A FRAMEWORK FOR COLLABORATIVE ACTION IN THE IE

In order for individuals and communities to thrive and reach their full potential, seven “Vital Conditions” must be in place. These conditions, which encompass necessities such as humane housing and access to meaningful work and wealth, are the elements of a framework developed by many organizations, particularly in the health space, as we were emerging from the pandemic.

Many community and healthcare organizations around the country along with 47 federal government departments and agencies have embraced the Vital Conditions — more inspiration for a movement than a strict formula for change.

“The Framework allows everyone to collectively see the priorities and how our individual work can move those priorities,” says Michelle Decker CEO and President of the Inland Empire Community Foundation. “One of the important places to make progress is the quality of collaboration. We want everyone to feel like a steward of change.”

The Vital Conditions Framework provides a shared language to talk about our shared aspiration: all people and places thriving, no exceptions! The conditions are not standalone issues but rather an interconnected web that shapes the collective well-being of communities. Investing in one condition such as affordable housing can have a ripple effect, improving health outcomes, fostering economic security, and strengthening social bonds.

In December 2023, IECF convened local leaders around the concept of Vital Conditions for Health and Well-being. “One of the things that resonated with people was the idea of belonging and civic muscle at the center of the Framework,” Decker says.

By championing the Vital Conditions Framework as a common language and network, IECF is uniting nonprofits and changemakers to create a platform for alignment and collaboration in the Inland Empire.
“The Vital Conditions Framework is something that we all own and can move from whatever vantage point we have,” Decker explains. For its part, IECF will advance the Framework and host and facilitate convenings of local leaders and community partners so that they can network and align their different efforts toward the common goal of creating a thriving IE.

IECF will also advance the Framework through continued grantmaking. For instance, when the CIELO Fund, one of the Foundation’s Signature Funds, recently awarded $125,000 to 83 Latino college students throughout the Inland Empire, it advanced one of the seven Vital Conditions: lifelong learning.
Similarly, when the Women’s Giving Fund, also an IECF Signature Fund, recently awarded $43,400 to four nonprofits, three of the organizations provide services that address “basic needs for health and safety” — another of the seven Vital Conditions.

“We’re focused on partners who lead coalitions or have constituencies,” Decker says. “We’re also focused on regional Foundation and public sector partners because aligning investments and portfolios will help us combine resources to move some of these big conditions.”

Currently, approximately 40 partners are working with IECF to advance the Vital Conditions Framework, although that is by no means the limit. Many of the partners attended the Foundation’s third Annual Policy & Engagement Forum in August 2023. “They got excited about the idea of the Vital Conditions Framework and saw how they can use it in their own work,” Decker says. “And people really resonate with the idea of belonging. In a divided world, talking about belonging helps us remember that we are all part of the IE, California, the country and the world. That is a powerful starting place.”

As a grantmaker and facilitator, IECF considers its own success in terms of the Vital Conditions Framework will be the ability to spur collaboration with funders and donors to drive resources into the outlined issues.
“The nice thing about the Vital Conditions Framework is you don’t look at it and say ‘Oh, that’s for some other guy,” Decker says. “You look at it and say, ‘Oh, my gosh, I see myself in it.’”

Above from left: Women’s Giving Fund (left) grantees ensure no woman faces cancer alone and support women’s transitional services. The CIELO Fund (right) has invested more than $765,000 in grants and scholarships to the area’s Latino community.
Chart: Of the seven Vital Conditions in the Framework, “Belonging and Civic Muscle” form the nucleus, as it is essential to the equitable success of every other kind of work. For more details visit: thriving.us