our story

AllChild was designed by families, charities, local government, and schools, who came together because of a shared experience. Everyone knew someone who might have taken a different path with the right opportunities.

Formerly West London Zone, we were inspired by the world’s first ‘children’s zone’ – the ground-breaking Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), later rolled out across 20 US states as President Obama’s ‘Promise Neighbourhoods’ programme. One of our founders visited Harlem Children’s Zone in 2011.

AllChild’s model is inspired by HCZ’s core principles - working with a group of children from ‘cradle-to-career’, in a place-based way – to change the lives of children in underserved UK communities.

Before West London Zone was launched, local families with children of all ages, ex-offenders, and groups of secondary school students were interviewed. Then, over 40 people from local government, the voluntary sector, education, community groups, and funders, were brought together over about 6 months to design our model.

In 2015, a one-year pilot took place in 3 educational settings – early years, primary and secondary.

After this was evaluated, West London Zone was formally launched in September 2016 in partnership with 132 children and families, 3 schools and 12 charities. In 2022 to 23 we worked with 1,675 children, and partnered with 55 schools and 40 charities.

You can read more about our outcomes and how we measure impact in our Impact Report.