How Can a Community Pursue Equitable Health and Well-Being after a Severe Shock? Ideas from an Exploratory Simulation Model

Local communities sometimes face severe shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or economic recession, which inflict widespread harm, intensify injustice and test the ties that bind people together. A recent “Springboard” theory proposes a way to spring forward toward an equitable, thriving future by...

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Main Authors: Bobby Milstein, Jack Homer, Chris Soderquist
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-09-01
Series:Systems
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/10/5/158
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author Bobby Milstein
Jack Homer
Chris Soderquist
author_facet Bobby Milstein
Jack Homer
Chris Soderquist
author_sort Bobby Milstein
collection DOAJ
description Local communities sometimes face severe shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or economic recession, which inflict widespread harm, intensify injustice and test the ties that bind people together. A recent “Springboard” theory proposes a way to spring forward toward an equitable, thriving future by altering priorities among four structural drivers of population well-being: the extent of vital conditions, equity, urgent services capacity, and belonging and civic muscle. To explore the strategic implications of the Springboard theory, we developed the Thriving Together Model, a system dynamics simulation model that lets users play out alternative investment priorities and track changes over a decade as they try to maximize the number of people thriving and minimize suffering. The prototype model is exploratory, subject to further refinement and empirical support, but it has already sparked creative conversations among hundreds of changemakers who have interacted with it through an interactive theater. This paper presents the model’s structure, illustrative results, and tentative insights. The Thriving Together Model extends Ostrom’s Nobel Prize-winning work on shared stewardship by offering a general explanation about how stewards of a divided community can heal through a traumatic shock and spring forward toward a future with greater well-being and justice.
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spelling doaj.art-f164b87d04834e12bde442e8e297277f2023-11-24T02:55:12ZengMDPI AGSystems2079-89542022-09-0110515810.3390/systems10050158How Can a Community Pursue Equitable Health and Well-Being after a Severe Shock? Ideas from an Exploratory Simulation ModelBobby Milstein0Jack Homer1Chris Soderquist2ReThink Health and Rippel Foundation, Morristown, NJ 07960, USAMIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, MA 02142, USAPontifex Consulting, Atlanta, GA 30341, USALocal communities sometimes face severe shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or economic recession, which inflict widespread harm, intensify injustice and test the ties that bind people together. A recent “Springboard” theory proposes a way to spring forward toward an equitable, thriving future by altering priorities among four structural drivers of population well-being: the extent of vital conditions, equity, urgent services capacity, and belonging and civic muscle. To explore the strategic implications of the Springboard theory, we developed the Thriving Together Model, a system dynamics simulation model that lets users play out alternative investment priorities and track changes over a decade as they try to maximize the number of people thriving and minimize suffering. The prototype model is exploratory, subject to further refinement and empirical support, but it has already sparked creative conversations among hundreds of changemakers who have interacted with it through an interactive theater. This paper presents the model’s structure, illustrative results, and tentative insights. The Thriving Together Model extends Ostrom’s Nobel Prize-winning work on shared stewardship by offering a general explanation about how stewards of a divided community can heal through a traumatic shock and spring forward toward a future with greater well-being and justice.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/10/5/158population health and well-beingequitystewardshipresiliencesimulation modeling
spellingShingle Bobby Milstein
Jack Homer
Chris Soderquist
How Can a Community Pursue Equitable Health and Well-Being after a Severe Shock? Ideas from an Exploratory Simulation Model
Systems
population health and well-being
equity
stewardship
resilience
simulation modeling
title How Can a Community Pursue Equitable Health and Well-Being after a Severe Shock? Ideas from an Exploratory Simulation Model
title_full How Can a Community Pursue Equitable Health and Well-Being after a Severe Shock? Ideas from an Exploratory Simulation Model
title_fullStr How Can a Community Pursue Equitable Health and Well-Being after a Severe Shock? Ideas from an Exploratory Simulation Model
title_full_unstemmed How Can a Community Pursue Equitable Health and Well-Being after a Severe Shock? Ideas from an Exploratory Simulation Model
title_short How Can a Community Pursue Equitable Health and Well-Being after a Severe Shock? Ideas from an Exploratory Simulation Model
title_sort how can a community pursue equitable health and well being after a severe shock ideas from an exploratory simulation model
topic population health and well-being
equity
stewardship
resilience
simulation modeling
url https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/10/5/158
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