Tag: City Challenges

91 Ways City Challenge – connecting young people through food

Posted on by Careers Service

This month, we had 91 Ways on campus to run a City Challenge with us.

City Challenges are a programme of events providing students with the opportunity to engage with charities and social enterprises and support worthwhile organisations whilst developing skills to improve employability. By taking part in a City Challenge students gain experience in group working, problem solving, public speaking and presentation, innovative thinking, and community engagement. 

91 Ways logo

91 Ways are a community-focused social enterprise based in Bristol, inspired by the city’s 91 spoken languages. They believe in the power of food to connect people and aim to create a more inclusive and resilient city.

With their tenth anniversary just around the corner, 91 Ways were in the midst of planning a full year program. This centred around using food to connect young people from different communities and equip them with the knowledge and skills to choose, cook and enjoy more nutritious food; but they needed help!

Working in groups, the students had a morning with the organisation to come up with solutions to the following Challenges: 

  1. How do we get young people to engage in projects about healthier food choices/implement changes?
  2. How do we get young people interested in learning about and cooking their own food?

The groups took it in turns to present their ideas to Hannah and Jen from 91 Ways. Here are some of the suggestions that have been taken forward in their planning for next year:

  • Detailing the money-saving aspect of home cooking by creating a dashboard that shows cost savings compared to buying meals at the supermarket, meal kits and takeaway.
  • Why gut health is important for well-being via social media short videos.
  • Quick multi-cultural cooking classes held in local community spaces/the University/schools.
  • Educational cooking tips via TikTok.
  • Making it fun to cook with engaging presenters and experts or if in a local community, someone that is inspiring to that audience.

Here’s what Hannah from 91 Ways had to say about how the event went.

3 women stand in front of a banner that reads 'City Challenges'. They are dressed smartly for the event and smiling.
Jen and Hannah from 91 Ways join us for the City Challenge.

“We got to receive input from from a demographic that we will be working with in the coming years and they gave very interesting and informative presentations which have allowed us to think in a different way whilst planning our upcoming program.


Hearing directly from the age group we will be serving was invaluable, especially in such a setting…. the students gave up their time to be there and took the questions really seriously, coming up with answers we would never have thought of and allowing us a new perspective.”

Information for organisations:

Organisations can find more information about City Challenges, Bristol PLUS, and other ways to get involved on the Careers Service website.  

Students, get involved!

You can find out more about City Challenges for this term and other ways we can help you stand out to employers on the Careers Service website. Make sure you are signed up to the YourCareer newsletter to hear about upcoming events. 

City Challenges branding logo

City Challenge: Changes Bristol

Posted on by Careers Service

City Challenges are a programme of events providing students with the opportunity to engage with charities and social enterprises.   

Students can support worthwhile organisations whilst developing skills to improve employability. By taking part in a City Challenge, students gain experience in problem solving, presentation skills, innovative thinking, and community engagement.  

Changes Bristol

The Changes Bristol logo: speech bubbles behind text reading ‘Changes Bristol.’

This month we invited Changes Bristol to host our latest City Challenge. 

Changes is a user-led organisation and a unique recovery service for those in mental distress.

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City Challenges kick-off the year with The MoSAIC 

Posted on by Careers Service

City Challenges are a programme of events providing students with the opportunity to engage with charities and social enterprises.  

Students can support worthwhile organisations whilst developing skills to improve employability. By taking part in a City Challenge, students gain experience in group working, problem solving, public speaking and presentation, innovative thinking, and community engagement. 

The MoSAIC (The Museum of Science, the Arts & Interdisciplinary Collaboration)
is a Bristol based business taking STEAM learning to the next level and reducing the disadvantage gap using cross-curricular education. They show young people and educators how creative the STEM subjects really are through online and downloadable teaching resources and accessibly priced in-person creative school workshops aimed at secondary school aged students. The MoSAIC came and hosted a session with us at the Careers Service on Tyndall Avenue. Students worked together and came up with ideas to support the marketing of services and diversification of revenue streams. 

Gareth, founder of The MoSAIC stands in front of a slide with his company's branding on. He is talking animatedly and gesturing.
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Creative community engagement with Sparks Bristol! 

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City Challenges went off-campus with a trip to Sparks Bristol on Wednesday 8 May.  

SPARKS Bristol logo

The event started with a tour of the different departments at Sparks and a talk about what Sparks does, why it was founded, and what they stand for.  

Lucy, Volunteer Coordinator

Lucy, Volunteer Coordinator, said

“Sparks Bristol is a sustainability and creativity hub. It’s a community space in the centre of Bristol where we want people to explore what a fairer and greener future looks like. And they consider the climate crisis, the cost of living crisis, and what we can do with an empty, massive building right in the middle of the city.” 

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Working in partnership: Tutor the Nation and the Careers Service 

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At the Careers Service we work in partnership with external organisations to bring a range of experiences to our students, and we like to think our brilliant students give a lot back too! 

Five women look excited and happy standing by a large screen with the Tutor the Nation logo on.

This year we have been working closely with Tutor the Nation, who have taken part in City Challenges and run mock interviews for our students as part of becoming an endorsing organisation for the Bristol PLUS Award. 

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City Challenges – Building Communities with Bristol Hub

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Earlier in November, Bristol Student Hub teamed up with the Careers Service to run our latest City Challenge.

27 student volunteers attended in order to work together and generate ideas which would help Bristol Student Hub reflect on their current methods of community engagement and recommend new ways to build sustainable communities within their network of alumni and volunteers.

Bristol Hub is part of a national network that includes student hubs in Southampton, Bristol, and Cambridge as well as individual projects that run at other institutions.​

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Students rise to the City Challenge!

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This academic year we have run some amazing City Challenges, boosting students’ skills and helping local community organisations to increase their profile and impact.

More than 90 students from across all years and a range of disciplines have given an afternoon of their time to help eight non-profits solve a real dilemma they were facing.  

In February this year, we welcomed student organisation Bristol Hub, who wanted ideas on how to recruit more student volunteers and raise their profile and reach with students.

Students presenting their ideas at the Cider Project City Challenge

Bristol Walk Fest joined us in April, looking for ideas to attract a younger crowd to their annual event and brainstorm fundraising ideas.

Last month we hosted Bristol Cider Project, a University of Bristol initiative, which needed ideas to source windfall and waste apples from Bristol residents to make into a community cider. 

“Overall, the City Challenges Programme was instrumental in providing me with valuable insights into how community-focused initiatives can create a positive impact on society.” City Challenge student 

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How a City Challenge helped Bristol Walk Fest make strides

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In April, Bristol Walk Fest partnered with the Careers Service to run a City Challenge, with the goal of getting input from student volunteers on ways to engage younger walkers with their events.

Bristol Walk Fest is an annual walking festival, with events taking place all over the city.  We chatted to Jennifer Graham, their 2023 Event Manager, about their experience.

Jen, can you tell us what Bristol Walk Fest is all about?  

Decolonising Bristol walk

Bristol Walk Fest began over a decade ago and is a celebration of all things walking. The free festival, which regularly attracts over 7,500 attendees year-on-year, showcases the best of Bristol for everyone to enjoy, either individually or with others. 

The festival takes place during May to coincide with Living Streets’ National Walking Month and offers a wide variety of walking activities, personal challenges, self-guided walking routes and discussion events. The (mostly free) walks and activities are for all backgrounds and levels of fitness.  

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Five reasons why you should take part in a City Challenge

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For our latest City Challenge, we teamed up with local Bristol charity BristolHub, an organisation that supports University of Bristol students to tackle social challenges, learn about issues and connect with each other.

So what is a City Challenge? and why should you take part?

Table of students at the careers service working on the most recent City Challenge with BristolHub

We caught up with Hannah (BA Politics and International Relations) and Apoorva (MA Economics and Finance) who attended the most recent City Challenge, along with Will Westgarth of Bristol Hub, to hear all about the programme and why they recommend you take part in a future one. Here are their five top reasons : 

1. You can make a real difference to a local charity

During a City Challenge, you help a Bristol non-profit tackle an issue they are facing. You learn about a local cause, help improve them and have a positive impact on the local community. Our most recent challenge was with Bristol Hub. Hannah, who’s in her second year, said, “I aspire to work in the non-profit sector so insight into a small charity and the way it works was really helpful for me.” 

Will, from BristolHub, smiling

The charity gets a lot too.

Will of Bristol Hub said, “The Challenge helped Bristol Hub further understand students’ desires when it comes to opportunities and how we can best reach out and connect with students. They came up with incredibly detailed and well thought-out presentations, with suggestions which we will take on board for the next academic year.”  

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GAIN City Challenge – kicking off a new year of the City Challenge programme!

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Following a highly successful first year of City Challenges, Girls Are INvestors (GAIN) took part in hosting the first City Challenge of the new academic year.

GAIN City Challenge group

Students tackled the question of ‘How we can encourage women into finance and bust myths?’ in groups before presenting their ideas to GAIN, allowing the charity to use these ideas in their future work.

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