Creating a network of local support

Last month Zarin shared why our value of local is so important to us at West London Zone, and this value is just as meaningful to us when it comes to our supporters.

When we started out in just 3 schools in 2016 with 100 children, we were lucky enough to be supported by a number of people living locally who saw the vision and value of the West London Zone model, and were committed to helping us work towards achieving our ambition.

From September, we will be working with over 40 schools and 1,300 children and young people. We are incredibly lucky to have the continued support of many of those who helped us begin on our journey, as well as the generous and dedicated support of many more members of our community, (around 90% of our individual donors live locally).

As we continue to embed ourselves more deeply in our Zone over the next 5 years, and continue to work towards our value of local, our aim is for even more people in our community to become actively involved and engaged in the work we are doing to support young people. Joining up local residents, schools, businesses and groups is a key part of achieving our vision of a West London community working together so that every child can thrive.

The Neighbourhood Network was born out of this aim. Its goal is to bring together like-minded people who live, work or study in West London and want to get involved to make their community an even better place for everyone who lives here. This might be through hosting a fundraising event or taking on a challenge, sharing a skill or setting up a business as a neighbourhood hub, and helping us to spread the word online and in person. You can find out more here.

With some initial conversations and exciting ideas already underway with both new and long-standing supporters, it is inspiring to see just how strong the sense of community is in our neighbourhood, and how willing people are to pull together to affect positive change.

The wider and more diverse our network is, the better placed we are to ensure that every young person growing up here has the opportunity to achieve their aspirations. The Neighbourhood Network will help us to become more accessible and inclusive - with people living locally able to get involved and give back in a way that suits them; and more accountable to our community as we share our successes, challenges and impact with our supporters.

Isy Miller, Development Officer