I-KAN (Active Kids Active Neighbourhoods) recognises the need to empower the poor and deprived communities in the inner city of Southampton to take greater control of their lives by enabling them to improve their environment and take advantage of the local resources available and accessible to them. This includes mobilising collective powers to transform abandoned alleyways and other spaces occupi
ed by rubbish heaps into multifunctional safe and greener spaces for use as children's play area, painting, arts and crafts, ball play area, planting, gardening, BBQ, meetings, friendship building spaces etc. I KAN is currently operating two projects.
1. Alleyway Health Improvement Project and
2. Autism happiness project - reducing anxiety, promoting independence and wellbeing through personalised music, interactive storybook, interactive toys and movie making. There is a huge inequality in Hampshire. People from poor neighbourhoods die younger than their neighbours from affluent areas. Their children are more likely to live in poverty and less likely to access recreational facilities including play areas. Evidence shows that men from poor neighbourhoods in the inner city of Southampton die 8 years younger and women 4 years younger than their neighbours in the affluent areas of the city. A high proportion of the 16,000 poor children in the city live in the poorer neighbourhoods. With the impact of austerity measures including closing down of youth centres and play areas, these children have very little access to facilities that promote their health and wellbeing; and they are more likely than their neighbours to suffer from poverty when they reach adulthoods. Disabled adults and children in the poor neighbourhoods including those with autism are more likely to suffer from inequality than most. It is a moral responsibility to help these families, if this cycle of poverty is to be altered.
