As communities work aggressively to stop the spread of COVID-19 and look toward recovery, it is vital that resulting policies and practices do more than bolster economies and pursue economic indicators of progress. Our rebuilding approaches must also ensure racial equity and well-being for all people as both our aim and our metric for success.
We have much to learn from other countries that have taken a well-being approach to decision-making, budgets, and policies. In these contexts, well-being is a broad and holistic view of how people are doing. It encompasses basic needs like food, housing, safety, education, employment and income. It includes social and emotional needs like sense of purpose, belonging and life satisfaction. And it is tightly linked with the well-being of our communities and our planet.
Well-Being: Expanding the Definition of Progress, based on insights from practitioners, researchers, and innovators from 19 countries and a wealth of perspectives, illustrates what it takes to shift the metrics of success from economics-only concepts to more balanced measures of progress. By exploring how well-being approaches play out in a range of contexts—from Palestine to Nova Scotia, New Zealand to Bhutan—it surfaces insights on measurement, narrative, grassroots engagement and shifts in power, and cross-sector collaboration. Essays by leading U.S. practitioners apply the volume’s insights to the U.S. context.
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