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At Healthy Places by Design, we envision a nation of healthy, equitable communities where everyone reaches their full potential. This vision is grounded in a broader understanding of health and the recognition that community-led action and proven, place-based strategies will help us achieve it.

In 2017, our team began a series of intentional conversations to check our assumptions, refine how we measure our impact, and create structures to hold ourselves accountable to that vision. This included the need for a framework to guide our efforts and goals.

In recognition of the nimble nature of this work, we have developed a concise, transparent, and flexible framework that focuses on equity, describes our guiding principles, and refines four focus areas of our work. Our 2018-2023 Strategic Framework is both a guide for our efforts and a promise to the communities, clients, and partners we serve. We look forward to connecting with you around our common goals and invite you to ask us questions and challenge our thinking.

Here’s an overview of what you’ll see in the framework:

Our Story

Our Values

• EQUITY
• COMMUNITY
• INTEGRITY
• COLLABORATION

Vision

Mission

Focus Area 1: Accelerating Equity

• Everyone achieves their full potential for health and wellbeing.
• Our organization has the capacity to understand diversity, practice inclusion, and strive for equity.
• Every funder, partnership, and community leader we serve gains a deeper understanding of health equity and addresses it with intention.
• The people most affected by health disparities are empowered to advance action in their communities.

Focus Area 2: Advancing Action

• Communities and partners have the capacity to take meaningful, lasting action to improve health and wellbeing.
• Organizations that fund healthy community change make effective and appropriate investments that support successful initiatives and partnerships over the long-term.
• Our impact on the partnerships and communities we serve is clearly demonstrated.
• We contribute to knowledge in the healthy communities field.

Focus Area 3: Lifting Leaders

• Every funder, partnership, and community we serve develops facilitative leadership skills.
• Community leaders become life-long changemakers.
• The network of leaders who understand the Community Action Model is expanded, and all are able to tailor it to their use and unique contexts.

Focus Area 4: Enhancing Collaboration

• Diverse partnerships between organizations that are working to create healthier communities are forged and sustained.
• Collaborative learning opportunities are expanded.
• We inspire effective partnership by being good partners ourselves.