Building community capacity to promote child wellbeing and achieve equity.
¡Ya está en marcha una versión en español de nuestro sitio web! Estamos muy emocionados de practicar la justicia del idioma, mientras tanto, le agradecemos su paciencia. ¡Gracias!
What would it look like if communities ensured every child, parent, resident, and family equitable access to critical resources and opportunities to lead healthy, thriving lives — and a seat at the table to drive the solutions?
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Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) is a national initiative to improve the capacity of local communities and coalitions to advance equity. The NOW Innovation Forum is a national network of peer communities working to promote child wellbeing and prevent early childhood adversities.
Launched in 2016, Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) aims to build the capacity of local communities and coalitions working to promote child wellbeing and align early childhood systems of care and education by using a trauma-informed lens to advance equity.
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The NOW Innovation Forum brings together resources, stories, discussions, and other interactive tools in a central hub, to promote shared learning and networking among communities across the country that are working ensure all children and their families achieve optimal health and wellbeing. Learn more about the history of NOW, our vision and approach, and partners.
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View the recording and slides from our virtual tour of the NOW Innovation Forum.
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The NOW Innovation Forum is an initiative of the Vital Village Networks at Boston Medical Center.
We’re excited to share a new reflection guide developed by members of the NOW Cooperative Design Lab series. This reflection guide encourages funders and their potential partners to think intentionally about the goals and outcomes of their relationship, focused on a set of key Guiding Principles and Practices that build on elements of successful cooperative and collaborative structures.
Download the NOW Playbook: Transformative Community Capacity to Advance Equity
Between 2018 and 2020, multi-sector leadership teams from 10 peer communities across the US engaged in the Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) Learning Community. Drawing upon these learnings, the NOW Playbook is a resource guide designed to provide tools for local leaders, community coalitions and networks, educators, practitioners, and policymakers working to promote the wellbeing of children and families, advance equity, and align systems of care and education in early childhood. Download this new resource today!
Coalition Development
& Governance
NOVEMBER 30 Webinar: Building Relationships and Partnerships towards an Equitable Food System
Community food systems are rooted in meaningful relationships across people and place – from farmers and distributors, to retailers and families, to advocates and local entrepreneurs. In the final session of the 2023 NOW Webinar series, we heard from two local food systems leaders and 2023 Community Food Systems Fellows, and learned more about their experience, strategies, and sharable lessons for building sustainable and meaningful relationships across their local food systems in Jefferson County, Colorado and the Appalachian Region in West Virginia.
Featured Speakers:
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Hallie Nelson, Jefferson County Food Policy Council
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Kim Ross, Mount Terra LLC
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Moderator: Ronda Alexander, Vital Village Networks
BECOME A FREE MEMBER
NOW Innovation Forum members can network with peer communities, share best practices, contribute resources to the repository, and access learning tools, webinars, podcasts, and monthly communications. Check out the Member FAQ Guide for more information about member benefits - it's free to sign up!
Learn more about NOW's levers of community change — components we believe are critical to ensure the equitable transformation and alignment of community systems to move those most impacted by inequity from margin to center. Read more to find resources and tools designed to build capacity around these fundamental areas.
LEVERS OF COMMUNITY CHANGE
SEASON 2 EPISODE 8 - Available now!
In our final episode of the season, we return to Vital Village Networks’ 10th annual National Community Leadership Summit and tune into the dynamic closing keynote conversation with Camille Bennett, Founder and Executive Director of Project Say Something. Connecting the personal and political, Camille speaks to her and her family’s multi-generational work advocating for racial justice in Alabama. She shares the efforts that she and coalitions are leading to dismantle white supremacist culture and fight against anti-Black policies, lifting up how grassroots efforts are seeking to promote education and reproductive justice. She explores what partnership with community looks like in policy and advocacy, and the need to affirm and elevate community power.
FEATURED RESOURCE
COVID-19 Resource Page by Vital Village Networks
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This page shares COVID-19 related resources in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The resources accessed by in-person visit can be found in the map. The information comes from local community members and partners who are sharing in a collective effort designed through the Wellness Ideas Bank, as well as the city of Boston. Information may change rapidly. Please contact each location before visiting and be sure to check back for updates.
NOW LEARNING COMMUNITY
NOW is working with 10 community coalitions to the essential knowledge, skills, and tools to scale and sustain equitable transformation of early childhood, education, and health systems in their regions through the NOW Learning Community. Learning Community members can access a separate portal with information and resources to support their work over the next 18 months.