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Mapping Collective Wellbeing

Connections and Possibilities to Reimagine Progress

“Collective Wellbeing is social connection.”

About Wellbeing

The quotes above encompass collective wellbeing in the voices of stakeholders from across the United States and the world.

Collective wellbeing draws from and amplifies aligned movements that cross sectors, including racial equity, social and visual arts, new economy, democracy, the environment, health and wellness, private, public, and non-profit.

While the term wellbeing is often interpreted as individual wellness, collective wellbeing speaks to interconnection and our shared capacity to flourish together. Collective wellbeing provides a shared sense of purpose. It reveals the interrelatedness of the parts and frames an understanding of the whole.

For our team, collective wellbeing is a paradigm for an emerging future. It is activated in groups that heal a sense of separation, encourage authenticity, support risk taking amid uncertainty, and embrace a sense of possibility.

Note: Throughout this site, we use the terms wellbeing and collective wellbeing interchangeably. Unless individual wellbeing is called out specifically, we are talking about collective wellbeing.

Guide

The Collective Wellbeing Systems Map provides a snapshot of the collective wellbeing movement in the United States and globally. It explores the questions: How do we co-create a vision and appreciation of the roles we play in working toward collective wellbeing? What might deepen, strengthen, and broaden this work? Where are there connections in unlikely places? Where and how do we begin?

To help answer these questions, we sought out individuals across sectors that emphasize racial equity and take a place-based approach to wellbeing. Through 80 stakeholder interviews, and a review of diverse resources, convenings, and stakeholder feedback, an interconnected web of themes, relationships, and understandings emerged, forming the Collective Wellbeing Systems Map.

Within the Systems Map are a set of 9 Key Learnings, 9 Case Story Videos, 3 Recommendations, 140 Resources, 80 Stakeholder Profiles, 120 Organizations and 22 Filters.

Key Learnings are the main themes from the stakeholder interviews. When you click on a Key Learning, you will see a definition, related Key Learnings and Recommendation, and a Case Story Video that brings to life the Key Learning in the voices of wellbeing stakeholders. In addition, lines will appear that connect to stakeholders who talked about the Key Learning in their interview.

Key Learnings are nested under the Recommendations. Recommendations offer tangible actions that elevate ideas shared by the stakeholders. When you click on a Recommendation, you will see a definition and action steps, related Key Learnings and Resources. In addition, lines will appear that connect to stakeholders who talked about the Recommendation in their interview.

When you click on a picture of an individual, you will see a Stakeholder Profile that includes contact information, quotes, biography, affiliated Organizations, and the Key Learnings that the stakeholder talked about in their interview. Lines will appear that connect the stakeholder to these Key Learnings. Filters allow you to sort stakeholders by self-identified topical interests.

By raising awareness of connections within the wellbeing system, this visualization aims to reduce a sense of separation, support opportunities for partnership and mutual learning, and lay the foundation for a path forward.

Note: This visual is not an exhaustive Collective Wellbeing Systems Map. We seek opportunities to deepen the scope of this offering as it continues to evolve and expand. Please note that this visual is not intended as a measurement framework. More on our methodology can be found here.

Beth Gehred

David Diamond, BFA, D.Litt (Hon.)

Scott Millar

Willie Brown

Carol Graham, Ph.D.

Anneka Barrow

Christina Kwauk, PhD

Otto Scharmer, Phd

Penny Patterson

Roberto Rivera

Rodney Foxworth

Tommi Laitio

Richie Morales

Monica Cliff, MA

Jillian Racoosin, MPH

Della Duncan, MA

Jennifer A. Leavitt-Moy

Theo Edmonds JD, MHA, MFA

Ryan Erisman

Anna Haw, PhD

Lydia Prado

Keith Coleman

Maxine Shapiro

Anita Chandra

Lauren Usher, PhD

Connor Leone

Kim Phinney

Kathleen Hetrick

Gemma Jiang, PhD

Somya Munjal, CPA, MBA, MAS

Mike Weber

Barbara Tint, PhD

John C. Havens

Rick Brush

Eva Pomeroy

Alejandro Miranda Cruz

Emily Plagman

Kumi Naidoo

Crystal Arnold

Uri Yitzchak Noy Meir

David Green

Miguel Aguilar

Hemanth Shenoi, PhD

John Patrick, Gizhibaa-Aanakwad, B.A. NAS OEd CivLib, M.A. SISL

Malynn Utzinger

Alejandro Adler

Cynthia Landrum

Philomena Kebec

Jonathan Mooney

Irma Carranza

Danny Graham, KC

Kerry Mitchell Brown, PhD, MBA

Sará King, M.A., Ph.D.

Harold Goldstein

Sam Dorios

Sue Polis

Michael Washburn

Amanda Janoo

Christina Koukkos

Tim Weitzel

Shakil Choudhury

Roman Ryan

Jen Bailey

Allison Carlson

Antoinette Klatzky

David Witzel

Luthern Williams

Johnnie Walton

Saamah Abdallah, MSc

Annette Miller

Alia Stevenson, MS

Julie Andersen

Mary Michaud, MPP

Sarah Campana

Rob Moore, MPP

Anna Lucas, MAPP

Yeu Q Nguyen

Kathleen Benjamin, ALSP, RcSP, President of SMAIC

Anny Ortiz

Team

We are practitioners, educators, researchers, leaders, activists, and doers working to advance Collective Wellbeing. We cross sectors and weave together various cultural and professional perspectives and experiences. Our work connects stakeholders across movements that hold a shared vision of collective wellbeing. We aspire to co-create a future characterized by possibility, connection, and equity.

As a fundamental value, the team worked to create and evolve a culture of wellbeing. This was intended to align process with outcomes. Detailed information on the framework and evaluation tool used to build a team culture of wellbeing can be found here.

Julie Rusk

Julie Rusk

Co-Founder

Civic Wellbeing Partners

Julie pioneered development of the nation’s first local wellbeing index – a data driven metric of community, social, educational, physical/emotional and economic health – for a total picture that goes beyond the narrow and traditional measure of GDP. Julie co-founded Civic Wellbeing Partners to advance this work for national and global scaling. She has published on wellbeing with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is a Senior Fellow with UCLA’s Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities. As Chair of the Santa Monica Bay Human Relations Council, she continues to lead local wellbeing and equity work.

Catalina Langen

Catalina Langen

Co-Founder

Civic Wellbeing Partners

As co-founder of Civic Wellbeing Partners, Catalina advances leadership for community wellbeing through local action, use of data, and partnerships. She developed the Wellbeing Microgrant Program and joins with others to create an equitable global society as a Fellow of the Schumacher Institute. Catalina received her B.A. from the University of California Santa Barbara.

Contact Civic Wellbeing Partners here.

Rebecca Paradiso de Sayu

Rebecca Paradiso de Sayu

Co-Director | Co-Founder

Institute for Collective Wellbeing

Rebecca Paradiso de Sayu is co-founder | co-director of The Institute for Collective Wellbeing, president of Explore, Create, Evaluate Partners, and president of The Purposeful PhD. Her leadership is characterized by a reverence for collective understanding, which has served her well in navigating cross-sector partnerships. Rebecca received her PhD and master’s degree in social welfare at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

Stephan Hiroshi Gilchrist

Stephan Hiroshi Gilchrist

Co-Director | Co-Founder

Institute for Collective Wellbeing

Stephan brings his diverse experience in social and racial equity, ecological sustainability, organizational change, and community and leadership development to his collective wellbeing work. Previous roles include: director and faculty in Social Innovation and Sustainability Leadership and assistant vice chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Contact The Institute for Collective Wellbeing here.

Partners

The Mapping Collective Wellbeing Project team partnered closely with Schema Design to create this interactive website, based on findings from our qualitative interview data. The intention of the site is to be a tool in providing an ongoing systems perspective to advance the collective wellbeing movement. Linda Vakunta was also a collaborator on the project, hosting the case story interviews.

The Mapping Collective Wellbeing Project was supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to better understand the wellbeing ecosystem in the United States, with learnings from initiatives from around the world. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.