Current Projects
Imagine Fox Cities (Wisconsin)
Launched by community members for community members, Imagine Fox Cities is a coalition of local change-makers, working as stewards, to create a thriving region for the residents of today--and for generations to come.
In partnership with Imagine Fox Cities founders and community leaders, Community Initiatives created a co-design strategy to crowdsource a community vision and host its first annual summit. We continue to:
Provide strategic thought partnership and facilitation
Build capacity through coaching and training
Develop dialogue and measurement tools
Community Initiatives also supports photo and interview documentation for communicating the local story of change.
Living Well Kent (Washington)
Living Well Kent (LWK) is an immigrant- and people of color-led collaborative focused on creating a community where all residents thrive. LWK serves as a community convener, advocate, organizer, and social innovation incubator. Current focus areas include health and well-being; early childhood development; food access; and youth leadership and empowerment.
In partnership with its founders, Community Initiatives facilitated the launch of LWK in 2014. We continue to collaborate with staff and partners to:
Shape the LWK change strategy and strategic plans
Support creation of a food policy council
Provide coaching to executive team
Explore ways to democratize mental health services by leveraging the expertise of Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) community leaders
North Central Accountable Community of Health (Washington)
North Central Accountable Community of Health (NCACH) brings together clinical and community partners throughout our North Central Washington region to improve local health systems. NCACH’s collective work supports more equitable access to improving health and well-being for the residents in Chelan, Douglas, Okanogan, and Grant counties.
Community Initiatives partners with Better Focus, North Central ACH staff, and regional partners to:
Provide responsive coaching, thought partnership, and strategy development
Build capacity for greater network-wide engagement
Co-create shared priorities and approach for whole-person health and well-being
Support evolution of governance model and practices to advance NCACH future state
North Sound Accountable Community of Health (Washington)
North Sound Accountable Community of Health (North Sound ACH) exists to create a just and inclusive culture and the necessary conditions for all community members to thrive. Building on experiences and findings from its Medicaid Transformation Project and equity and Tribal learning journey, North Sound ACH is launching a Collaborative Action Network to facilitate regional learning and action.
Community Initiatives collaborates with the North Sound ACH staff team and regional partners to:
Advance equity, well-being, and a sense of belonging as fundamental elements of its regional Collaborative Action Network
Integrate the Thriving Together ethos and targeted universalism framework to shape and inform planning, actions, decision-making, and investment
Serve as a strategic thought partner, coach, capacity builder, and bridge to larger movement for just and inclusive communities
Thriving Together
On July 4, 2020, Community Initiatives, in partnership with ReThink Health, a Rippel Initiative and Well Being Trust, published Thriving Together: A Springboard for Equitable Recovery and Resilience in Communities Across America. Written in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and during increased calls for racial justice, Thriving Together drew on the contributions of more than 100 leaders and nonprofits.
With national, regional, and local stewards, Community Initiatives continues to develop pragmatic tools and curate actional resources on Thriving.US. Recently released publications include:
US News Healthiest Communities Rankings
The Healthiest Communities rankings from U.S. News & World Report show how nearly 3,000 U.S. counties and county equivalents perform in 84 metrics across 10 health and health-related categories. The broad framework of categories and subcategories is based on factors key to evaluating community health that were identified by the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics – a policy advisory board to the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – as part of its Measurement Framework for Community Health and Well-Being.
In partnership with the University of Missouri Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (CARES), Community Initiatives:
Served as the lead consultant and facilitator for the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics original data framework, the basis of US News’ framework
Provided coaching to US News Senior Leaders to define the overall goals and direction of the Healthiest Communities Rankings
Continues to consult US News on the the evolution of the framework, the metrics and related resources – including stories leads
Well Connected Communities
Well Connected Communities builds cross-sector coalitions to facilitate learning and action across generations and geographies. Uniquely positioned to support young people and emerging leaders, this Cooperative Extension System initiative advances networked capacity for health and well-being in partnership with National 4-H Council and with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).
With national, regional, and local leaders, Community Initiatives:
Shapes strategy and coordination, evolving project direction with stakeholders
Advances systems transformation and innovation, facilitating co-design processes for tool development and spreading emerging practices
Convenes welcoming spaces and curates asynchronous and synchronous learning opportunities
Our Project History
Our team members have had the privilege to serve a host of national, state, regional and local organizations, networks and communities over the last 20 plus years.
National
American Lung Association
Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation
Education Network to Advance Cancer Clinical Trials
Home Box Office (HBO, Weight of the Nation)
Kaiser Permanente
National Association of Chronic Disease Directors
National Association of County and City Health Officials
National Audubon Society
National On-Site (Wastewater) Demonstration Project, West Virginia University
National Parks and Recreation Association
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Samueli Institute
Sustainability Leadership Institute
The American Hospital Association
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Health Research and Education Trust
The National Civic League
The Nature Conservancy
The Public Health Institute
The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
United States Information Agency
United Way of America
US Environmental Protection Agency
WK Kellog Foundation
YMCA of the USA
State + Regional
Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality
Center for Health Professionals, University of California at San Francisco
Colorado Department of Health and the Environment
David Thompson Health Region (Alberta Canada)
Forward DuPage, IL
Institute for Wisconsin’s Health, Inc.
Iowa Hospital Association
LiveWell Colorado
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Massachusetts Partnership for Healthy Communities
Minnesota Department of Public Health
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services
New Jersey Prevention Network
North Carolina Division of Public Health
Ohio State University Extension
Oregon Natural Resources Council
Southern Illinois Healthcare
The Colorado Trust
University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Missouri Extension
Vermont Agency of Natural Resources
Vermont Institute of Natural Science
Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund
VHA Mountain States, Inc.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Local
Bernalillo County Environmental Health Department (Albuquerque, NM)
Birmingham, AL
Boulder County Health Department (Boulder, CO)
City of Santa Barbara, CA
Columbus Health Department (Columbus, OH)
Conservation Fund, Boone County Hospital (Columbia, MO)
Cook Children’s Health Care System (Terrant County, TX)
County of San Diego Health and Human Services
Daughters of Charity Foundation (St. Louis, MO)
Denver Mayor’s Office (Denver, CO)
Fargo, ND & Moorehead, MN Collaborative
Fit City Boston (Boston, MA)
Greenbelt Land Trust (Columbia MO)
Healthy Communities of Brownsville (Brownsville, TX)
Healthy Nashville, Metro Public Health Department
Lancaster County & United Way (Lancaster, PA)
Livewell Greenville, SC
LiveWell Northern Kentucky
Livewell Omaha, NE
Longmont, CO
Minneapolis, MN
Northern Kentucky Independent District Health Department
PedNet Coalition (Columbia, MO)
Polk County, IA
Rapides Parish School District (Alexandria, LA)
Sacramento, CA
San Francisco, CA
Scranton Tomorrow (Scranton, PA)
Seattle King County, WA
Sierra Community Council’s Health and Wellness Alliance (Truth or Consequences, NM)
SFHIP (San Fransisco, CA)
United Way of Central Alabama
Ventura County, CA
Weight of The Fox Valley (Fox Cities, WI)
WeTHRIVE! (Hamilton County, OH)