Communities that Can! Change-making at the Intersection of

Health, Equity & Environmental Sustainability

www.communitiesthatcan.org

Communities that Can! Institute

The little planet that could.

Three Global Needs • Health • Equity • Sustainable Environment

Three Global Goals • Healthy People • Healthy Communities • Healthy Environment

Can we do it?

If we’re willing to change.

Can we do it?

What are the big challenges facing 21st century change leaders?

• The climate is changing.

• Health gains are decreasing, while health disparities are on the rise.

• More inequality, not less.

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What are the big challenges facing 21st century change leaders?

These challenges are interconnected.

• The climate is changing.

• Health gains are decreasing, while health disparities are on the rise.

• More inequality, not less.

climate

inequality health

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Health

Sustainability Equity

We can’t make gains in one area without gains in each of the others.

They’re interconnected …

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Our success with local challenges …

Poverty Alcohol & drug abuse

Abuse & neglect of children and adults

Diabetes

Literacy

Early childhood development Violence

Mental health

Affordable housing

Homelessness

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HIV / AIDS

Food security Social justice

… depends on an integrated approach to these global needs.

Health

Sustainability Equity

Our success with local challenges …

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How complex is the challenge?

Everyone agrees. It’s complex.

Yet we habitually attempt to make complex challenges seem simple.

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We keep looking for the easy fix. And it’s not working.

It’s complex.

But.

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Despite the energy and commitment of dedicated professionals and volunteers, overall efforts have been fragmented and siloed.

We aren’t getting enough traction.

And we don’t have a lot of time.

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Not much time…

Many say we have a ten year window to address climate change.

Our health and social justice challenges are just as critical.

We’re feeling the urgency.

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Urgency without agency isn’t empowering.

Rather, it produces a feeling of impotence.

The challenge of urgency

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Impotence. The opposite of Can-ness.

The challenge of complexity

The complexity of the challenge needs to be balanced by the complexity of the change-making.

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Otherwise, our very best efforts are ineffective.

The challenge of complexity

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Ineffectiveness. The opposite of Can-ness.

didn’t

Can-ness (noun):

The capacity of change leaders in all sectors, including citizens of every description, to generate higher levels of health, equity and sustainability – locally and globally – by responding positively and proactively to problems and potentials in people, in

organizations, and in communities.

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Building Can-ness

Yes we can!

Yes I am!

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Increasing our Can-ness

Increasing our Can-ness

Health

Sustainability Equity

… one change-maker, one organization, one neighbourhood, one community at a time.

Building can-ness …

Psychological and Spiritual Can-ness

Healthy mind, Healthy spirit

Physical and Behavioral Can-ness

Healthy body, Healthy actions

Cultural Can-ness Healthy cultural values,

beliefs, attitudes, assumptions, political will

Social and Ecological Can-ness

Healthy environment, economy, social systems, institutions,

policies, services

Building New Habits of Can-ness: Individuals, Organizations, and Communities that Can!

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Communities that Can!

People, organizations, neighbourhoods and …

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The Big Question:

How will change leaders nimbly navigate the complexity of these three critical issues?

Sustainability

Equity

Health

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The 21st Century Challenge

Change-making is at a turning point as practitioners in diverse sectors and disciplines step up to address the interconnected challenges of health, equity and sustainable development.

Sustainability

Equity

Health

Climate change, health inequities, food security, poverty reduction, economic development, affordable housing, community safety – these are just a few of the issues that are capturing the attention of change leaders locally and globally.

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Sustainability

Equity

Health

The 21st Century Challenge

Increasingly, professionals, policy makers, and engaged citizens recognize the need for an integrative thinking and practice approach to foster comprehensive and effective action in each of these complex areas.

The Communities that Can! approach is a practical response to the growing need for integrative approaches to three interconnected challenges: health, equity and sustainability.

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The Goal The goal is both simple and complex:

To enhance the capacity of change leaders – professionals, policy makers, multisectoral leaders and citizens – to foster health, well-being and healthy development in people, in communities, and in the environment we all share.

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• a greater comfort with complexity (including human complexity)

Emerging capacities for 21st century change-making leadership include …

• a whole-systems orientation (including human systems)

• a capacity to take multiple perspectives

• an ability to be both inclusive and discerning

• high levels of self-awareness and self-responsibility

• a perspective on change that factors in human development

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• The inside story of actions, behaviours, policy, governance … thoughts, values, beliefs, assumptions, purpose, hope, motivations, worldviews. And more.

Change factors that could use a little more of our attention:

• Human development: healthy development in adults, as well as kids …

• Overcoming resistance to change: including the shadow side of change

• Aligning our efforts to generate higher levels of health leaning in the direction of health, paying attention to potentials, and not just problems - in people, in communities, in the natural and built environment

• Growing our response-ability: yes we can!

• Growing our sense of contribution: yes I am!

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Taking our thinking and our practice to the next level …

“We can’t solve our problems at the same level of thinking with which we created them.”

Albert Einstein

An Integrated Approach

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An Aspirational Framework for Action

Communities leaning in the direction of …

• Health • Healthy change • Maximizing community contributions • Response-ability

Four Strategic Directions

Health

Healthy Change

Maximizing Community Contributions

Response-ability

Three Global Needs

Health

Equity

Environmental Sustainability

Three Global Goals

Healthy People

Healthy Communities

Healthy Environment

The Action Framework

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And an Integrated Capacity Building Framework

• Four Strategic Directions

• Five Practice Pillars

• Five Key Intelligences

Five Practice Pillars Health Generating Assets

Integral Leadership

Leveraging Community Contributions

Cultivating Human Potential

Integral Capacity Building

Five Key Intelligences Salutogenic Intelligence

Change Intelligence

Developmental Intelligence

Participation Intelligence

Leadership Intelligence

Three Global Needs Health

Equity

Sustainable Environment

Three Global Goals Healthy People

Healthy Communities

Healthy Environment

Four Strategic Directions

Health

Healthy Change

Maximizing Community Contributions

Response-ability

Communities that Can ! Building Capacity for

Health, Equity, Sustainability

The Integrated Capacity Building Model

People are talking about change

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Overheard in the hallway …

Our best efforts to create change just aren’t working.

We’ve tried to make the healthy choice the easy choice, but …

We keep trying to make complex challenges

seem simple.

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Overheard in the parking lot …

We spent a lot of money on this,

but …

Why do we keep on doing the same things

– over and over again – and yet expect different results?

This is collaboration?

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Overheard in the coffee shop …

How can we bring our change-making to the next level of

thinking & practice?

What’s underneath our

resistance to change?

At this rate, we’ll never find a solution to climate change!

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Overheard at Communities that Can!

What if change leaders had common language, concepts, maps and tools to guide their

change-making efforts?

What if we addressed the

shadow side of change?

What if change leaders adopted integrated

thinking and practice frameworks that were effective in

cross-disciplinary collaborations ?

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Also overheard at Communities that Can!

What if change leaders built common core capacities for leading healthy change?

What if we could change the ways we make change?

What if we found ways for everyone to make a

contribution to generating health, equity and sustainability?

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The 21st Century Change Challenge:

Changing the ways we make change

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Five needs for building healthy change

1. Shared inspiration & purpose

2. Response-ability (yes we can!)

3. Sense of contribution (yes I am!)

4. Shared language, ideas, concepts, tools – to promote dialogue and integrated action across sectors & jurisdictions

5. Practical framework to guide action & foster accountability

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Communities that Can! Three Global Needs

Three Global Goals

Four Strategic Directions

Five Practice Pillars

Five Key Intelligences

A Practical Framework …

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Three Global Needs:

1. Health more of it, in all the right places

2. Equity more of it, in all the right places

3. Environmental Sustainability more of it, in all the right places

Health

Environmental Sustainability

Equity

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Three Global Goals:

1. Healthy People: body, mind, spirit

2. Healthy communities: systems & culture

3. Healthy environment

Healthy People:

Body, Mind, Spirit

Healthy Environment

Healthy Communities:

System & Culture

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Madly off in all directions? Or …

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Four Strategic Directions

Three Global Needs Three Global Goals

The actions we take are most effective when they are aligned and leaning in a purposeful direction.

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Health

Healthy Change

Maximizing Community Contributions

Response-ability

Four Strategic Directions

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Interconnected.

Interdynamic.

Irreducible.

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Five Practice Pillars

Health – Generating Assets

Integral Leadership

Leveraging Community Contributions

Cultivating Human Potential

Integral Capacity Building

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Five Key Intelligences

Salutogenic Intelligence

Leadership Intelligence

Participation Intelligence

Developmental Intelligence

Change Intelligence

Communities that Can! Institute

Five Practice Pillars Health Generating Assets

Integral Leadership

Leveraging Community Contributions

Cultivating Human Potential

Integral Capacity Building

Five Key Intelligences Salutogenic Intelligence

Change Intelligence

Developmental Intelligence

Participation Intelligence

Leadership Intelligence

Three Global Needs Health

Equity

Sustainable Environment

Three Global Goals Healthy People

Healthy Communities

Healthy Environment

Four Strategic Directions

Health

Healthy Change

Maximizing Community Contributions

Response-ability

Change-making at the Intersection of

Health, Equity, & Environmental Sustainability

Communities that Can! An Innovative

Change-making and Capacity Building

Approach

An Integrated Purpose

Generating health, well-being and healthy development - in all people, in all places, and in the environment we all share.

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• social • economic • environmental • psychological

• spiritual • cultural • physical

Paying attention to each of the multiple & interconnected factors that influence health, well-being & healthy development

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An Integrated Approach

Building Health-Generating Assets

• individuals (interior and exterior experiences)

• the systems and structures in which we carry out our activities

• the culture within which we live our day-to-day lives

Psychological and Spiritual Assets

Healthy mind, Healthy spirit

Physical and Behavioral Assets

Healthy body, Healthy actions

Cultural Assets Healthy cultural values,

beliefs, attitudes, assumptions, political will

Social and Ecological Assets

Healthy environment, economy, social systems, institutions,

policies, services

Paying attention to the whole person in the whole community:

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For example …

Leveraging all

of our resources, in individuals, in organizations, and in the broader community

Psychological and Spiritual Resources

Hope, choice, imagination, intention, creativity

Physical and Behavioral Resources

Skills, actions, behaviors, technologies

Cultural Resources Shared healthy values,

beliefs, attitudes, assumptions, goals;

multiple perspectives and worldviews

Social and Ecological Resources

Healthy environment, economy, social systems, institutions,

policies, services; systems that engage citizens and support meaningful participation

Building health-generating assets …

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For example …

The Change Leaders Communities that Can! are communities that

act on their aspirations to foster health, well-being and healthy development in people, place and planet.

The change leaders are people and organizations who want to make those aspirations a reality.

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Change leaders of all sorts, including:

• health professionals, including health promotion and public health • social workers and allied professions • educators • program developers & evaluators in all sectors • psychologists, coaches, and mental health practitioners • government staff and elected representatives • spiritual leaders and directors • private sector leaders • policy makers in all areas related to health, equity & environmental sustainability (and what isn’t?) • engaged citizens

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In each of these areas of change leadership, the goal is promoting health, well-being and healthy development … in people, in communities, and in the environment we share.

Different folks, same strokes

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Paying attention to all of the factors that influence health, well-being & healthy development

• social • economic • environmental • psychological • spiritual • cultural • physical

Different folks, same strokes

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Sustainability

Equity

Health

Working individually and in groups to address three critical issues of our time:

Different folks, same strokes

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Leaning in the direction of health, healthy change, maximizing community contributions & response-ability

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Response-ability

Communities that Can! A clearly articulated organizing principle … that helps communities get closer to their goals

Communities that Can! A clearly articulated orienting principle – reminding us to keep leaning in the direction of health

Salutogenic Orientation

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Generating Better Outcomes

Communities that Can! supports change-leaders to create health-seeking, change-embracing, citizen-engaging and response-able communities.

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Communities that Can! … generative change-making in action

If transformative change is the destination, generative change is the vehicle.

In an increasingly complex world, with increasingly complex challenges, the Communities that Can! Institute supports change-makers to bring their thinking and practice to the next level.

Taking our thinking and practice to the next level …

The Invitation

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A mutual meeting ground for dialogue, deliberation, action and accountability for professionals, citizens, and governments alike.

Taking our thinking and practice to the next level …

Toward a Community of Learning and Practice

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Communities that Can! is a practical response to the growing need for integrative strategies that can address three interconnected challenges: health, equity and sustainability.

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Rising to the Complexity of the Challenge

Sustainability

Equity

Health

Democratizing Can-ness

How?

Can-ness.

It’s in our hands.

Can-ness.

You’re invited …

Please join this emergent conversation on change.

www.communitiesthatcan.org

For more information …

Communities that Can! Institute Change-making at the Intersection of Health, Equity & Environmental Sustainability

Contact Janet Keller or Tam Lundy 1398 Solano Avenue, Albany, California 94706 Phone: 510.230.0939 Phone: 604.862.9213 (if you’re calling from Canada) Email: info@communitiesthatcan.org Web: www.communitiesthatcan.org

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