Despite decades of community investment by nonprofits, philanthropy, and caring community members, we continue to face threats to our collective well-being. One could argue that we are actually losing ground, as more people across the country feel they are struggling or suffering, and far from thriving.
IP3, alongside a team of national thought partners, is responding to this challenge by co-creating the Well Being In the Nation (WIN) Network, an action and learning collaborative designed to advance equitable well-being. WIN Network partners bring new energy and insights to the healthy communities movement, believing that, together, we can secure intergenerational well-being for all.
The bold ideas of the WIN Network are rooted in three core concepts that capture how our community system works and how we can take collective action to improve communities:
WIN begins with a recognition that the legacies of the past have shaped our present—and the decisions we make today will shape the legacies inherited by generations in the future.
WIN expands Vital Conditions, the properties of places and institutions that we all need all the time to reach our full potential.
WIN looks to stewards and leaders working together across differences, in places around the country, to confront challenges and enrich well-being in inclusive ways.
Taking Action
The ideas of WIN encourage us all to think about generations to come, while simultaneously reflecting on decisions of the past and considering policies, systems, and environmental changes across the seven Vital Conditions that shape communities.
As the steward of Community Commons, IP3 understands how to translate complex ideas into relevant, actionable tools and resources for community change-makers. IP3 partnered with Community Initiatives to apply this expertise and prepare Communities WIN: A Community Guide to Dialogue and Action. This inaugural WIN Network toolkit is designed to help local leaders, as stewards, turn the ideas and values of WIN into collective action.
Communities WIN moves change-makers through three modules introducing the WIN theory of change, operationalizing the ways we can expand the Vital Conditions, and showcasing how communities are already taking action together.
Using Dialogue
WIN Network partners actively engage in dialogue to facilitate collective action. Dialogue helps connect people and shift understanding about who we are, how we got here, and how we might create well-being and equity. Dialogue also strengthens our sense of belonging and connection by building relationships. When we listen, share, and discover, we are able to create meaning together—and are better positioned to act as stewards in our organizations, communities, and regions.
After introducing a specific WIN concept, the toolkit uses dialogue guides to help change-makers put WIN concepts into practice, grounding the work of advancing intergenerational well-being for all-in immediate action. The dialogue questions are designed to help make the concepts digestible, and to give opportunities for personal and group reflection.
Hosting a Dialogue
While each dialogue worksheet in Communities WIN is designed to offer guided content for 20-minute discussions in small groups, every community is entering the well-being movement at a different place. Communities WIN includes additional resources for local leaders to host a dialogue session. The accompanying Communities WIN slide deck provides facilitators with recommendations for leveraging a dialogue session--or dialogue workshop--to advance existing projects or to identify new opportunities for change. Slides in the Communities WIN deck include notes for facilitators to consider, as well as an internal workshop prep section for teams to complete prior to a dialogue session or event.
Communities WIN and IP3 | Assess
Communities WIN and IP3 | Assess complement each other as a prime example of the idea that community needs assessment should catalyze community change, not just check a box. Communities WIN is designed to spark community dialogue and action to improve intergenerational wellbeing through dialogue and lived experience, and IP3 | Assess brings in available community data, to inform community-change work.
Both resources encourage exploring community data within the context of frameworks to provide helpful context and simplify the process of going from community insight to community action. The WIN and Vital Conditions frameworks are both part of the core IP3 suite of frameworks, and the Communities WIN guide prompts users to explore their community data profile with IP3 | Assess. Are you interested in learning more about how to connect community dialogue and data for community change? Get in touch!
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