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

Communities that Can! Institute

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

www.communitiesthatcan.org

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.

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.

What are the big challenges
facing 21st century change leaders? climate
• The climate is changing.
• Health gains are decreasing, while
health disparities are on the rise.
health inequality
• More inequality, not less.

These challenges
are interconnected.

Health
They’re interconnected …

Equity Sustainability

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

Poverty
Alcohol & drug abuse
Literacy
Homelessness Mental
Diabetes health

Social justice Food security

Our success with local challenges …
HIV / AIDS
Abuse & neglect of children and adults

Affordable housing
Early childhood
development Violence

Our success with local challenges …
Health


… depends on an integrated approach
to these global needs.

Everyone agrees. It’s complex.
Yet we habitually attempt to make
complex challenges seem simple.

It’s complex.
But.

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

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.

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.

The challenge of urgency

Urgency without agency isn’t empowering.
Rather, it produces a feeling of impotence.


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.

The challenge of complexity

Otherwise, our very best
efforts are ineffective.

didn’t

Ineffectiveness.
The opposite of Can-ness.

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.


Yes we can!
Yes I am!

Building Can-ness

Increasing
our Can-ness
Health


Building can-ness …

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

Psychological and Physical and
Spiritual Can-ness Behavioral Can-ness
Healthy mind, Healthy body,
Healthy spirit Healthy actions

Cultural Can-ness Social and
Healthy cultural values, Ecological Can-ness
beliefs, attitudes, Healthy environment, economy,
assumptions, social systems, institutions,
political will policies, services

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

People, organizations, neighbourhoods and …


The Big Question:
How will change leaders
nimbly navigate the complexity
of these three critical issues?

Health

Equity

Sustainability


Health

Equity

Sustainability

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.

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.

Health

Equity

Sustainability
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.


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.


Emerging capacities for
21st century change-making
leadership include …
• a greater comfort with complexity (including human complexity)
• 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


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

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

• Human development: healthy development in adults, as well as kids …
• Overcoming resistance to change: including the shadow side of change
• Growing our response-ability: yes we can!

• Growing our sense of contribution: yes I am!
• 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

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

Albert Einstein

Taking our thinking
and our practice
to the next level …

An Integrated Approach

Communities
that Can!

An Aspirational
Framework for Action
Communities leaning
in the direction of …

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

The Action Four Strategic Directions
Framework Health
Communities
Healthy Change
that Can!
Maximizing Community
Contributions
Response-ability

Three Global Goals Three Global Needs
Healthy People Health
Healthy Communities Equity
Healthy Environment Environmental Sustainability

And an Integrated
Capacity Building Framework
• Four Strategic Directions

• Five Practice Pillars
• Five Key Intelligences

Five Practice Pillars
The Integrated
Health Generating Assets
Capacity Integral Leadership

Building Leveraging Community Contributions
Cultivating Human Potential Communities that Can !
Model Integral Capacity Building Building Capacity for
Health, Equity, Sustainability

Four Strategic
Directions Five Key Intelligences
Salutogenic Intelligence
Health
Change Intelligence
Healthy Change
Developmental Intelligence
Contributions Participation Intelligence
Response-ability Leadership Intelligence

Healthy Environment Sustainable Environment

People are talking
about change


Overheard in the hallway …

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

We keep trying to make We’ve tried to
complex challenges make the healthy
seem simple. choice the easy
choice, but …


Overheard in the parking lot …

This is
collaboration?

Why do we keep on
doing the same things
We spent a lot
– over and over again –
of money on this,
and yet expect different results?
but …


Overheard in the coffee shop …

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

How can we bring our
change-making to What’s
underneath our
the next level of resistance to
thinking & practice? change?

Overheard at
What if change leaders had
common language, concepts,
maps and tools to guide their
change-making efforts?

What if change leaders
adopted integrated
What if we
thinking and practice frameworks
addressed the
that were effective in
shadow side of
cross-disciplinary collaborations ?
change?

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

What if we found ways for
everyone to make a What if we could
contribution to generating change the ways
health, equity and sustainability? we make change?


The 21st Century Change Challenge:

Changing the ways we make change


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

A Practical Framework …

 Three Global Needs
 Three Global Goals
 Four Strategic Directions
 Five Practice Pillars
 Five Key Intelligences

Health

Three Global Needs: Equity
Environmental
Sustainability

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

2. Equity

3. Environmental Sustainability

Healthy People:
Body, Mind,
Spirit

Healthy
Communities: Healthy
System & Environment
Culture

Three Global Goals:
1. Healthy People: body, mind, spirit

2. Healthy communities: systems & culture
3. Healthy environment

Madly off in all directions? Or …

Three Global Needs
Three Global Goals

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


Four Strategic Directions
Health
Maximizing
Community
Response-ability
Contributions

Healthy Change

Interconnected.
Interdynamic.
Irreducible.

Health – Generating Assets

Integral Leadership

Leveraging Community Contributions

Cultivating Human Potential

Integral Capacity Building


Five Key Intelligences

Change Intelligence


Participation Intelligence

Leadership Intelligence

Communities
Health Generating Assets
that Can! Integral Leadership
An Innovative Leveraging Community Contributions
Change-making at the
Change-making and Cultivating Human Potential Intersection of
Capacity Building Integral Capacity Building Health, Equity, &
Approach Environmental Sustainability

Four Strategic
Directions Five Key Intelligences
Health
Change Intelligence
Healthy Change
Contributions Participation Intelligence
Response-ability Leadership Intelligence

Healthy Environment Sustainable Environment

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

An Integrated Approach
Paying attention to each of the multiple
& interconnected factors that influence
health, well-being & healthy development
• social • spiritual
• economic • cultural
• environmental • physical
• psychological

For example …

Building Health-Generating Assets
Paying attention to the whole person in the whole community:
• 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 Physical and
Spiritual Assets Behavioral Assets
Healthy mind, Healthy body,
Healthy spirit Healthy actions

Cultural Assets Social and
Healthy cultural values, Ecological Assets
beliefs, attitudes, Healthy environment, economy,
assumptions, social systems, institutions,
political will policies, services


For example …

Building health-generating assets …

Leveraging all Psychological and Physical and
Spiritual Resources Behavioral Resources
of our resources, Hope, choice, imagination,
intention, creativity
Skills, actions, behaviors,
technologies

in individuals, Cultural Resources Social and
Shared healthy values, Ecological Resources
in organizations, beliefs, attitudes,
assumptions, goals;
Healthy environment, economy,
social systems, institutions,

and in the multiple perspectives
and worldviews
policies, services;
systems that engage citizens and
support meaningful participation
broader community


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.

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

Different folks, same strokes
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.


Paying attention to • social
all of the factors • economic
that influence • environmental
health, well-being • psychological
& healthy • spiritual
development • cultural
• physical


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

Health

Equity

Sustainability


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

Response-ability

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

Salutogenic
Orientation

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

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

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

… generative change-making in action

Taking our thinking and practice to the next level …

The Invitation
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 …

Toward a Community of
Learning and Practice
A mutual meeting ground for
dialogue, deliberation, action and
accountability for professionals,
citizens, and governments alike.

Rising to the Health

Complexity of
Equity

Sustainability

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


Can-ness.
It’s in our hands.

You’re invited …

Please join this emergent
conversation on change.
www.communitiesthatcan.org

For more information …

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

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