A Word From LiveWell Douglas County
by Marty Scott
Douglas Counthy LiveWell Executive Director
LiveWell Douglas County coalition is grateful to have the opportunity to work with and collaborate with K-State Research and Extension Douglas County. They are one of only a few agencies in the county that provides hands-on nutrition and environmental education to residents in town and in rural areas. Like K-State Research and Extension Douglas County, LiveWell is actively engaged in achieving health equity and promoting the well-being of residents. The Cooperative Extension’s model for Health Equity and Well Being is shown below:
In 2021, the model was updated to guide Cooperative Extension’s health-related work (Burton et al. (2021) Cooperative Extension’s National Framework for Health Equity and Well Being. [Report of the Health Innovation Task Force] Extension Committee on Organization and Policy: Washington, DC.). The outer ring of the diagram lists many of the root causes of structural inequity. Additionally, the framework includes the nine social determinants of health identified by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM, 2017). Cooperative Extension added access to healthy food as a tenth determinant because of its centrality to its work.
According to the updated model, Cooperative Extension works through two major streams of activity to improve health. The first stream is through promoting healthy behaviors though communication and educational programing that is focused on either the general population or on groups experiencing inequities in health outcomes. The second stream involves working with and through coalitions like LiveWell to create healthy communities.
According to the report, to improve health equity it is important to move from an expert model of program delivery to a model based on authentic community engagement. The model stresses the importance of inviting and engaging community members who have lived experience with health inequities to identify strategies to improve community health. Research has shown that participatory approaches to community health improvement result in significant and lasting change in communities previously experiencing significant health disparities (Strayer III, et. al., 2020; Kidd, et. al., 2016; Ramirez Andreottta, et. al., 2015; Meister and de Zapien, 2005).
The challenge for many coalitions including LiveWell is creating a diverse, robust coalition that includes active participation from individuals with lived experience in the community as well as participation from health and human service representatives. To address this challenge last April, with the help of K-State Research & Extension Douglas County, LiveWell applied and was selected by the Kansas Volunteer Commission to participate in an 18-month, change-management program to become a certified Service Enterprise. The Service Enterprise program is designed to help non-profits and coalitions incorporate the resources and the power of people in their communities to meet their mission and build a community of stakeholders that can provide a sustained investment of time, talent, and resources. By participating in the program, LiveWell hopes to create a welcoming, supportive environment that will attract a diverse group of volunteers passionate about achieving health equity, particularly those with lived experience.
During the 18-month professionally supported change management process, LiveWell will evaluate and improve its volunteer engagement practices and policies in the ten areas identified below. Non-profits who make volunteering a core strategic function (not an add-on), who become proficient in the ten evidence-based areas, and who are better equipped to engage volunteers. Engaging a robust, diverse volunteer base will increase LiveWell’s ability to achieve health equity and advance its social vision of creating communities where we all thrive.
Between August and November, any LiveWell partner and/or stakeholder, including you, is invited to participate in the Service Enterprise training sessions. The training times and dates are listed below.
- Session 1 8/4 A: Laying the Foundation
- Session 2 8/18 B: Establishing the Vision
- Session 3 9/1 C: Shifting the Paradigm
- Session 4 9/15 D: Evaluating Impact
- Session 5 9/29 E: Putting Theory into Practice
- Session 6 10/13 F: Developing New Opportunities
- Session 7 10/27 G: Accelerating Change
- Session 8 11/3. H: Final Presentations
If you would like to be included in one or more of the training sessions, contact Marty Scott at Scottmb@ksu.edu.
