Old Kent Road Family Zone: Making life safer, healthier, and happier for children and families in Southwark

Aims of partnership 

The long term aims of OKRFZ are to: 

• Build on the incredible potential of the Old Kent Road area (in the context of the ongoing Old Kent Road Regeneration). Particularly focusing on the physical spaces, economic and social opportunities.
• Tackle health and social inequalities most prevalent in the area so that every child and family have access to the things they need to be healthy and happy 

Over the next five years there will be several key objectives that make the long term aims possible, including: 

• Strengthening and building the OKRFZ team and governance structure
• Developing a deeper understanding of community engagement and making sure decision-making sits with local people
• Better understanding the root causes of the issues that affect children and families most – like poverty and racism – and looking at ways to address these causes directly
• Building strong partnerships with charities, retailers, food industries and others who have power to improve the lives of children and families
• Codifying the Community Board’s process and principles so that other community family zones can learn from them
• Influencing other funders to support grassroots, asset-based community developments by demonstrating what work 

Strategic fit 

One of the core principles of our children’s mental health programme is that the children and families most impacted by inequality should be the ones who have most say in what needs to change. This family zone is a new and more liberatory way of thinking about community support – it builds agency and capacity within communities so that the expertise, ideas, and crucially decisions, sit with them.  

Our programme and Surrey Square Primary School, where OKRFZ was born, also share another principle; that there is no ‘attainment’ without mental health and wellbeing for young people. This means prioritising the physical and emotional needs of children over school ‘outcomes’, something that cannot be done without addressing the inequities impacting so many families in Southwark, and across the country. Without the building blocks of health and happiness – safe housing, nutritious food, space to socialise and play – learning becomes impossible.  

OKRFZ has spent years listening to residents to understand the ways that inequity and injustice impact their lives. They heard over and over how members of their local community feel judged, stereotyped, and stigmatised, often just for living in the neighbourhoods or estates that they do. As a result, OKRFZ is addressing another of our programme’s strategic aims – to reframe the issue of children’s mental health away from one of individual blame and towards one of socio-economic and political responsibility. The school communities and families that make up OKRFZ want to tell a different story about their neighbourhoods, one of celebration, pride, and hope.