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CI

Community Initiatives

...is a network of individuals and partner organizations dedicated to building healthy
and whole communities.

A Healthy Community is...a place that has good schools, good jobs, plenty of parks, bikable/walkable routes, efficient public transport, sustainable growth, access to quality healthcare, a vibrant arts and cultural life, a locally-driven economy, and where people from different backgrounds join to solve problems, work, laugh, and do life together.

A community that is continuously creating and improving those physical and social environments and expanding those community resources that enable people to mutually support each other and maximize everyone's potential

What Determines Our Health?

There are basically 5 major determinates of health other than our genetics. (Read More..)

Healthy

What is a healthy community?

...A place that has good schools; good jobs; plenty of parks; bikable/walkable routes; efficient public transport; sustainable growth; access to quality healthcare; a vibrant arts and cultural life; a locally-driven economy; and where people from different backgrounds join to solve problems, work, laugh, and do life together.

...A community that is continuously creating and improving those physical and social environments and expanding those community resources that enable people to mutually support each other and maximize everyone's potential.

What Determines Our Health? (Read More..)

Whole

What is whole?

Whole simply means containing all components; complete; not divided or disjointed; acting together; restored; healed; well; sound; healthy; entire; not broken or fractured; unimpaired; integral…

Acting from and for the whole is challenging: As humans, part of our default mode is naturally self-centered - we tend to see and interpret everything through this lens of self. Our daily and civic discourse usually reinforces this default mode. Our “discussions,” a word whose roots mean to “break apart,” can reinforce conversations where we hold onto and defend our self-centered view. It is when we move into a mode of Dialogue that we can begin to see the Whole. (Read More About Dialogue...)

Community

What is a community?

A community is a group of people, often living in a defined geographic area, who are connected by culture, values and/or norms, and who share common struggles and dreams. "Community" includes neighborhoods, towns, regions, workplaces, schools, faith and interest groups, associations and virtual networks.

How do we get healthy and whole communities? It is people working in groups - collaboratively - that has the greatest potential, the most leverage, for creating the conditions (see determinants) that lead to health and wholeness. It is an ongoing process and commitment made up of intentional choices and actions. CI exists to help people work together to build healthy, whole communities. (Read more About CI.)

Communities around the globe face common, vexing issues: improving economic conditions and reducing poverty; revitalizing neighborhoods and the natural environment; tackling chronic diseases largely caused by unhealthy lifestyles; cultivating sustainable food systems; providing access to quality healthcare, and addressing persistent inequities along racial and ethnic lines. Community Initiatives believes it is at the community level, and within the context of community, that we have the greatest opportunity to:

Develop innovative and comprehensive solutions to these and related complex challenges;
Implement policy changes that promote and facilitate healthy behaviors;
Build authentic and trusting relationships across political, sectoral, class, racial and ethnic divisions;
Establish enduring patterns of collaboration based upon a culture of caring and shared commitment to reciprocal stewardship; and
Create and sustain the conditions that are foundational to our collective health and well-being.

Acting from these beliefs, CI offers a unique blend of content and policy expertise, together with the skills and tools essential for genuine collaboration.

About Our Services

News & Ideas

Welcome!

Thank you for visiting our new website. This new site highlights CI’s ongoing commitment to healthy, whole communities and points to our exciting new directions and capacities.

For example, CI is placing greater emphasis on helping communities develop “healthy” environmental and policy changes; to join others in peer learning forums; and to utilize technologies such as GIS and other data visualization tools to support decision making and performance tracking.

It is our hope that this CI website will serve as a meaningful source of learning and networking.

We welcome your comments and recommended resources to consider as additions to this site.

Please enjoy your visit