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Thriving Together: Place
"Pitting rural and urban America against each other makes no sense and is harmful to all. Change and transformation must be driven by rural communities themselves—local people must set priorities and determine what constitutes success, and do so in ways that are inclusive of everyone in their communities."

Brian Dabson, Thriving Together
Thriving Together: Place
In addition to the seven vital conditions, Thriving Together: A Springboard for Equitable Recovery & Resilience in Communities Across America explores four selected topics that also shape our community well-being: place; faith; investment; and measurement, learning, and evaluation. This issue of the WIN Digest highlights the first selected topic: place.

Place is defined by people, governance, and institutions as much as it is by physical landscape, natural resources, buildings, and boundaries. Every person lives in multiple places, both over a lifetime and at any given time—where they live, work, learn, shop, and play and at different scales—home, neighborhood, city, state, nation, and planet. Rural America, the focus of our Thriving Together section, is a mosaic of many special places where connection to the land is the defining characteristic, reinforced by history, culture, and lived experiences.

POVERTY EXISTS IN BOTH RURAL AND URBAN PLACES, but rural places have suffered generations of relatively higher poverty and lower income rates, especially in more remote areas. Systems in rural America reinforce entrenched poverty and racial inequalities that, generation after generation, worsen health outcomes and increase community vulnerability. 
The current national political climate stokes the sense of rural versus urban interests and politicizes issues in ways that inhibit the search for common ground. That said, there is no coherent, unified voice for rural America. Change will be possible only if we work across jurisdictions, service territories, and sectors.

Connect and share ideas at Thriving.US.
Photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash
"Elegy in Joy"

We tell beginnings: for the flesh and the answer,
or the look, the lake in the eye that knows,
for the despair that flows down in widest rivers,
cloud of home; and also the green tree of grace,
all in the leaf, in the love that gives us ourselves.

The word of nourishment passes through the women,
soldiers and orchards rooted in constellations,
white towers, eyes of children:
saying in time of war What shall we feed?
I cannot say the end.

Nourish beginnings, let us nourish beginnings.
Not all things are blest, but the
seeds of all things are blest.
The blessing is in the seed.

This moment, this seed, this wave of the sea, this look, this instant of love.
Years over wars and an imagining of peace. Or the expiation journey
toward peace which is many wishes flaming together,
fierce pure life, the many-living home.
Love that gives us ourselves, in the world known to all
new techniques for the healing of the wound,
and the unknown world. One life, or the faring stars.


Muriel Rukeyser, "Elegy in Joy" (excerpt)
THRIVING TOGETHER: CHANGING COURSE
Changing Course summaries feature working definitions, recent facts, key issues, and a short list of pivotal moves that stand out as high priorities for quick action.

Deep Dives are the full source documents contributed by colleagues on the various topics selected in the Changing Course summaries.
Changing Course
Deep Dive
COMMUNITY COMMONS
Seven Vital Conditions for Health and Well-Being

Explore the Community Common’s collection summarizing the seven vital conditions featured in the Thriving Together WIN Digest series.
IN THE NEWS
Equitable Recovery and Resilience in Rural America
by Brian Dabson

There are no easy solutions to the challenges facing rural America, but the pandemic and calls for racial justice have created an environment where systemic change might be possible. In this new Thrive Rural brief, Thriving Together contributor Brian Dabson explores place-based rural realities and inequalities and provides transformational ideas and pivotal moves that government at every level can take to help rural communities become more dynamic, healthy places where everyone belongs, lives with dignity, and thrives.
Creating A Force Multiplier – Why Advocates for Rural Health and Health Equity Should Work Together
by Cara James

Rural health disparities are well documented, as are racial and ethnic health disparities. Learn more from Cara James’ reflections working on both issues, noting that many working to eliminate disparities in communities of color tend to focus on urban issues, and many advocating on behalf of rural communities tend to ignore communities of color, including tribal communities.
Photo by John Reed on Unsplash
Photo by Leo Rivas on Unsplash
ReThink Health Insight Spotlight Series: What are We Learning Alongside Stewards of Equitable Health and Well-Being?
by Jane Erickson

ReThink Health works with nationwide and regional stewards to discover what it takes to guide the transformative change needed to produce equitable health and well-being for all. The Insight Spotlight blog series shares highlights from three ReThink projects: Portfolio Design for Healthier Regions, Hospital Systems in Transition, and Amplifying Stewardship Together.
The National Civic League is now accepting applications for the 2021 All-America City award! 

The theme for 2021 is Building Equitable and Resilient communities.
Since 1949, the National Civic League has designated over 500 communities as All-America Cities for their outstanding civic accomplishments. The award, bestowed yearly on 10 communities, recognizes the work of communities in using inclusive civic engagement to address critical issues and create stronger connections among residents, businesses, and nonprofit and government leaders.
The Center for Popular Democracy People’s Transition Memo

The People’s Transition Memo is a memorandum drafted by the Center for Popular Democracy and CPD Action outlining our demands for a fair and equitable government. CPD and CPDA will deliver the memo to the Biden administration after the January 20th inauguration.

Between December 14, 2020 and the inauguration, we are collecting signatures from our base to join us in demanding that President-elect Joe Biden fights for real policy changes that will uplift and empower Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian and Latinx communities unlike ever before.

Join now in support of the People's Transition Memo for CPD and CPDA’s demand for progress from the Biden administration.
Share on Twitter

We demand: 
✅a voice in our government
✅racial justice
✅education for all
✅immigrant justice
✅equal access to healthcare
✅economic justice 
Join us. Demand real policy change from the Biden admin. Add your name to the #PeoplesTransitionMemo >> https://populardemocracy.org/peoplesmemo 
Thriving Together Audiograms
Mary Wilson: More Investment in People
Nick Tilsen: Hope
PODCAST
Commons Good: Danville, VA

In this episode of the All-America City podcast mini-series, we connect with Annie Martinie (Danville Regional Foundation) and a few days later to learn more from Maggie Richardson (The Health Collaborative).
WE WIN TOGETHER RACIAL JUSTICE COMMUNITY
SPRING REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
The WE WIN Racial Justice Community provides space for individuals, communities, organizations, and coalitions to learn from one another as part of our racial justice journey.

Together, we reflect and gather insight for addressing racism in workplaces and throughout life.

Register today for our Spring Semester (February - May) for you or your organization to join this community in transforming from within and together.
SPRING ORIENTATION SESSIONS

Have questions? Ask them and learn more about the WE WIN Together racial justice community at our orientation sessions:

January 21 and 28 from 1-2 PM ET

Join Zoom here https://bit.ly/S21RJCO
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The moment is NOW to address the legacies of racism in our work, lives, and systems. Join the @network_win @WEintheWorldOrg Racial Justice Community to learn how you and your organization can take action to advance racial justice.
Register: http://bit.ly/2WAlqYf   
#WIN4Equity

BRIGHT SPOTS
A Reset for Unprecedented Times
Buen Vivir is both a philosophy and a lived practice that puts Earth at the center of “the Good Life.”
by Natasha Chassange

A direct and critical response to Western ideas of sustainable development, Buen Vivir is about respecting the rights and responsibilities of communities to protect and promote their own social and environmental well-being by driving grassroots change.

Local Indigenous community leader David Torres explains, “Buen Vivir signifies first and foremost protecting our environment, more than anything.”
Photo by Natasha Chassange
Photo by Courtesy Anthony Love / Linda Tutt High School
Texas school district opens free grocery store to help disadvantaged students
by Janelle Griffith

The store, which opened in November, makes canned goods, produce, laundry detergent, soap and other products available free of charge to students and faculty members of the school district and the 9,000 residents of Sanger, about 50 miles north of Dallas.

"If we can make our food pantries look like a grocery store" and give people a card to shop with as they would at any other place, then "we can keep dignity in people," Paul Juarez says.
Students Surprise Teachers with Messages of Gratitude on Zoom 

Teachers, students, and parents have navigated through the trials of online learning. After a tumultuous semester, students across the nation have found a special way to give their thanks for all the hard work teachers have done.
A bake-off between two dads turned into a movement that delivered thousands of cookies to essential workers
by Alaa Elassar

A cookie competition between two dads turned into a heartwarming effort that has resulted in over 18,000 cookies being delivered to essential workers across Pennsylvania.

The effort, now known as "Cookies for Caregivers," began in April when Scott McKenzie was furloughed from his job as an athletic director in Huntingdon because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Photo by Danny Young-Uhrich
TOOLS TO BUILD WELL BEING
Toward Market Cities: Lessons on Supporting Public Market Systems From Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Toronto

This report includes background on the Market Cities Initiative and its research efforts to date, summaries of each local partner’s findings and recommendations, and broad takeaways for other cities looking to strengthen their market systems or leading their own Market City process.
Communicating about History: Challenges, Opportunities, and Emerging Recommendations

Decades of structural racism and disinvestment have resulted in places of concentrated poverty and significant health inequity. When crisis hits, as we have seen with COVID-19 and its economic fallout, the people who live in these communities, especially Black and Latinx people, suffer disproportionately and recovery is lengthy and uneven.

This toolkit, developed in collaboration with the Catholic Health Association, is designed to help health care organizations look at their resources in a different light, expand their efforts to support their communities, and maximize their impact on community health by harnessing the power of their investment capital. In addition, it delves into a number of key topics: distinguishing between financial contributions and investment strategies, understanding the value of investment strategies for addressing the social determinants of health, and mobilizing investment capital to improve community health.
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
Responsibility of Medical Journals in Addressing Racism in Health Care

Racism, as a health, public health, and health care issue has received important attention in recent medical journals. However, while racial and ethnic health disparities have been the subject of research for decades, racism has received comparatively little attention in research published in medical journals.
ChangeLab Solutions: Building Healthy, Equitable Communities
A series of collaborative trainings for government & community leaders

This series of 6 strategic trainings—each including a blog post, a webinar, and an interactive expert panel—examine a range of topics from food systems to the built environment to preemption.
Build Healthy Places Network: Partner Finder

Partner Finder is a collection of directories to help you find the community development and health organizations nearest to you.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION!
WE in the World


1/21 at 1-2 PM ET
1/28 at 1-2 PM ET

Interested in advancing racial justice within yourself, your organization, or your community? Learn more about how you can be involved with the WE WIN Together Racial Justice Community in our orientation sessions.
Human Impact Partners and Big Cities Health Coalition 


1/11 at 3-4 PM ET

Human Impact Partners and Big Cities Health Coalition developed an Equity Lens Tool — to be released in early January — to support health departments in more directly and routinely addressing equity in COVID-19 planning, response, and recovery decision making.

Join us on January 11 from 3-4pm Eastern to hear more about this tool, and from leaders who are applying an equity lens in their COVID-19 response.
Public Health Communications Collaborative


1/12 at 1-2 PM ET

The Public Health Communications Collaborative presents its third webinar, COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution: Supply and Logistics Messaging. This session will feature issue experts and focus exclusively on vaccine distribution and related messaging.

Policy and Tools Corner

  1. Project for Public Spaces - What is Placemaking?
  2. Enterprise Community Partners - Rural and Native American Program (RNAP)
  3. Poor People's Campaign - 14 Policy Priorities to Heal the Nation: A Moral and Economic Agenda for the First 100 Days 
WIN Cooperatives