Boosting Life Chances for Bradford’s Children: A New Era of Cross-Sector Collaboration

EALC_Logo_White

Grant amount:

£500K

Period of funding:

4 Years (2024 - 2027)

The Mohn Westlake Foundation is pleased to announce support for Bradford’s Education Alliance for Life Chances charity over the four years (2024-2027), to improve children’s education and health outcomes by uniting schools with public and voluntary sector organisations, and academic research institutions for collective impact.

Children and young people—particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds—face systemic barriers in accessing timely, coordinated support. These challenges are driven by:

  • Fragmented service delivery and communication gaps between sectors
  • Limited access to data and evidence-based tools
  • Reduced funding and increased demand
  • The long-term impact of COVID-19

These pressures have widened inequalities in education, health, and wellbeing.

The Education Alliance for Life Chances (EALC) is pioneering a collaborative, research-led model in Bradford, in partnership with Born in Bradford’s Centre for Applied Education Research (CAER). This model unites schools and public sector partners to deliver scalable, evidence-based interventions addressing childhood inequality.

EALC is the legacy of the DfE-funded ‘Opportunity Area’ programme and well-established as a catalyst to drive reform, using a collective impact approach to unite schools, public and voluntary sector organisations, and academic research institutions.

With the support of The Mohn Westlake Foundation, EALC is developing as a sustainable, independent charity. This support also enables EALC to expand its ‘Act Locally’ place-based partnerships by employing a dedicated Operations Manager. The role will bring together schools, local practitioners, and community members to identify and address community-prioritised issues, aiming to achieve collective impact.

To learn more about EALCs work, please visit the website: www.educationallianceforlifechances.org.uk

“EALCs vision is simple, but bold - for every child in Bradford to have good life chances. Our partnership with schools and system leaders utilises 'Collective Impact' - an approach that encourages organisations to come together around a common agenda to solve specific societal problems through mutual agreement. By using this approach, EALC is trying to enable long-term system change, where local people are empowered to act on issues and priorities meaningful to their area, leading to better co-ordination of services and support locally as a mechanism and a catalyst for change.”

Kathryn Loftus, Director