WLZ helps children and young people grow up safe, happy and healthy. We support local organisations to work well together so that young people get the support they need. WLZ is currently operating in one neighbourhood (White City, W12) supporting 120 children and young people. Over the next 10 years we have a plan to work with 13,000 children and young people across three square miles of inner West London – ‘the Zone’.

WLZ is a Collective Impact initiative. That means we are a partnership of local organisations supported by a ‘backbone’, a small team organising the partnership, monitoring progress and managing finance. WLZ employs Link Workers based in children’s centres, schools and Job Centres (our ‘anchors’), who are responsible for connecting together local services and supporting children and young people to get the most out of them. WLZ pools funding from local authorities, schools, central government and private philanthropy.

WLZ works with the best local, regional and national charities supporting children and young people across the range of issues – from learning to well being and character. They work towards a set of shared goals, with shared values and shared measurement. Being part of WLZ does not compromise partners’ independence but it does mean there can be ‘one team’ around the child or young person – rather than multiple agencies working in isolation from each other.

WLZ is evidence-led. We conduct an annual survey of local children and young people to identify those who would benefit most from the support, and we use this (plus data from local authorities, children’s centres, schools and employment agencies, and from our charity partners) to track results. We produce dashboards showing how each child or young person, and each charity partner, is progressing over time.