WHAT IS SOCIAL WELL-BEING?
Social well-being is the satisfaction people experience when they see
themselves as part of a compassionate community they have helped create -
a community in which all have an opportunity to live a satisfying life, and
public and private institutions share with the entire citizenry the responsibility
to secure for everyone a humanizing education, living wages, public safety,
equal justice under the law, environmental protection, and unfettered religious
and political participation.
--Jorge Lara-Braud, 1999 Chair COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK Community
Council
In a sustainable community, equity, education, respect for human rights
and the meeting of basic needs combine to create social wealth. Everyone has
the right to access to a safe and healthful environment in which to live,
work, play and learn, including contact with nature through access to other
species. Everyone has the right to the fulfillment of basic human needs, including
safe and healthful shelter, dignified work, sufficient food, education that
meets their needs and skills. Everyone has the right to be part of a community
that offers mutual respect.
--Josh Wolfe, International Council on Local Environmental
Initiatives
Social well-being is sometimes described in terms of the three e's, especially
among the Sustainable Communities efforts: economy, environment and (social)
equity. The COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK has adopted a slightly different nomenclature:
social well-being, environmental well-being, and economic well-being.
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WHY A SOCIAL WELL-BEING AGENDA & ACTION PLAN?
Over the last four years, the COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK has worked to engage
the community in a planning process that coordinates and optimizes public,
private, and individual assets and actions to achieve sustainable solutions
to health, human and social issues. It has completed community assessments
and initial plans concerning basic needs, early education and care, education,
workforce development, physical and mental health, substance abuse, housing,
homelessness, and public safety. It has chartered task forces on homelessness,
day labor, early education and care, affordable housing, and welfare-to-work.
While each of these efforts has contributed to improving the community's
social well-being, the scope of issues to be addressed and the inter-relatedness
of the core drivers of social well-being have prompted the COMMUNITY ACTION
NETWORK to concentrate on a short-list of endeavors which have over-arching
impact on all areas of considered. Accordingly, this draft of a Social Well-Being
Agenda (issues requiring focus) and Action Plan was developed.
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OUR AGENDA (PRIORITIES):
Five priority areas:
- Development and nurturing of our children, our youth, our families, our
elders, ourselves
- Basic Needs: Food, shelter, safety, mobility and essential health care
for all
- Affordability: Jobs with livable wages, access to skill development, and
an affordable cost of living, including affordable housing.
- Equal access to health and human services, education, recreation, culture,
civic participation
- Appreciation for the richness of diversity
TWO AREAS OF IMMEDIATE APPLICATION:
Focus on implementation of solutions in these five priority areas will first
be concentrated in the areas of:
- Early Education & Care
- Workforce Development
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Our action plan:
Community groups, such as those listed below, will use the following preliminary
list of actions as a catalyst for developing and committing to their own action
plan to improve social-well being with emphasis in the five priority areas
and two areas of immediate implementation.
Individuals:
- Recognize and make the most of their own assets responsibly.
- Are generous with their gifts of time and other resources for their neighbors
and fellow citizens.
- Vote and participate in community and civic activities.
- Respect cultural differences and commonalties all people.
Schools:
- Become neighborhood centers for a range of services and activities.
- Instill a lifetime love of learning.
- Engage youth in a meaningful learning experience that links academics
to the world of work.
Employers:
- Adopt policies that promote a family-friendly workplace, including affordable
access for workers and their families to health care, child care and development,
ongoing skill development, and assistance/facilitation in gaining affordable
housing.
- Develop partnerships with schools and job training programs to provide
necessary skills and experiences for individuals to advance in the workforce
and to meet employer needs.
Public/Private Partnerships:
- Implement a coordinated, quality child development and care system.
- Develop a system to provide an affordable housing solution.
- Develop job training and literacy programs.
- Develop systems that remove barriers to access to basic health, human,
and mobility services.
- Adopt a social well-being impact policy for all actions taken.
Governments:
- Adopt livable wage and corporate responsibility policies.
- Coordinate an emergency assistance program.
- Incorporate zoning and development codes which encourage affordable housing,
minimal transportation impact, and family-friendly, safe neighborhoods.
- Deploy a transportation system that assures access to services and jobs.
The Faith Community:
- Promotes volunteerism and advocacy on the social well-being agenda and
areas of action.
- Coordinates individual ministries with areas of social well-being emphasis.
Service Providers
- Create a basic support system for families, screening all children at
birth for the level of support which may be needed by family and connecting
the family with appropriate services to provide that support.
- Create a community-wide case management system that uses common intake
and eligibility information to meet individual and family needs.
- Consolidate service provider infrastructure, where possible, to reduce
costs.
- Develop and deploy a coordinated, geographically accessible food pantry
and supplemental nutrition program.
- Develop and implement a comprehensive emergency shelter and transitional
housing system.
- Develop programs that reduce unsafe behaviors, particularly among youth.
Media
- Keep the community informed as to progress on social well-being goals
and programs.
- Continue to promote social well-being outcomes and strategies to individuals
and groups.
- Recognize employers with family-friendly workplaces.
The Philanthropic Community:
- Utilizes information from the COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK to help shape their
funding and development initiatives.
- Becomes an advocate, along with others, for social well-being issues.
- Increases the level of philanthropy, particularly for social well-being
causes, in the central Texas area.
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