By Monte Roulier
Every January for the past five years, community partners with the North Sound Accountable Community of Health (ACH) Collaborative Action Network (Network) have gathered in a majestic corner of Northwest Washington to connect, grow, and set direction. This regional collaborative of 247 cross-sector partner organizations, including the eight Tribal Nations of the Salish Sea, has embraced “whole person/whole community” approaches to transforming community health and well-being.
People with lived experiences of homelessness, addiction, poverty, and racial discrimination guide the design and implementation of solutions. Faith-based organizations are modeling love in action by adopting, reintegrating, and learning from formerly incarcerated individuals who are now visible leaders and entrepreneurs. Together, Network partners are embracing a new narrative of who they are becoming as a community.
Becoming was this year’s theme for the network convening, which fell during the week of January 20th—MLK Day and the start of a new administration. The historic coincidence highlighted the divided nation’s contested narratives of who we’ve been, who we are, and who we are becoming. Across the U.S., some celebrated the inauguration as a re-making of America, while others watched in despair and saw it as a breaking of America. Back in the North Sound, with a network composed of many groups and interests that fell in the new administration’s crosshairs, the sharp rhetoric and early executive actions added weight to the questions around becoming.
While the gathering began on a somber note, an unusual yet energized calm settled over the room as the day progressed. Guided by artists and tribal and faith leaders, those gathered began to shift their perspective on this fraught time. Music, dialogue, stories, and art pierced hearts, reminding partners of their collective resilience, achievements, and shared power. They were neither helpless nor hostage to this challenging moment. The Network partners doubled down on their commitment to one another. In the North Sound, what is taking shape is both a response and an alternative to the dehumanizing, zero-sum culture wars of recent years. It is a story of a regional community growing belonging and strengthening civic muscle to solve real problems. They are “positive deviants” in an under-reported story of communities rising and thriving together.
All People, All Places – No Exceptions
This convening held special significance as it marked the pending retirement of Liz Baxter, the fearless Executive Director of the North Sound ACH, the backbone organization of the Network. The renowned john a. powell of the Othering & Belonging Institute came to honor Liz and recognize how the Network has become a national exemplar. In his remarks, powell noted how the strategy of “belonging through othering”—uniting by demonizing others—has repeatedly produced devastating results, including Rwanda’s horrific civil war. His message underscored how, especially in times of uncertainty, exclusionary approaches can dangerously distort unity and fuel destructive outcomes. It was a fitting reflection for a convening held during the week of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as King himself reminded us that “we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” The North Sound partners embody this truth, showing that real belonging emerges not through division but from shared commitment to one another.
The Network was sparked through Washington State’s Accountable Communities of Health funding, intended to transform Medicaid. North Sound ACH was among the first to choose the less-traveled path. By 2019, North Sound ACH and their network partners began shifting from a primary focus on healthcare coordination and delivery toward radically expanding their community partnerships and broadening their vision of whole community well-being. This expanded vision laid the foundation for a more holistic approach—one focused not just on urgent services during crises, but on cultivating long-term conditions for communities to thrive.
When COVID struck in early 2020, exposing the fragility of many existing systems, it underscored a crucial lesson: urgent responses alone cannot sustain lasting well-being. The Network’s integrated, community-driven model proved its value. Liz and Darrell Hillaire, Lummi Nation Elder, and executive director of the Children of the Setting Sun Productions, joined other leading non-governmental organizations and community voices from across the country to shape the “Thriving Together Springboard,” tapping into lived experience to navigate the compounding challenges of a pandemic, economic collapse, and deepening racial and social inequities.
The Springboard articulated a compelling vision and practical pathways to help communities navigate through crises and emerge with greater resilience, equity, and direction. Its crowdsourced wisdom was both holistic and pragmatic, converting failures of broken systems into sustained, shared renewal. It offered a decidedly trans partisan approach, uniting people around one guiding principle: All people and places thriving together —no exceptions. The Springboard introduced seven interconnected Vital Conditions essential for holistic well-being and justice. The Vital Conditions framework has been key to reinforcing the unifying, measurable expectation that every person and place can thrive—no exceptions.
Dynamics of Thriving Together
North Sound ACH and its network partners were among the earliest adopters of the Vital Conditions framework and Thriving Together ethos—a comprehensive strategy to establish the Vital Conditions, through shared stewardship, powered by belonging and civic muscle. This approach sees community as a place that confers dignity, expands opportunity, and unlocks human potential. Urgent services alone cannot create lasting well-being. The answer lies in moving beyond short-term crisis response toward long-term investments in the conditions communities need to thrive. Doing so requires an honest look at the historical legacies that shape our communities—the barriers that have excluded some, as well as the pathways that have opened opportunities for others.
We all need the same Vital Conditions to thrive…
➔ No matter who we are or where we live, we all need the same vital conditions to reach our full potential. This non-hierarchical framework centers community and shared agency, diverging from other frameworks that place the individual at the core and reinforce independence over interdependence.
➔ When vital conditions are disrupted or denied, people struggle and suffer, which drives up the need for urgent services. If these urgent services become permanent stand-ins for long-term investments, we spiral into an “adversity economy” that traps human potential. The bottom line is that we cannot “urgent service” our way to thriving.
Our country and communities were not designed for everyone to thrive…
➔ The balance between who is thriving and who is struggling or suffering often reflects inherited legacies—past decisions, investments, and norms passed down through generations.
➔ Today’s deep racial and social inequities are direct results of unjust legacies – legacies of dehumanization, exclusion, trauma, and systemic injustice. These forces continue to trap human potential.
How do we move from systems never intended for everyone to thrive to systems that honor every person’s potential? It begins with everyday people and organizations committing to something larger than themselves, acting as stewards of the common good. Together, stewards work to ensure that everyone, without exception, has the vital conditions they need to flourish.
Community stewards work together to ensure everyone has the vital conditions to thrive…
Our country and communities also have powerful examples of just legacies—those that confer dignity, expand opportunity, remove barriers, and unlock human potential. We possess the capacity to create new legacies for well-being and justice, aligned with our founding ideals.
➔ Stewards are people and organizations who collaborate to secure the vital conditions everyone needs to thrive together, beginning with those who are struggling and suffering.
➔ Stewards are most effective when they grow belonging—a sense of connection and being valued—and build civic muscle, the collective power to work across differences for the common good. In doing so, they create enduring legacies of well-being for current and future generations.
The North Sound ACH and Network have done more than simply adopt the Thriving Together approach—they’ve brought it vividly to life. Its common language, values, metrics, and theory of change resonated across partner organizations, strengthening their resolve to advance a just, inclusive culture and the conditions that enable everyone to thrive. As a collective, the network’s partners combine their considerable assets, influence, and leadership to create new legacies for living together. Above all, the Network has modeled what it looks like for a regional community to intentionally grow belonging and civic muscle.
Growing Belonging & Civic Muscle
Belonging and civic muscle is the heart of the Vital Conditions framework. It is the key to boosting all the other vital conditions, functioning both as a means (tools that help us achieve better health, resilience, and justice) and as an end in itself (worth pursuing for its own sake). A consensus study from National Academies affirms that we are wired for connection and contribution. Belonging is more than being seen or included; it also means having the power to shape one’s community. As john a. powell reminds us, “At the core of belonging is the act of co-creation.” When people feel connected and valued, they are more likely to contribute, which deepens that sense of belonging. This creates a virtuous cycle.
The Network has nurtured this cycle by intentionally connecting through respectful relationships, starting first with the eight tribes. This foundational work opened doors for bridging across differences, inviting partners to embark on a tribal and equity learning journey, and deeply acknowledging past harms—broken treaties, stolen lands, culture-erasing boarding schools, and more. Partners like Children of the Setting Sun Productions model mending through storytelling to promote collective healing, demonstrating how vulnerability and empathy can nurture belonging.
As new organizations like Paths to Understanding join the Network, they intentionally focus on bridging differences by creating spaces for meaningful dialogue, exemplified by the Potluck Project and Let’s Go Together initiatives. Faith-based groups connect by leveraging relational and spiritual strengths, supporting individuals suffering and recovering from addiction and reintegrating formerly incarcerated people who are now contributing their lived experiences as leaders in co-creating innovative approaches to prevention, recovery, and reentry. The team at Underground Ministries anchors reentry work, while Kevin and Danielle Riley, a clergy couple with lived experience, help spearhead efforts to free people from poverty and addiction.
To sustain and strengthen these relationships, the North Sound ACH and Network have made significant investments in evolving their shared power—creating the collaborative infrastructure necessary to hold brave spaces for transformative conversations through creating shared language and intentional onboarding. Monthly learning sessions, annual convenings, and communities of practice provide continuous opportunities for weaving mutual interests, co-creating actionable solutions, and growing collective leadership. These intentional spaces foster a shared language and commitment, reinforcing the values and habits that enable belonging and civic muscle to flourish.
That’s why sharing space at the North Sound ACH network convening this January became such a source of strength, resilience, and hope. Among the hundreds gathered were people who had experienced profound lows and risen again. This was not a time to cave to fear or worst instincts. As Liz said, “We can lead with suspicion, or fear, or anger. And we can choose to lead with love even when those other emotions or experiences want to crowd out love.” This was a time to double down on love, commit to one another, and commit to who they were Becoming: a place where all belong and thrive together.
But how does a community cultivate belonging and civic muscle in practice? What does it look like to embed these principles into everyday life? The answer lies in specific collective habits, practices, and capacities—individual, interpersonal, and collective—that build the foundation for a thriving, resilient community.
The Habits and Practices of Belonging & Civic Muscle
No single formula exists for growing belonging and civic muscle. Each community must discover its own approach based on context, history, and assets. Yet certain patterns consistently emerge—personal, interpersonal, and collective habits, practices and capacities.
Belonging Practices
(1) Making Space for CONNECTING With Others
Connection & Engagement | Connection & Vulnerability | Self-Reflection & Nature
Humans are wired for social connection. “Connectedness is a biological imperative,” explains Dr. Bonnie Badenoch, a leader in relational neuroscience. Our shared human experiences shape our sense of meaning and purpose. Yet rising isolation damages personal and collective well-being, as U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy emphasizes.
- Regularly participate in social groups or volunteer activities, deepening genuine engagement and presence.
- Cultivate close relationships with friends or family, allowing authentic expression of joy, grief, gratitude, and vulnerability.
- Spend time in solitude, exploring mindfulness practices, embodied activities, or nature. Consider learning local flora and fauna to deepen your sense of belonging.
(2) Extending Space for BRIDGING Across Differences
Dialogue & Understanding | Expanding Social Circles | Cultural Humility
Bridging involves forming meaningful connections across divides—political, racial, religious, socioeconomic, and cultural. It nurtures mutual respect and understanding, creating friendships and insights often unavailable within homogeneous groups. While connection is natural, our brains can push us away from difference and discomfort.
- Create and join dialogues with people who hold different perspectives, engaging with genuine curiosity, empathy, and kindness.
- Expand your social circles through community groups, events, faith communities, or informal gatherings.
- Practice cultural humility and curiosity, openly learning about other cultures through conversations, art, and personal relationships.
(3) Holding Space for MENDING Our Woundedness
Difficult Conversations | Solidarity & Support | Inner Healing
Mending recognizes our wounds from personal experiences and systemic injustices. Whether consciously or not, these wounds affect how we relate, feel, and act. Mending involves both internal reflection and outward engagement, creating spaces where people feel seen, heard, and accepted.
- Hold space for challenging conversations. Listen deeply and extend understanding and empathy.
- Show up in solidarity for community members who face injustice, oppression, or marginalization.
- Dedicate time and emotional space to your healing journey, utilizing tools and resources available for personal and collective growth.
Civic Muscle Capacities
(1) WEAVING Our Mutual Interests
Shared Language | Community Dialogue & Vision | Consensus & Leadership
Weaving aligns individual stories and aspirations into collective narratives, building shared priorities and actionable visions. It illuminates common challenges and opportunities, clarifies roles, and fosters distributive leadership, engaging everyone’s unique influence.
- Facilitate community dialogues to build trust, establish a shared vision, and shape collective narratives.
- Agree upon a common language or framework to anchor collaborative efforts.
- Build consensus on shared priorities, approaches, and leadership roles, possibly through agreements or charters.
(2) CO-CREATING Transformative Solutions
Lived Experience | Multi-Solving Strategies | Action Planning & Advocacy
Co-creation actively includes those most directly impacted, merging lived and learned experiences to develop inclusive, relevant solutions. Effective approaches often address multiple issues simultaneously, moving beyond immediate crises toward lasting change.
- Center lived experiences alongside technical expertise when identifying challenges and developing solutions.
- Design strategies that solve multiple, intersecting problems, prioritizing the needs of those experiencing greatest hardship.
- Build a strong case for change, using compelling narratives alongside clear, actionable strategies.
(3) EVOLVING Collaborative Infrastructure
Gatherings for Learning Together | Communication & Data Tech | Leadership Development
Expanding civic muscle requires building up collaborative infrastructure—the shared gathering spaces, communication platforms, data and measurement systems, and leadership development pathways that support inclusive and sustained civic action. These shared capacities strengthen collaboration across sectors and initiatives. They also open the door to harvesting collective civic intelligence through a more holistic lens.
- Regularly create opportunities for collective learning and action to build relationships across sectors and initiatives.
- Leverage technology intentionally to facilitate communication, coordinate community action, and measure progress.
- Grow leadership development pathways so more community members are prepared to lead.
“I think it is healing behavior, to look at something so broken and see the possibility and wholeness in it.” —adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds
At its core, all this work—strengthening civic muscle and nurturing belonging—is about a desire for wholeness. As adrienne maree brown emphasizes, wholeness is communal as much as personal, emerging from care, connection, and collective action. Ultimately, it is about reclaiming a sense of belonging, contribution, and shared purpose within communities.
Signals from a Movement for Thriving Together
North Sound ACH and partner Network are not alone. The Thriving Together ethos and the Vital Conditions framework have been embraced by scores of social impact initiatives, investors, journalists, state-wide efforts, foundations, federal agencies, and universities. The widespread appeal stems from their power to help us re-discover our shared humanity and to find new paths forward. Perhaps because they inherently center community, grounding vital conditions in place, they resonate with countless communities across the nation, from California to West Virginia. These communities use this values-rich, bridging framework to forge a way forward, together. Here are just a few other noteworthy “positive deviants” forging an alternative path in a time of division and widespread paralysis.
Imagine Fox Cities
In Wisconsin’s Fox Cities region, a traditional collection of civic leaders flipped the script on planning for the future. They shared power by inviting a wide spectrum of community members to help reimagine and co-create the future with their great-grandchildren in mind. Major corporations, such as Kimberly Clark, joined a reinvigorated network of neighborhood associations and churches in creative bridging and belonging activities. These efforts aimed to address loneliness and dehumanizing politics, revitalizing the arts and music landscape to showcase an outdoor cultural landscape to reflect the rich diverse perspectives that were nearly invisible; and changing the way anchor institutions (hospitals, health departments and foundations) define, measure and invest in success. Thriving became their shared north star, supported by a community-wide measurement platform organized around the Vital Conditions and accessible to everyone.
Inland Empire Vital Conditions Network
In California’s Inland Empire, one of the fastest growing and most diverse regions in the country, a broad alliance of networks called the IE Vital Conditions Network is bringing together hundreds of grassroots leaders, nonprofits, policymakers, and private sector stakeholders. Their mission is to align policy, investment, and philanthropic efforts with the vital conditions. A consortium of Southern California hospital systems already uses these principles to guide assessments, priorities, and investments. Meanwhile, a “journalism innovation hub” is quickly garnering national attention by developing a solution-focused journalism ecosystem—including 280 radio stations—centered on the vital conditions. Their goal is to engage nearly five million residents in meaningful, solutions-oriented reporting that can help revive healthy democratic norms and values.
Community Health Centers (CHCs) of the Northwest Region
CHCs serve on the front lines of caring for community members who often bear the heaviest burdens of social and racial inequities. The CHC movement traces back to 1965 and was initially guided by civil rights leaders like Dr. Jack Geiger, drawing inspiration from holistic, community-centered approaches developed under apartheid South Africa. In 2023, CHCs from across five Northwestern states engaged in an Innovation Lab that used the vital conditions framework and Thriving Together ethos to co-create new practices, tools, and metrics. These resources aim to strengthen CHC stewardship of organizational and system changes, fostering thriving at both patient and organizational levels and reimagining partnerships that support vital conditions for everyone.
Thriving Together Democracy
The Inter-Movement Impact Project brings together a broad network of pro-democracy leaders, civic health reformers, social justice advocates, and bridgers. They use the Thriving Together ethos and the Vital Conditions as a bridging framework to deepen collaborative learning and action. In an era where democratic institutions, norms, and processes face serious challenges, this network is lifting up and evolving next-generation participatory approaches to problem-solving. The National Civic League’s “Healthy Democracy Ecosystem” project, for instance, has mapped more than 10,000 organizations that champion a healthier democracy. As Harry Boyte—a pioneer of democracy as a way of life and Springboard contributor—observes in NCR’s Return of the Citizen, there is a need and a yearning to revitalize citizen-centered problem-solving. Kristen Hansen, Executive Director of the Civic Health Project, offers hope, pointing to America’s active and growing Bridge Building movement – hundreds of local bridge building organizations that are rejecting the toxic culture of polarization and embrace growing constructive relationships across lines of difference. Revitalizing citizen-centered democracy and civic life is indispensable to a thriving community.
These stories are not just inspiring examples; they are signals of a deeper shift, backed by many organizations that are building infrastructure so others can join in. Indeed, the momentum is growing. Platforms like Thriving.us, Stewards Rising, and the Community Commons help stewards connect, share knowledge, and spread innovations. As part of this larger effort, the Rippel Foundation’s ReThink Health initiative, in partnership with the Institute for People, Place, and Possibility (IP3), is tracking and documenting the movement’s evolution through a forthcoming State of the Movement hub. Together, these spaces and tools are among the essential Thriving Together infrastructure that will offer a clearer picture of the growing momentum, making it easier for communities and changemakers to see and learn from each other, find tools and resources to support collaborative action, and provide the data and stories to catalyze change and shape a new narrative together.
Becoming…
Today’s widespread sense of uncertainty and division can feel overwhelming, even paralyzing. The bruising 2024 election deepened a culture war fueled by disinformation that seeks to divide and dehumanize. Yet as David Brooks notes, profound cultural transformations often happen quietly—sparked by small groups of people whose better way of living becomes an example for others to follow. The North Sound ACH and their network partners, along with other community-centered efforts, are “positive deviants” who show us what is possible. Intentionally countercultural in the best possible way, they choose compassion, generosity, and connectedness, cultivating a hopeful alternative to division. These communities become examples for the rest of us, pursuing a path toward belonging and civic muscle, even in difficult times.
Otto Scharmer reminds us that when systems collapse, people rise. Perhaps even more accurately, when systems break, people rise together in community. History shows that this is precisely how meaningful change occurs: people see something good, something life-affirming and joyful, and they begin to copy it, spreading renewal from small circles outward. At this critical moment, our deepest longing for connection, wholeness, and love can only be realized together, in community. Our common future depends on it.
Join fellow stewards in a rising movement to thrive together: www.thriving.us.
Monte Roulier is President of Community Initiatives Network (CI), a network dedicated to advancing communities marked by a sense of belonging, stewardship, and willingness to act for the common good. Monte and the CI team helped convene hundreds of leading non-governmental organizations and community voices from across the country to shape the Thriving Together Springboard. He is a co-founder and chair of Institute for People Place and Possibility (IP3) and serves on the board of the National Civic League.
Special Thanks to CI Senior Associates, Stacy Wegley (photographs) and David Persky (content and research).
