter, club secretary of Easington Sports FC, added: “We are delighted to partner with Oxford United in the Community as part of their vision to deliver more social action projects across Oxfordshire over the next three years.

“Providing fully funded programmes for young people in addition to reaching out to the local community via activities is an exciting development for our club and we are thrilled Banbury has been selected as the pilot town.”

Easington Sports FC will also carry out outreach and discovery work with community members to identify the existing community assets and how best to support local citizens to achieve their aspirations for themselves and their communities.

Chris Lowes, head of Oxford United in the Community, said: “In creating this key ‘anchor partnership’, Easington Sports FC will become the primary relationship for our charity in Banbury and an important part of our hub and spoke model.

“As the initial town spoke and the pilot town for the testing of the wider strategy, it is expected that innovation and development will be key parts of this relationship, to discover what is most impactful and effective in terms of activities and operations.

“It is a very exciting development for us as it comes at a time when the need for increased support in communities has never been greater.”

The partnership was made possible from funding from the Step Change Fund - an initiative facilitated by Oxfordshire Community Foundation (OCF) which focuses on strengthening the county’s charitable sector.