Our country still has an immense reservoir of energy, courage, and imagination.
Throughout history, communities across the country have endured any forms of sweeping adversity: war, economic collapse, enslavement, terrorism, trails of tears, climate catastrophes, rising chronic disease, gun violence, drunk driving, diseases of despair, even pandemics.
Time and again, through tragedy after tragedy, we have found resilience. And in a few historic moments, we have even transformed adversity into advantage, taking dramatic strides toward wider well-being and justice.
READ MORE about how stewards are working together in communities across the country to spring forward and ensure all people and places are thriving. No exceptions.
LISTEN TO STEWARDS working in communities, organizations, and networks across the country share ways they advance well-being and justice.
Stewards of well-being and justice are people and organizations who share responsibility for working across differences to expand the vital conditions all people and places need to thrive.
System stewards increasingly recognize that it is not possible to counter systemic threats by delivering more and more services to growing groups of people in need.
WE MUST BECOME MULTISOLVERS: more likely to look through a macroscope than a microscope, to connect rather than go solo, and to solve for many goals at once rather than switch from one crisis to another.
Stories from the Field
Fox Cities, Wisconsin
In 2017, 32 of these residents launched Imagine Fox Cities to celebrate all that Fox Cities has to offer—and to imagine the future of Fox Cities not just for tomorrow, but for generations to come.
North Sound Region, Washington
Dedicated systems stewards from across the North Sound region created a pathway for transformative change by launching the state’s first Accountable Community of Health (ACH).
Muncie, Indiana
An Indiana native, Jane Ellery moved to Muncie nearly 20 years ago to become a Ball State University professor–and to began to implement a holistic approach to well-being.
Rancho Cucamonga, California
Erika Lewis-Huntley and David Eoff, leaders with the City of Rancho Cucamonga, share their approach to inclusive, meaningful community engagement.
Franklin, Tennessee
Ken Moore, Mayor of the City of Franklin, and Mindy Tate, Executive Director of Franklin Tomorrow, share how community leaders created connections between individual health and the thriving natural world.
Pitt County,
North Carolina
County leader and changemaker Alice Keene discusses how she has cultivated strong connections and across generations of Pitt County residents.
El Paso, Texas
Alexandro Simental, City of El Paso’s All-America 2020 Delegation Captain, describes the powerful web of relationships that make El Paso a welcoming and resilient community.
Stewards in Action
As we look at creating an equitable economy, we have to make sure we those who want to be future business owners have the opportunities to get the education they need.
Rayon Brown
Now that we’ve built relationships across differences, what are we going to do about it? Is it a pothole on Main Street? Is it climate change? Whatever it is, let’s unleash that force–and we better be starting with the young people.
Pearce Godwin
There’s a shift that needs to occur in terms of what we really think is important, what we really value.
Darrell Hillaire
What is the investment we need to make as a collective community? And how to we align investors to get us where we want to go.
Paula Morgen
I don’t have to create a meeting or create a group, if I could just find where I need to go. We try to ask people constantly: where should I go? Who should I be talking to?
Liz Baxter
That’s the insidious nature of racism and anti-Blackness. … you don’t even realize you’re hurting white America, too.
Michael McAfee
People are ready. People want to do more. People want to see their communities whole.
Mary Wilson
In every state, every city, there’s been some expression [for racial justice] and there’s already been change.
john powell
Extended Interviews
Listen to the Commons Good podcast