Communities of Practice
About Communities of Practice
- Discuss and collaborate in informal or formal ways
- Develop shared practice(s) through understanding concepts
- Share professional and lived experience
- Support each other to advance a goal, aspiration, or address a challenge
- Exchange tools, techniques, approaches, resources
North Sound ACH is supporting communities of practice in the Collaborative Action Network, by providing meeting logistics, this Resource Library, co-facilitation, subject matter experts and training, and connections with regional partners. Read on to see what communities of practice have emerged in 2024.
Reintegration
Developed in the context of the Medicaid Transformation Project 2.0 waiver’s Reentry Demonstration Initiative, this community of practice intends to go beyond systems-based jail and prison reentry, to community-based and peer-supported reintegration into community. Our vision is to provide collective support for and center the needs of people currently transitioning from carceral facilities; support and fund services provided by peers with lived experience; share best practices; and build capacity. We are currently preparing to contract with organizations providing community-based care coordination with the North Sound Community Hub, and are beginning to explore collaborative projects and advocacy around issues such as housing for people transitioning from incarceration.
For more information, contact us at team@northsoundach.org
Measuring Well-Being
One of the core frameworks of the Collaborative Action Network is the Vital Conditions for Well-being. But how do we know if and when we’ve achieved a thriving community? Collecting and measuring data is not a straight-forward process: current tools for measuring can have a narrow focus, such as preference for quantitative data, reinforcing dominant culture and narrative, and in exclusive, expert-only spaces. By using an equity lens – using holistic frameworks, harmonizing qualitative and quantitative data, reflecting and honoring the view of multiple cultures and identities, and shared meaning making – we can create opportunities for everyone to see themselves, and have a better understanding of the change we want to see.
The Measuring Well-Being community of practice seeks to catalyze this change through equitable well-being measurement; identify which communities and groups are thriving, struggling, or suffering; measure community well-being in the North Sound region; and create opportunities for communities to tell their stories.
Currently, the community of practice is in the works of creating a regional Well-Being Survey that is expected to be piloted in 2024 and expanded in 2025. It will also begin holding community dialogues once the Well-Being Survey has been piloted.
For more information, contact Matt Main at matt@northsoundach.org
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) is growing in use in professional and community spaces: it is a framework to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination. In our community of practice, we discuss how to build support for DEIB programs and professionals within the workplaces of our Network members. How do we address C-Suite leaders with what we need as professionals? How do we create opportunities to do this work together? And then, how can we identify healing spaces, networking opportunities, and advocacy roles?
For more information, contact Cynthia Andrews at cynthia@northsoundach.org