The document proposes using well-being indicators to advance the Region Forward goals of improving the Greater Washington Area. It summarizes how other cities have applied well-being approaches, and identifies opportunities to catalyze well-being in the region, such as optimizing data collection, measuring subjective well-being, leveraging academic and community partnerships, and prototyping interventions. The overall aim is to make economic and social progress while also improving lives and attracting residents by considering non-economic quality of life factors.

1. https://cepl.cps.gwu.edu/https://cepl.cps.gwu.edu/
Make Greater Washington
Even Greater!
Jen Gioffre and
Anita Vanek
July 2016
RBMS 6811 Course Project for
Professor Michael Lennon

2. https://cepl.cps.gwu.edu/
A Case for Using
Wellbeing to Advance the
Region Forward Goals
Opportunitiesforimprovingtheregionusing
Non-economicIndicators
1. Manywell-beingindicatorsarealreadyincorporated
intotheRegionForward(RF)goals.
2. Uselessonslearnedfromothercitiesaroundtheworld
whohaveappliedtheWellbeingapproach.
3. Exploreadditionalworkingmodelsfor theGreater
WashingtonAreatoachieveitseconomicandsocial
prosperitygoals
The GWU Public Leadership
Student Team has been
studying the Region
Forward Goals, and
Wellbeing approaches
around the world with the
goal of assisting the
MWCOG increase the
attractiveness of the
greater Washington area
through non-economic
indicators.
Driving for improvement of non-economic indicators will:
• Improve the lives of Greater Washington Area Residents
• Make the Greater Washington Area more attractive to non-residents
Introduction

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MakingGreaterWashingtonEvenGreater!
Outline
1.The Importance of Wellbeing
2.Global Trends
3.The Role of Wellbeing in Region Forward
4.Identifying Opportunities to Catalyze Wellbeing in
the Greater Washington Area

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The Importance of
Wellbeing
Video Link: http://wellbeing.smgov.net/about/wellbeing-project

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The Lens of Wellbeing Provides a
People-focused Assessment of the Issues
 The Well-being “lens”
 Leads to integrated, holistic
approaches to problem solving
by including health,
environment, education, and
community.
 Look beyond shrinking waste to
growing what is working.
Replicate what is going right in
one area to another.
 Helps to gain buy-in from those
who will be affected by policy
decisions

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Governance Quality Affects Wellbeing
“Recent results from the OECD suggest that improvements in governance
quality are associated with changes in wellbeing.
The ten countries that most improved governance quality between 2005–2012
increased average life evaluations by as much of an increase as would be
caused by a 40 percent increase in per-capita incomes [color added], compared
to the ten countries with worsened delivery quality.”
Helliwell J. F., Huang, H., Grover S., and Wang, S. “Good Governance and National Well-being: What are
the Linkages?”, OECD Governance Committee
The Bottom Line: Investments in the quality of governance have measurably and
significantly impacted citizen sense of prosperity.

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Global Trends
1.Wellbeingdata(Gallup)
2.Wellbeingpolicies(Legatum)
3.Wellbeingframework(UK)
4.USCaseStudy(SantaMonica,CA)

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Towards Smarter Governance of Wellbeing:
Highlights from Global Practice leaders
• Growth in Wellbeing Data
• Evidence identifying Wellbeing Policies with most promising SROI
• National and Local Frameworks incorporating Wellbeing
UK Communities US Communities

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66% of people are doing well in at least one of
these areas, but just 7% are thriving in all five
Gallup’s comprehensive study of more than 150 countries, called the Wellbeing
finder, identified five universal elements of wellbeing that differentiates a
thriving life from one spent suffering.
1. Career Wellbeing—How you occupy your time or simply liking what you do every day.
2. Social Wellbeing—Having strong relationships and love in your life.
3. Financial Wellbeing—Effectively managing your economic life.
4. Physical Wellbeing—Having good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis.
5. Community Wellbeing—The sense of engagement you have with the area where you live.
http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/126884/Five-Essential-Elements-Wellbeing.aspx
Gallup’sStudyonWellbeingelements

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Wellbeing ProgrammaticInterventionswith
Evidenceof SignificantReturn on Investment
 MENTAL HEALTH AND CHARACTER BUILDING
 Support parents
 Build character and resilience in schools
 Treat mental ill-health as professionally as physical ill-health
 COMMUNITY
 Address loneliness
 Promote volunteering and giving
 Create a built environment that is sociable and green
 INCOME AND WORK
 Promote economic growth
 Reduce unemployment through active welfare
 More wellbeing at work
 GOVERNANCE
 Measure wellbeing and make it a policy goal
 Treat citizens with respect and empower them more
 Give citizens the wellbeing data they need

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Growingwhat works:
Reality-testedframeworks addressing
“What impacts Wellbeingin a Community?"
Strongest themes include:
 Social capital / social networks: for example, neighbourliness and relationships within
communities, networks of family and friends, community spirit
 Participation and voice: being listened to, young people having a voice, civic
engagement, access to information, co-production, wide representation
 Safety and security: fear of crime, feeling safe walking home at night
 Environment: green and open space, cleanliness
 Local facilities: public transport, childcare, access to education, pubs

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Growingwhat works:
Otherfactorsin for addressing
“What impacts Wellbeingin a Community?"
 Health: health services, access to healthy lifestyle e.g. food, exercise
 Community identity: connectedness and belonging
 Activities: access to culture, activities, sports, volunteering
 Equality, diversity and inclusion
 Financial security: jobs, local economy
 Affordable housing
 Governance: accountability, joined up systems
 Access to support

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Learning from Santa Monica’s
Adoption of a City Wellbeing index

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HiddeninPlainSight? Alessonfrom
SantaMonica‘sAdoptionofaWellbeingindex
“Any good democratic government implicitly has the goal of
improving the wellbeing of its citizens/residents. But, until
recently, this goal has often remained unnamed.”
– Santa Monica Wellbeing Report
"It sounded simple. Define, understand and measure what matters most: how
people are doing. There was just one thing. No one had ever done it before."
- Julie Rusk (Santa Monica Asst. Dir. of Community and Cultural Services)
The Guardian 2015

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HowSantaMonicaApproachedWellbeing
Define, Measure, Act
 Define: What does wellbeing look like
 Measure: Use various sources to establish a baseline and measure wellbeing
 Act: Work as a community to address critical needs

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ObjectiveMeasuresUsedbySantaMonica
toDefineWellbeing
 Social connections are an important dimension of wellbeing,
often overlooked in city planning efforts yet vital to feelings of
optimism and resilience.
 Local context or place can impact resident perceptions of their
wellbeing and drive engagement in healthy behaviors.
 Education resources are central to a community’s overall
wellbeing and support of the growth and development of its
residents across the lifespan.
 Community health also contributes to wellbeing, particularly
aspects of emotional wellness, trust and belonging, resilience
and vitality.
 Economic vitality is essential to community wellbeing and can
include indicators such as employment rates and productivity.

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Santa Monica’s Efforts Gaining National Attention

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The Role of Wellbeing
in Region Forward
Priorities
Wellbeing
Forward!

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IndicatorStatustoDate
 21 of the 27 indicators were reported in either
the Region Forward Coalition Baseline
Progress Report or the 2016 State of the
Region Economic Competitiveness Report
 9 of 10 Indicators that have been updated
since 2010 are Economic-related
 4 of 9 Accessibility Targets
 0 of 7 Sustainability Targets
 5 of 6 Prosperity Targets
 1 of 6 Livability Targets
0
2
5
7
9
11
Accessibility Sustainability Prosperity Livability
Indicator Status
Indicators/Targets Baseline Reported Updated Since 2010

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EconomicIndicatorsareOnlyOne
PieceofthePuzzle
Economic Indicators are important, but don’t show the whole picture
• Residents of the Greater Washington area have to be able to meet
their basic needs
• The ability to meet these needs is critical to a person’s wellbeing
Accessibility
32%
Sustainability
25%
Prosperity
22%
Livability
21%
Region Forward Indicator Breakdown
“We should be careful
not to overshadow other
aspects of life (such as
family life, community
cohesion, or low
unemployment) in the
name of economic
growth”
- 2014 Wellbeing and Policy Report
Commissioned by the Legatum
Institute

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TheBlindSpottoSeeingOnlyThrough
EconomicIndicators
 While economic indicators have tripled, life satisfaction remains flat
(See chart on the next slide.)
 Income is only one of the wellbeing being policy factors
 Visibility in terms of other Wellbeing indicators are not being captured
Legatum Institute Wellbeing and Policy Report Santa Monica’s Wellbeing Institute
 Income and work
 Community
 Governance
 Mental Health and Character Building
 Economic Opportunity
 Community
 Place
 Learning
 Health

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LookingBeyondEconomicIndicators

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AddressingtheGapsBetweenWellbeing
andEconomicIndicators
Improving the region’s wellbeing will help
Region Forward Meet all its goals & targets
Improves the
Region’s ability to
meet Region
Forward’s Goals
Focusing on
Improving the
DMV’s
Wellbeing

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HowWellbeingFitswithRegionForward
Many Region Forward Indicators and targets
are already supporting wellbeing
 Support parents (18)
 Create a built environment that is
sociable and green (17)
 Promote economic growth (14)
 Reduce unemployment through
active welfare (11)
 More wellbeing at work (22)
(#) – the number of region forward indicators that help support top wellbeing
interventions recommended by the Legatum Institute
When we meet
Region Forward
Goals
The Region’s
Wellbeing
Improves

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ApplyingSantaMonica’sWellbeingProject
totheGreaterWashingtonArea
Land Use
Transportation
Environment
Climate &
Energy
Economic
Housing
Health
Education
Public Safety
Objective Measures:
Subjective Measure:

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Fixingwhat'swrongvs.Growingwhat'sright:
Docitieshaveitright?
Land Use
Transportation
Environment
Climate &
Energy
Economic
Housing
Health
Education
Public Safety
Outlook /
Wellbeing
ave cities missed the
point? What if, for all their
focus on crime stats and
traffic patterns, on zoning
laws and building codes, they’ve
missed the chance to thrive—and to
help their residents thrive, too? What
if there’s a better way to govern?
Cities can improve not just the
safety and comfort of their
residents, but also their
happiness, their satisfaction
with life—their wellbeing.
RAND.ORG | MARCH–APRIL 2016
H

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AddressingTheWholePersonandtheWholeCommunity
Need to
address
the whole
person
 But are we thriving in all 5 elements of
wellbeing?
 Community
 Place
 Learning
 Health
 Economic Opportunity
 Are all people in our community thriving
equally?
Need to
address the
whole
community

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Opportunities for Improving
the Region’s Wellbeing
Makingthe Greater WashingtonAreaEvenGreater!
Identifying Opportunities to Catalyze Wellbeing in the Greater Washington Area

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OpportunitiesforImprovingtheRegion’sWellbeing
1. Optimize the Data
 Measure It – Develop a survey to establish a baseline wellbeing for the region.
Several examples of survey techniques exist that can be replicated or consider
partnering with an already existing program in another city to leverage and
share resources—For example: DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey
Statewide, Regional, & Neighborhood-Level Data for Cross-Sector Community
Action http://www.ctdatahaven.org/reports/datahaven-community-wellbeing-
survey
 Compare Results – Compare the results with data regionally, from across the
US, Europe, and the globe. Make better use of existing and emerging types of
data—including Well-Being data--in strategic and operational work (see Gallup
& UK Data)
 Assess Impact – Determine how wellbeing is impacting the Region Forward
Goals, as well as how the implementation of Region Forward Goals are
impacting wellbeing in different parts of the city and suburbs

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2. Upgrade existing MWCOG frameworks, policies and business practices to
include wellbeing
 Measurement of citizen subjective well-being (UK What Works Network,
Santa Monica)
 Adoption of Growth-oriented approaches for driving social prosperity (e.g.
Legatum, What Works Network)
 Proactive exploration of leadership and governance structures using well
being research
 Incorporating new tools and forms of network measurement and analysis
which support both positive and exponential growth (Netmap, Volometrix)
OpportunitiesforImprovingtheRegion’sWellbeing,Continued

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3. Leverage Free Resources and engage the community – Partner with academia, local
governments, non-profits, and businesses to implement goals and programs to
improve the Region’s wellbeing.
 Leverage Future Executive Cohorts from GWU Center for Public Leadership
to help MWCOG build and supplement local capacity to achieve multi-
disciplinary, social and economic prosperity
1. Thought Leadership
2. Analytical & decision support / Data preparation
3. Supplement priority projects
4. Attract and engage additional networks and resources
OpportunitiesforImprovingtheRegion’sWellbeing,Continued

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4. Prototype high potential interventions- Collaborative exploration and
prototyping of the most promising Well-being interventions (Legatum, What
Works Network)
OpportunitiesforImprovingtheRegion’sWellbeing,Continued
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/atta
chment_data/file/136227/What_Works_publication.pdf

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5. Build on Strengths - Growing what works: Accelerating the discovery, growth
and cross-pollination of existing home-grown Well-Being practices across the
MWCOG portfolio (Greenberg; CEPL-supported)
OpportunitiesforImprovingtheRegion’sWellbeing,
Continued
http://www.growingwellbeing.org.uk/index.htm

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6. Equip Influencers- Equip MWCOG staff and local governments with learning
experiences and tools to drive Well-Being-related innovations and collaborations
including multi-disciplinary and inter-sectoral collaboration practices (CEPL
supported)
OpportunitiesforImprovingtheRegion’sWellbeing,Continued

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Questions, Concerns,Comments?
Thank you!