Health Equity Economy Creators
As a group of us began to work together in 2016, we spent considerable time assessing our local assets that were not being made use of, and, which could scale to sustainable sectors.
At that time, we realized that our region had no anchor institution to push these sectors forward.
We realized that it was up to us, citizens, to fill that gap. EDGE was born out of that commitment of ours to turn our collective situation around, to make our region a healthy, vibrant, thriving place to be.
Our first several years we spent getting the institutions "right"-- what ought we focus on, how do we pilot these sectors, how do we structure our interventions. We hit the road with presentations and revealed our push for these sectors high and low to federal agencies, state departments, local politicians, university presidents, economic development departments, city managers, regional power players in nonprofit.
It took us five years of working together all volunteer to settle into some meaningful partnerships and to have on the ground evidence to prove our model.
In the meantime, we encountered the term "health equity," and it made perfect sense to us. Our area is rich in resources that are being underutilized, our people and our places have been discarded, and we have been pushed into co-morbidities and addictions. We have, in many cases, been left for dead.
It is up to us to build a healthy economy for all based in production and access to the fundamentals of life: good nutritious food, a clean and stable place, connection to others and work that gives us meaning, and an economy where people and place are valued first and foremost.
EDGE sees these collectively as the 21st Century economy.
It is beyond time to move beyond an economy that worked, and worked well, coming out of the 19th Century and into full industrialization, and modernize our local resource utilization and our collective economic aspirations for the health of all. We stand on the lessons of the past to turn around our day and tomorrow into a health equity economy.
At that time, we realized that our region had no anchor institution to push these sectors forward.
We realized that it was up to us, citizens, to fill that gap. EDGE was born out of that commitment of ours to turn our collective situation around, to make our region a healthy, vibrant, thriving place to be.
Our first several years we spent getting the institutions "right"-- what ought we focus on, how do we pilot these sectors, how do we structure our interventions. We hit the road with presentations and revealed our push for these sectors high and low to federal agencies, state departments, local politicians, university presidents, economic development departments, city managers, regional power players in nonprofit.
It took us five years of working together all volunteer to settle into some meaningful partnerships and to have on the ground evidence to prove our model.
In the meantime, we encountered the term "health equity," and it made perfect sense to us. Our area is rich in resources that are being underutilized, our people and our places have been discarded, and we have been pushed into co-morbidities and addictions. We have, in many cases, been left for dead.
It is up to us to build a healthy economy for all based in production and access to the fundamentals of life: good nutritious food, a clean and stable place, connection to others and work that gives us meaning, and an economy where people and place are valued first and foremost.
EDGE sees these collectively as the 21st Century economy.
It is beyond time to move beyond an economy that worked, and worked well, coming out of the 19th Century and into full industrialization, and modernize our local resource utilization and our collective economic aspirations for the health of all. We stand on the lessons of the past to turn around our day and tomorrow into a health equity economy.
