NEK Prosper! operates under the framework of an accountable health community, employs the principles of Collective Impact, and uses Results Based Accountability™ to measure our progress.
Collective impact is a network of community members, organizations, and institutions who advance equity by learning together, aligning, and integrating their actions to achieve population and systems level change
Mission: To leverage relationships and collaborative action to build community health equity.
Vision: Our population will be Well-Housed, Well-Nourished, Physically Healthy, Mentally Healthy, Financially Secure.
Data-driven Problem/Opportunity Statement: Due to stigma, marginalization and systemic inequalities, not everyone in Caledonia and Southern Essex Counties has fair and just opportunity to prosper (be financially secure, mentally healthy, physically healthy, well-housed and well-nourished), nor safe, accessible and inclusive opportunities to participate in planning and decision-making about the health and well-being of themselves, their families and their communities.
Aspiration: We aspire to build our collective and community capacity to dismantle systemic inequality and marginalization, foster community leadership and community-driven solutions and ensure fair and just opportunity to health and prosperity.
Watch this video about tackling complex social issues through collective impact.
What is an accountable health community?
An accountable health community is an aspirational, structured, cross-sectoral alliance of healthcare, public health, and other organizations that plans and implements strategies to improve population health and health equity for all residents in a geographic area. It takes into account the multiple factors involved in an individual’s and population’s health:
- medical care
- public health
- genetics
- behaviors
- social factors
- economic circumstances
- environmental factors
Ecosystem of Partners
Our members include community members, family, friends and neighbors, partners from the Hub, school districts, youth services, economic development and regional planning agencies, banks/financial organizations, Catamount Arts and the creative economy, NEK Collaborative, USDA, Heart Space Healing Collective, NAMI VT, town government leaders, community restorative justice, OneCare VT and other individuals and agencies.
Collaborative Action Networks
Our work to achieve each outcome is done by our Collaborative Action Networks (CANs). CANs are groups of cross-sector practitioners and individuals who organize around one of the NEK Prosper! community level outcomes, develop and implement action plans to achieve the outcome, and use continuous improvement processes to measure their impact and improve their strategies over time.
- Financially Secure CAN
- Mentally Healthy CAN
- Physically Healthy CAN
- Well-housed CAN
- Well-nourished CAN
Leadership Team
As a Collective Impact initiative, Northern Counties Health Care acts as our backbone organization, with additional financial in-kind support and resources from Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital. The following leaders steward the work:
- Community Member – Well-nourished Collaborative Action Network Co-Chair, Laural Ruggles
- Green Mountain United Way – Tawnya Kristen, Executive Director
- Northeast Kingdom Community Action – Jenna O’Farrell, Executive Director and Financially Secure Collaborative Action Network Co-Chair, Heather Alger
- Northeast Kingdom Council on Aging – Meg Burmeister, Executive Director
- Northeast Kingdom Human Services – Kelsey Stavseth, Executive Director and Mentally Healthy Collaborative Action Network Co-Chair, Terri Lavely
- Northeast Kingdom Learning Services – Financially Secure Collaborative Action Network Co-Chair, Annie Christoni
- Northeastern VT Regional Hospital – Shawn Tester, CEO and Mentally Healthy Collaborative Action Network Co-Chair, Andrea Willey
- Northern Counties Health Care – Christopher Towne, CEO and and Physically Healthy Collaborative Action Network Co-Chair, Jennifer Grant
- Umbrella, Inc. – Amanda Cochrane, Executive Director
- Vermont Agency of Human Services – Chris Mitchell, Field Director
- Vermont Department of Health Office of Local Health – Heather Lindstrom, District Director and Well-nourished Collaborative Action Network Co-Chair and Physically Healthy Collaborative Action Network Co-Chair, Kaitlyn Carreau
- Vermont Foodbank – John Sayles, CEO
Diana Gibbs, NVRH’s VP of Marketing and Community Health Improvement supports the work of NEK Prosper! E-mail her at d.gibbs@nvrh.org
We welcome and want your voice. Get involved.