The Center’s strategy is to work with different industries to define the sector of health and well-being, creating a “well-being economy.” The Center will work with stewards to transform systems that produce equitable opportunities for everyone to reach their potential for health and well-being. Stewards are people or organizations who take responsibility for forming working relationships with others to transform health and well-being across a region. They may be affiliated with organizations or may act on their own agency (e.g., residents). In order to do it well, the Center and regional stewards need to work together to intentionally take responsibility for facilitating the cross-sector collaboration and alignment that creates the conditions for lasting change.
Vital conditions we hope to address include basic needs for health and safety, meaningful work, a healthy environment, humane housing, lifelong learning, reliable transportation, and being a part of and contributing to a community. Some of our initial programs that address these vital conditions include:
| Basic Needs: Food | Targeting Fall 2023 |
We will partner with the Center for Good Food Purchasing and develop an educational training program for the community and small businesses (local restaurants). We will shed light on the relationships between distributors, vendors, and their suppliers, increasing transparency along the entire supply chain. |
| Safe Housing | Targeting Fall 2023 |
We are developing programs to help employees get low-cost and/or low-interest-rate loans for affordable housing. We also will create educational programs on topics such as tenants’ legal rights the changing legal landscape in local and state jurisdictions, preventing evictions before they happen, and supporting tenants and owners alike. |
| Belonging and Civic Muscle | Targeting Winter 2024 |
The Center will organize recovery and resilience accountability councils, which will assure local control and coordination over the direction, actions, and accountabilities of residents, as well as business partners, and state and federal entities. |