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Developing a process framework for reducing barriers to health and well-being

In communities across the country, park and recreation agencies are leveraging their integral role as public health professionals and stepping up to serve as stewards of intentional Community Wellness Hubs.

Community Wellness Hubs are trusted gathering places that connect every member of the community to essential programs, services and spaces that advance health equity, improve health outcomes and enhance quality of life across the seven dimensions of well-being (see graphic on p. 48). Community Wellness Hubs are essential to health and well-being — they remove barriers and bridge gaps to help people access vital health and social resources, ensuring that all people can thrive.

This isn’t anything new for park and recreation agencies. Rather, it’s reimagining the way in which programs, services and partnerships are delivered and accessed to support community health and well-being. Community Wellness Hubs build on the existing strengths, assets and foundations of local park and recreation agencies, working to address the root causes of health and social inequities and promoting health across multiple levels of intervention (individual, interpersonal, community, etc.) and holistically across seven interconnected dimensions of well-being. Health equity is at the center of Community Wellness Hubs, leveraging hubs to reduce barriers to health for people who have been historically disenfranchised by unfair power structures, policies, environments, social norms and resources.

Park and recreation professionals can transform a specific physical space, like a community center or local park, into a Community Wellness Hub by providing an equitable and inclusive set of programs and services in one central location. But a hub also can be a concept, focusing on a larger, system-wide level, shifting their agency mission, operations and practices to function in a more holistic, intentional and interconnected way and delivering services out in the community.

While Community Wellness Hubs will look different in every neighborhood, city and county, they are united by their shared goals of advancing health equity, improving health outcomes and enhancing quality of life for all people. Although hubs meet the unique needs of each community, NRPA has developed a digital resource, Community Wellness Hubs – A Toolkit for Advancing Community Health and Well-Being Through Parks and Recreation, to provide ideas and guidance to help park and recreation professionals advance Community Wellness Hubs. The toolkit provides a process guide to creating a Community Wellness Hub in alignment with seven dimensions of well-being.

Process of Creating a Community Wellness Hub

When creating a Community Wellness Hub, there are four primary phases to work through. In addition to each phase, there are key considerations that should be present throughout the development process. Before you begin working through the components, consider these key questions:

• Are there existing organizations, coalitions or partners that are already supporting community health efforts? If so, can partnerships be formed to leverage these existing assets?
• Are there clear, unmet needs that have been identified by the community? How will your hub meet these needs?
• Who is leading conversations about the needs and priorities of underrepresented and historically disenfranchised groups in the community? Equity is at the center of this work, and all voices should be heard in the planning of your hub.

Answering these questions up front will help determine next steps and strategies related to creating a hub, and what your agency’s role should be in advancing solutions to health and social inequities within your community. Once the questions have been answered, agencies can move into the development phase of their hub model, which is ideally planned in phases, with each phase building on the previous one (see graphic on p. 49).

We see these phases as cyclical, and agencies are encouraged to revisit them throughout the process, rather than viewing them as a checklist of to-do items. The needs of your community will change as your community grows, and your hub framework should be revisited often to ensure those needs are heard and met, and reflective of your current community.

Phase 1: Develop Partnerships and Collect Information

Building partnerships with like-minded organizations, or organizations working to advance similar goals, is a key way to build community-wide health and well-
being. Additionally, consider community members as partners in this work. Engaging with community members, partners and organizations to understand current needs, assets and resources, and gathering information and data from a variety of diverse sources are a crucial part of this phase. Conducting community health needs assessments and creating community asset maps can help inform opportunities that exist across the community from voices that will be directly impacted by this work.

Phase 2: Engage Core Stakeholder Group

To develop an overall vision, goals and an action plan for your hub model, you’ll want to create a core stakeholder or advisory group. Examples of stakeholders include community members; agency staff of all levels; partners — such as health departments, local government, universities, nonprofits and community-based organizations; and many others. Stakeholders should be engaged early in the process to increase acceptance and participation in the program and to provide valuable feedback in the planning process.

Phase 3: Identify Vision and Objectives

During the next phase, you’ll work with your core stakeholder group as you get clear on what you want your hub to be. Consider spending time defining the vision and mission of your hub and identifying the main goals you’d like to accomplish. From there, break the goals into short-, medium- and long-term objectives, and identify the resources you’ll need to get to each of those points.

Phase 4: Define Key Strategies and Develop an Action, Implementation and Evaluation Plan

This last phase is your action phase. Take the time to create clear plans for achieving your goals, including timelines, roles and responsibilities, and measuring progress. Be sure to share this plan widely with your team and stakeholder group to create transparency and encourage accountability.

There also are six key considerations you’ll need to keep top of mind throughout the development of a Community Wellness Hub. As the process guide demonstrates, these factors should be present and addressed in every phase of planning.

Centering and Advancing Equity:

When the needs of those most impacted by inequity are addressed in both process and product, you are more likely to achieve your goals of advancing community health and well-being for all.

Building and Maintaining Partnerships:

Community Wellness Hubs do not need to be the direct provider of all health and wellness services. Given the many directions a hub can take, considering the different types of partners and organizationsthat will be necessary or the key for achieving overall goals is important.

Advocating:

It’s important that elected officials, external stakeholders and the public recognize the essential nature of parks and recreation and your Community Wellness Hub, and it all starts with telling your story. Providing updates and information to
decision-makers and policymakers about the hub — especially the overall vision, goals and objectives — will be critical to its success.

Providing Continuous Communications:

Maintaining continuous, transparent communication on hub progress updates, programs or initiatives, or evaluation findings is essential. This also is the time to create space and opportunities for the community to provide feedback or advice about the hub.

Evaluating:

Having measurable, focused and understandable metrics that are related to your hub’s efforts will be critical for understanding if you are making progress toward longer-term goals and outcomes, and where refocusing is necessary to achieve goals.

Identifying Funding:

Securing and diversifying funding for staffing and needed resources to support the implementation of hub strategies is critical to success and can help ensure long-term sustainability.

Park and recreation agencies are in the perfect, and incredibly unique, position to serve as Community Wellness Hubs that provide essential and high-quality programs and services to all members of the community. By intentionally planning, designing and implementing a hub model, agencies across the country are meeting community members where they are and catalyzing health and well-being.

More information on Community Wellness Hubs.

Maureen Neumann (she/her) is Senior Health Program Manager at NRPA.