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YMCA of the USA’s Pioneering Healthier Communities (PHC) |
 | | http://www.ymca.net/activateamerica/activate_america_leadership.html
Together, the nation's 2,594 YMCA's are the largest not-for-profit community service organization in America, working to meet the health and human service needs of 20.1 million men, women and children in 10,000 communities in the United States. The PHC initiative is a community leadership strategy to facilitate active living and healthier eating through policy and environmental change strategies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a primary partner and funder. There are now 64 PHC communities across the US. YMCA's are at the heart of community life and make for effective conveners of initiatives developing innovative approaches to active living and healthier eating.
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Community Initiatives has worked closely with YUSA staff to design the PHC initiative, and continues to help lead national learning events, to coach local sites in developing their teams and action plans, and to support peer-learning strategies.
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The Education Network For the Advancement of Cancer Clinical Trials (ENACCT) |
| | http://enacct.org ENACCT’s mission is to identify, implement and validate innovative community centered approaches to cancer clinical trials education. The primary program, funded by the Lance Armstrong Foundation www.livestrong.org ,was created to demonstrate how a community-driven outreach and education program can increase awareness about cancer clinical trials, enhance their acceptability and improve access to them—particularly among minority and underserved communities. |
Community Initiatives consults the national staff on organizational strategy and provides coaching and technical assistance to three unique community-based coalitions in Tacoma, WA, Boston, MA and Decatur, IL. CI’s role includes supporting peer-learning, developing policy approaches to overcome clinical trial barriers, and sustainability planning. |
 | | http://www.pednet.org The Mission of the PedNet Coalition of Columbia, MO is to encourage active travel such as walking, bicycling, and rolling a wheelchair, and to promote the creation of a safe and attractive network of paths, trails and multi-modal streets that provides health, environmental, quality-of-life, and economic benefits to the community. The PedNet Coalition was chosen to participate in the Active Living by Design Initiative and was selected for the first round of the Robert Woods Johnson Wood Johnson Foundation’s “Healthy Kids Healthy Community” grant program. In addition, PedNet has earned a national reputation as a leader in active living and through its Safe Routes to Schools/Walking School Bus Programs.
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A Community Initiatives team member works with senior staff and the board to help develop an effective approach to board governance and strategic planning. |
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City of Santa Monica (CA) – Sustainable City Program |
| | http://www.santa-monica.org/epd/scp/index.htm
Following seven years of implementation, the Santa Monica Sustainable City Program had achieved much success. Many of the initial targets had been met or exceeded and Santa Monica had become recognized as a worldwide role model for sustainability. However, in reviewing the progress made since the adoption of the program, the City’s Task Force on the Environment recognized the need to update and expand the Sustainable City goals and indicators to provide a more complete picture of community sustainability, and to develop new indicator targets for 2010.
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A Community Initiatives team member worked with City staff to design the overall update process, including the formation the Sustainable City Working Group. Working as part of a consulting team, CI provided facilitation and technical assistance support to City staff and the Working Group over 18 months as they evaluated the long-term sustainability of Santa Monica, developed and proposed changes to the Sustainable City goals and indicators, assisted with the creation of new indicator targets, and developed initial recommendations on new governance structures that would facilitate broader city and community engagement in taking action toward achieving the new goals. |
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Healthy Communities of Brownsville, TX |
| | www.healthybrownsville.org Healthy Communities of Brownsville (HCB) is a non-profit grassroots community organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for the citizens of Brownsville. The more than 100 founding members came from neighborhoods, churches, businesses, educational institutions, healthcare entities, government agencies and other community groups. The concern and dedication of these Brownsville citizens led to the establishment of a broad-based, collaborative and dynamic organization. This action-oriented organization and network focuses on improvements in education, health/well-being and the environment. |
Community Initiatives worked with the initial team who framed and initiated the 10 month planning process that led to the development of HCB. CI also facilitated the series community-wide meetings and assisted in the development of a sustainable organization, including governance structure. |
| | http://www.everyday-democracy.org/en/index.aspx
The mission of Everyday Democracy (formerly the Study Circles Resource Center) is to help communities develop their own ability to solve problems by exploring ways for all kinds of people to think, talk and work together to create change. Founded in 1989, the organization has provided advice and training to more than 550 communities across the country. As part of their on-going organizational learning and development, they sought to rethink their evaluation efforts in ways that would more effectively support, reflect and work seamlessly with their approach to working with communities. |
A Community Initiatives team member provided coaching and facilitation support for Everyday Democracy staff in their exploration of evaluation principles and tools, and drafted a background paper and framework that would serve as a starting point for the on-going development of their evaluation designs and proposals. |
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University of Vermont Center for Sustainable Agriculture |
| | http://www.uvm.edu/~susagctr/
The mission of the UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture is to cultivate understanding and innovative practices and policies that advance sustainable food and farming in VT and beyond. To update its focus and enhance its efforts, the Center engaged in a strategic learning and planning process. Community Initiatives provided process design and facilitation support for the Center’s strategic planning process, including coaching on the organizational culture and decision processes that would be supportive for effective implementation of the proposed plan.
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Projects