Moving Well-Being Metrics to Action
Moving Well-Being Metrics to Action
The National League of Cities, in partnership with the Well-being Research Centre at the University of Oxford and with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, sought to develop comparable measures of well-being for American cities. Establishing city-level, well-being data can advance policy changes and investments that improve health and equity by supporting a mindset shift from singular economic measures to a broader understanding of all the factors that influence well-being.
ARCHI, housed at the Georgia Health Policy Center, has been participating in a pilot with the Georgia Municipal Association and National League of Cities. In phase I, ARCHI completed a risk assessment, systems mapping, and landscape scan. Key findings suggest that data should describe communities in the way they prefer, data should use asset-framing, and there are plenty of metrics but limited support in using them for action beyond case-making.
Phase II will focus on supporting stakeholders to use well-being metrics for policy action and to promote community engagement in the discussion of well-being metrics across metro Atlanta, in partnership with Neighborhood Nexus. These efforts will engage city leaders, community residents and multisector stakeholders within the Atlanta metropolitan area (primarily Fulton and DeKalb counties). This Atlanta-based effort will aim to build consensus towards key metrics that can better support collaboration, inclusion, relationships among diverse stakeholders, and identification of outcome measures that advance readiness for effective policy action.
ARCHI’s approach will be centered around three key principles: civic engagement and incorporating community voice, measurement and local policymaking, and stewardship and messaging. ARCHI will lead the development of technical assistance and trainings to strengthen Atlanta well-being stewards’ capacity to utilize the measures with an asset-based framing and apply metrics in the local decision-making processes. ARCHI will contribute to the ongoing synthesis of learnings and dissemination of insights.