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June 24, 2020
Welcome! We’re so glad you’re here.
The Wellbeing Blueprint is not a fixed document. We’re introducing it in June 2020 with the intent of shaping it further over time. The more people and groups participate, the stronger it will be.
We encourage you to explore, take action, connect with others, and join us in making this vision a reality.
I. How is the Wellbeing Blueprint arranged?
The Wellbeing Blueprint is arranged around six principles:
Start with what matters to people: wellbeing.
Push against harms being concentrated in communities already facing the greatest adversity.
Build on, instead of undermining, social connections and social capital in communities.
Build financial security.
Span boundaries.
Set our default to sustaining transformation beyond the pandemic.
Each principle is followed by a brief discussion and recommendations, many of which have sub-recommendations as well.
Recommendations are of two types: very specific concrete policy changes; and specific, different thinking to apply, or different factors to consider in making decisions and creating policies.
Recommendations and sub-recommendations have illustrative examples; these are being built out over time. Some recommendations are accompanied by tools or playbooks.
The hierarchy on the left-hand panel of your screen will allow you to navigate through these.
If you are particularly interested in a specific recommendation, please be in touch.
We may put together a cohort of similarly interested leaders from systems and communities around the country to work together on a specific change project.
We may have tools or playbooks to support your taking this on on your own.
We may be able to link you with others doing the work already, or who are interested in connecting, whether or not there’s a cohort.
II. Centering on Community
Systems need to change. Systems won’t change-- they can’t change-- without centering on community.
Centering on community means starting with the following question: What matters to you?
If, for a community, the answer is, for example, “No matter what, we can’t accumulate savings. We’re pushed back by every system, at every turn,” then that’s the starting point for engaging with the Blueprint. Whether you are a juvenile justice system, a hospital, superintendent of the local schools, or Commissioner of Elder Affairs, the structures of your system probably have some bearing on this issue. Working with community to address those issues is a core element of centering on community.
In summer 2020, we’ll be working with community leaders to create a playbook for systems leaders to engage with communities in this way, and for communities to hold their power and voice in this process.
If you would like to be part of shaping this agenda, please email cohort@wellbeingblueprint.org.
III. Where do I start in the meantime?
There’s no one way to engage with the Wellbeing Blueprint. The Blueprint isn’t a recipe. No community will interpret and carry out its elements in the same way. There is value in starting at any point in it.
Entry points include:
The principles: The recommendations and sub-recommendations in the blueprint are not meant to be all-inclusive. In strategically considering the principles, you may uncover additional points of misalignment in a system or in your community that you want to address. Go for it, and let us know-- because your experience will help everyone.
A tool to get you started can be found here:
The recommendations and sub-recommendations: A specific recommendation or sub-recommendation may align with a “pain point" for you -- something specific you have wanted to take on or need to take on quickly.
If you are interested in taking action on a specific recommendation, go for it or contact us to discuss it more. You will make everyone’s work stronger if you let us know how it goes.
If you’d like to work with others, consider joining an action cohort-- a time-limited group of leaders from different sectors and geographies committed to taking action on the same recommendation. The Wellbeing Blueprint will support these efforts.
If you don’t know where to start, consider working with others to take a pulse check and identify either a recommendation or a principle to focus on. Here's a pulse check tool to get you started:
Community pain points: If you lead a system and have been grappling with a current or long-standing community demand that has felt insurmountable, or that you just don’t agree with, consider using this tool to investigate different paths forward. This is not a replacement for centering on community, but may help you move through a stuck place.
No matter what, we ask that you stretch. This moment calls on all of us to act decisively, yet we also must act in ways that are new and potentially less comfortable.
IV: How do I make it stronger?
Submit an example.
Email us to join a cohort of people across geographies and communities and fields working on a specific recommendation or around a specific topic.
Let us know what’s missing, and engage with us to fix it.
Bring others into the discussion.
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