Vice-Chancellor acts on homelessness

As the weather cools, the pain of sleeping rough increases. Tuesday 10 October marks World Homeless Day and two days later, on Thursday 12 October, the second edition of CEO Sleepout Oxford will take place.

In a rich meeting of Town and Gown, Oxfordshire’s business and academic community will come together to show their support for, and increase their understanding of, local people experiencing homelessness.

Yvonne Pinner, Project Director of charity Oxfordshire Homeless Movement (OHM) – the partnership of all the organisations across Oxfordshire helping those who are homeless says, ‘We want this event to have long-term impact and so attendees will find out about the many in which they can help in the long term. And there is still time for you to get involved!’.

The event this year will involve sleeping out under the stars on one of the sports fields near the Abingdon Road, owned by University College, with participants obtaining sponsorship.

Beyond the event is a huge emphasis on long-term constructive engagement with the issue of homelessness, which has grown in Oxfordshire in the past five years.

The Bursar for University College, Angela Unsworth, says, ‘We are really thinking a lot about the power of education to change life chances for people. It is at the heart of what the University does, and the University is also a stakeholder in the community. We have a lot of power to work alongside other groups and bodies to constructively address the broad problem of homelessness, and that is what we are doing. This event is one way of highlighting the problem and raising discussion about many and varied solutions that we are already pursuing.’

CEO Sleepout is a national charity set up to inspire the business community to unite to fight homelessness, and Oxfordshire Homeless Movement is a local charity dedicated to solving homelessness across Oxfordshire.

Anyone can take part but they must be willing to try and raise a minimum of £1,000 in sponsorship.