A Springboard for Equitable Recovery & Resilience in Communities Across America

1. An Evolving Work: July 2020
Thriving Together
A Springboard for Equitable Recovery & Resilience
in Communities Across America
ReThink Health
Bobby Milstein
Community Initiatives
Monte Roulier
Well Being Trust
Tyler Norris
Points of Contact
A project of Well Being Trust, coordinated by Community Initiatives and ReThink Health, with support from the CDC Foundation.
Address Correspondence To:
input@Thriving.US

2. Guided Tour & Dialogue
● Objectives: federal & nonfederal
● Contributors, Products, & Processes
● Section 1: Changing Course
○ Case for Equitable System Change
○ Pivotal Moves & Deep Dives
● Section 2: Paths to Renewal
○ Legacy Questions
○ Trend Benders
● Section 3: A Thriving Movement
○ What’s Next?
Questions & Dialogue

3. Objectives
Users & Uses
● Create a useful Springboard to inform NGO, community, and federal planning
related to long term community recovery and resilience
● Orient our country toward decisive action for equitable recovery and resilience
Intentions
● Strengthen the movement for mental health and well-being
● Strengthen the network of community-based organizations and
nongovernmental organizations advancing equitable well-being

4. Early Contributors
Well-connected organizational leaders, subject
matter experts, and community changemakers
contributed full papers and perspectives
● Deep Dive Contributors: well-connected
orgs in select areas
● Community Voices: people with valuable
first-hand life experiences
● Critical Perspectives: people/orgs
with valuable expertise, perspectives
Barometer of current thinking,
pattern of perspectives and priorities

5. 100+ voices…
61 contributing authors
52 orgs or networks
21 interviews
15 deep dive papers
4 community dialogues
19 production partners
5 editors
...in 8 weeks
Part of a Nationwide Network
Selected network leaders,
with past and future connections

6. Products & Processes
● Written Springboard: case for equitable change, curated content, built to evolve
● Contributors Network: 100+ contributors, 52 organizations or networks
● Barometer of Current Thinking: pattern of current perspectives and priorities
● Database: spreadsheet of 120 pivotal moves and 36 trend benders, by topic
(drawn from 250+ in the Deep Dive papers)
● Momentum: connections + strategy to advance a thriving movement
● Website: http://www.Thriving.US

8. 15 Chapters
3 Chapters

9. A Case Designed to Build Public Will for Equitable System Change
America’s founding ideals have no exceptions vs. reality of ever-present exclusions
America is built to be better
We have endured adversity and found resilience before
In 2020, we are once again being tested
Not experiencing a crisis event, but a crisis trend
Tangled threats endanger hopes for ourselves and for our children
Our country still has an immense reservoir of resilience, rooted in communities
We can organize around a unifying goal: all people and places thriving--no exceptions
Our freedom to thrive depends on having all vial conditions
Three connected paths for renewing legacies for living together
Springboard designed to surface pivotal moves and bend big trends that affect our lives

10. A Case Designed to Build Public Will for Equitable System Change

11. 1 unifying -- and measurable -- goal
7 vital conditions
3 paths to renewal
All rooted in legacies, past and future

12. 15 Chapters

13. Emergency funding must be dedicated
to clinicians and organizations treating
individuals with mental health and
substance use disorders.
Pivotal Moves
Decisive actions that could begin now and change
the course of community life relatively quickly
Prioritize Maintenance:
Transportation funds should be
focused on retrofitting and equipping
existing communities to handle the
long-term implications of this crisis and
to create more jobs per dollar.
Use School Time Better
Move school calendars to flexible,
year-round learning
Account for Food’s True Cost:
Accelerate the implementation of cost-
benefit analysis, life-cycle assessment,
and multicriteria analyses to capture the
systemwide impact of food production.
Outdoor classrooms can help with
social distancing and, over the long
term, studies show that exploring,
playing, and learning in nature
improves academic achievement.
Decouple benefits from employment
to ensure all workers have access
to sick leave and caregiver leave,
health insurance, retirement benefits,
and childcare assistance.

14. 3 Chapters
Overview, Troubling Trends
& Signs of Momentum
Legacy
Questions
Trend Benders
& Measures
Quotes,
Stories

16. ● Civic Life: Shift authority to local communities for direction and accountability,
along with incentives to contribute through national service.
● Economic Life: Redefine progress and shared prosperity by embracing
benchmarks that are more meaningful than stock prices or gross domestic product.
● Social, Emotional, Spiritual Life: Redistribute mental health knowledge and
interventions to expand care and ease the strain on frontline clinicians.
Long-term lines of work that require persistence and courage
to renew legacies of well-being and justice

18. Braver Angels unites red and blue America to depolarize our politics
and reawaken what it means to be American in our time;
The Poor People’s Campaign rises with 140 million poor and
struggling Americans to insist that no one is ignored, dismissed, or
pushed to the margins;
Active Minds lifts up the power of young people to speak openly
about mental health, reduce stigma, and create hope out of tragedy.
Color of Change and the Movement for Black Lives lift up the
voices of Black, Brown, and all long-excluded people calling for justice.
Life doesn’t make any sense without interdependence. We need each other,
and the sooner we learn that, the better for us all.
Erik Erikson
Well-Being in the Nation (WIN) Network, enables
stewards of all kinds to connect and cooperate as they
expand the vital conditions we all need to thrive.
Momentum for renewal is gathering force all around us. Witness, for example, just a few endeavors
that are currently gaining traction:
There will always be new voices to hear and new legacies
to question, as well as more pivotal moves and trend
benders to surface.
America’s movement for well-being and justice can never
be codified in a single playbook. Yet, it can spring forward
with great force and direction if we pursue our priorities,
together, to make change happen where it counts.

19. LOOKING AHEAD
What is next?

20. Phase II: Overview
What: A 9-month catalytic process
When: August 2020 - March 2021
Why: Accelerate action on the most promising
‘pivotal moves’ and ‘trendbenders’
Who: Existing core + broader base

21. 1. CDC + Federal interagency partners
2. Philanthropies
3. NGOs
4. Communities, mayors, governors, legislators
5. Other broad-based recovery/resilience initiatives
6. The American people
Phase II: Key Actors / Engagement “Streams”

22. 1. Ongoing support to CDC & interagency work
2. Focused asset-based ‘opportunity mapping’
3. Resource development for Phase 2 and beyond
4. Targeted engagement and communications
5. Accountability and measurement
Phase II: Strategic Elements/Options

23. DIALOGUE
● What resonates?
● How might this inform your own planning and
partnerships?
● How could whole communities use this Springboard
to inform their own recovery and resilience?

24. DIALOGUE
SPECIFIC ACTIONS?
● How might you engage your own agency?
● How might you engage your own partners?
● Are there opportunities for
NGO/community/federal partnerships
to accomplish pivotal moves?
● Where might there be gaps or roles that
federal agencies could appropriately fill?
● Are there actions you thought would
surface that are missing?
GENERAL REACTIONS?
● What resonates?
● How might this inform
interagency planning and
partnerships with NGO
constituents?
● What if communities could craft
their own Springboards for
local recovery and resilience?