America is seeing a groundswell of support to organize around a single unifying and measurable expectation: All people and places thriving together\u2014no exceptions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
A growing network of people and organizations see themselves\u2014and one another\u2014as stewards in a movement to thrive together, fostering systemic change with resourcefulness and agility, always seeking to craft a system that is built for well-being, equity, and racial justice. Stewardship is not a new idea, but it also is not yet widespread as a standard way of working together. It involves time-tested practices that have evolved over generations as people have endeavored to move beyond unjust or inhumane legacies and instead pass along a world that enables everyone to thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A recent study<\/a> about stewardship as a field of practice observed that, “the strength of our shared stewardship will likely determine whether we sink deeper into an adversity spiral, or whether we find pragmatic ways to create the vital conditions that all people need to participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.” With so much riding on shared stewardship, it becomes imperative to understand its current reach and dimensions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Everyone can be a steward. Stewards are people, organizations, and networks who take responsibility for working with each other to create conditions that everyone needs to thrive together, beginning with those who are struggling and suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout history, stewards have endeavored to extend what is healthy and humane, while working with equal vigor to resist and remove what is toxic and cruel.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Led by ReThink Health, the flagship initiative of the Rippel Foundation, in partnership with the RAND Corporation and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Rippel, the 2021 Pulse Check on Shared Stewardship for Thriving Together Across America<\/em> is a large, methodologically rigorous effort to answer four questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The findings detailed below describe the current state of shared stewardship in the U.S. and shine a light on some of the values, priorities, and practices that could move us closer to a future in which all people and places can thrive together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The results of the Pulse Check reveal that stewards across the nation are relatively well aligned around the ends they seek, albeit with some variation in their rationales. We found relatively small but revealing differences among respondents’ worldviews about why it is important to thrive together. Differences are larger when the subject turns to means, including significant divergence in opinions about priorities and practices. In other words, the survey finds strong agreement about what the destination is, less agreement about why it should be the destination, and still more differences about how best to get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 2021 Pulse Check shares a message of hope: not only are you not alone but you are part of a growing movement.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The work of stewardship is frequently daunting. It can feel isolating, as if the problems you face are yours alone. Fortunately, the 2021 Pulse Check provides a message of hope for every steward. Not only are you not alone, but you are part of a growing movement that is becoming steadily more well defined and clear about its approach. And, in clarifying the extent to which certain values, priorities, and practices have taken hold across the country, the 2021 Pulse Check provides a timely and empirically sound resource to further establish shared stewardship as a nationwide norm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the third Pulse Check survey that ReThink Health has conducted. Each survey in this series has taken the pulse of particular issues across America at one point in time. The first two focused explicitly on formal, multisector partnerships for health (also called coalitions, collaboratives, and alliances). The 2014 Pulse Check<\/a><\/span> sought to describe characteristics of such partnerships, and the 2016 Pulse Check<\/a><\/span> examined how those partnerships develop over time (see also this report in Health Affairs<\/a><\/span><\/em>). The 2021 survey tracks the extent to which essential stewardship values, priorities, and practices have diffused across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the 2021 Pulse Check, we heard from over 300 leaders in organizations that are well positioned to act as stewards for thriving together in communities across the U.S. We sought to learn what they are doing (or not doing) to steward well-being in their communities, what worldviews guide their work, what factors contribute to (and impede) their momentum, and the extent to which they feel aligned with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stewardship values, priorities, and practices can be embraced by individuals, organizations, and networks across all sectors and across many scales\u2014neighborhoods, cities, counties, states, and nationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWho are Stewards?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFocus of the Pulse Check: Stewardship Values, Priorities, and Practices<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Stewardship Values, Priorities, and Practices<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Stewardship Values<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Stewardship Priorities<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n