Groundwork deepens its commitment to support communities across the UK tackle the cost of living and climate crises through the appointment of Oona Muirhead as its next Federation Chair.
With her experience in building partnerships to drive action on green infrastructure and jobs, energy efficiency and access to nature, Oona is a perfect fit for the next phase of Groundwork’s work with communities.
At Groundwork Oona will chair the Federation Board, which oversees the work of Groundwork’s national body Groundwork UK and drives delivery of Groundwork’s collective strategy. She will take over the role in September when current Chair Graham Hartley steps down after nine years in the role.
Speaking of her new role, Oona said: “I’ve followed the work of Groundwork for many years and have been hugely impressed by the practical ways in which the charity supports communities to improve their own environment, homes and job prospects.
“The cost of living crisis, coupled with the impact of climate change that communities are really feeling right now, puts Groundwork’s twin track approach to tackling disadvantage and promoting sustainability in the vanguard of green community work.
“I’m really looking forward to playing my part in growing the scale and impact of all that Groundwork does.
Graham Duxbury, Groundwork’s UK Chief Executive, said: “I couldn’t be more pleased to have Oona joining us on our mission to create a fair and green future in which people, places and nature thrive. We know that as the climate and nature crises deepen and our public finances remain stretched we will need ever more creative solutions to address hardship and advance our environmental goals in tandem.
“There’s a lot to learn from Groundwork’s experience of doing this for more than 40 years and I know Oona will be a powerful advocate of this approach.”
Groundwork is a federation of 14 charities working across the UK. Collectively the network generated more than £90m last year to support 7,000 community organisations to take local action, 35,000 households to reduce their bills and 14,000 young people to improve their prospects. Groundwork UK supports this local action with national programmes, distributing funds on behalf of government, businesses and other charitable funders.
