Transforming Communities: Lessons Learned from More Than 30 Years of Healthy Communities Efforts

Minimum Specifications and Fundamental Shifts for Transforming Communities

The amount of new and developing evidence and knowledge that has been generated across the Healthy Communities movement and other key community change efforts in the past few decades has been transformative. Although this timeframe represents a period of major advances and notable efforts, the progress has been significantly outpaced by social and environmental issues facing communities today—issues related to health, quality of life, and economic stability. As we usher in the next important phase of community change work, we have the opportunity to step back and take stock of what we have learned to make important connections between key advances, identify the commonalities across the wide landscape of community work, and upgrade our frameworks to address complex change more effectively.

Sifting through the history and evidence, Transforming Communities—Lessons Learned from More Than 30 Years of Healthy Communities Efforts reveals that the next generation of this work requires more than an upgrade; instead, what is needed is a different operating system—one that can address the larger landscape of community change work which includes the interconnected domains of the economy, education, health, and the environment. Creating a different operating system requires changing how we see and think about this work and our communities, how the work is structured, how the parts are connected and interact, and how community partners function together to achieve change and progress.

In Transforming Communities, Joey Vrazel draws on the latest research and her professional experiences working at the local, state, and national levels to outline and describe the minimum specifications and fundamental shifts that are necessary to create a new operating system for communities and guide the next generation of progress.

Dr. JoEllen "Joey" Vrazel has 16 years of public health and community-based experience working at the local, state, and national levels. Drawing from a diverse professional background as a consultant, researcher, speaker, author, teacher, and coach, Joey specializes in partnering with city and community leaders, organizations, and professionals to create and improve the conditions, opportunities, and resources in community environments that are necessary for all people and places to reach their potential. Joey believes that community professionals have the power to accomplish complex change in communities and has identified the minimum specifications and fundamental shifts for making this change a reality in her first book, Transforming Communities - Lessons Learned from More than 30 Years of Healthy Communities Efforts.In addition to her first book, Joey is the author of several community focused resource guides and training programs including Managing Change and Leading through Transition: A Guide for Community and Public Health Practitioners and Shifting Upstream - A Call to Action for a New Way of Working. Joey is also the lead author and plan designer of several large-scale, competitive federal grant applications bringing in more than 10 million dollars in grant awards. Before launching Leverage Points Consulting in 2012, Joey worked for ICF International in Atlanta as a contractor for the CDC to assist with the Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative and the Community Transformation Grant. From 2007 to 2010, Joey worked at the Indiana State Department of Health in various roles including Assistant Commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission. From 2005 to 2007, Joey was a visiting assistant professor in the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services where she received the Excellence in Graduate Teaching award in 2007. Prior to her work in public health, Joey was an NCAA Division I collegiate volleyball coach for 13 years and had a successful professional and collegiate playing career including two years with the United States Women's National Volleyball team.Joey holds a PhD in Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior from the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health, an MA in Health and Exercise Science from Furman University, and a BS in Physical Education from Texas A&M University.You can reach Joey at jvrazel@leveragepoints.net.