Three Questions to: Julie Rusk of Civic Wellbeing Partners
The well-being of people is difficult to measure. It depends on much more than just economic growth or a secure job. How comfortable do people feel where they live and work, what opportunities do they have in both work and leisure, how safe do they feel? The city of Santa Monica in California wanted to get to the bottom of this particular question and developed a community wellbeing index. It collected the necessary data for this study for first time in 2015. We have made it our mission to raise awareness of the Wellbeing Index in Germany as well. We recently had the opportunity to speak to Julie Rusk and her team and ask her a few questions.
What were the determining factors in choosing a Wellbeing Index for Santa Monica?
We had to deal with a number of strokes of fate in Santa Monica, namely the suicides of some young people. There was strong desire to prevent such things from happening again in the future. Our approach was to use the potential of data to help people. We wanted to know what the everyday experiences of citizens in Santa Monica were like. And we wanted that to go beyond the economically oriented metrics that are so often used by governments.
In order to do this, we have drawn on the current growing body of research on wellbeing to create the framework for our index. We collaborated with the Santa Monica-based RAND Corporation, and with the New Economics Foundation, a think tank already active in wellbeing in the UK, and also sought advice from an international panel of experts.
The result turned out to be a Wellbeing Index covering six areas:
- Outlook: How are people doing?
- Community: How strong is the sense of community, safety in the city and civic engagement?
- City and environment: How do we improve quality of life with environmentally sound urban design?
- Learning: How do we promote lifelong learning? Do people have the opportunity to do so?
- Health: How physically and mentally healthy are our residents?
- Economic opportunities: Are we a diverse city?
The data for the index comes from quantifiable data such as education levels, crime rates, transportation usage, health statistics, and so on. But we also analyzed data from social media, looking at positive and negative emotions of users during everyday events in Santa Monica. Finally, we developed a questionnaire to retrieve information about general life satisfaction, social connections, housing, and health of people in Santa Monica.
The Wellbeing Index was collected in 2015, 2017 and 2019. It is the appropriate tool to precisely present the results according to ethnicity, age, gender, neighborhood, and other key factors, thus showing correlations. The data visualizations, summaries, and detailed analyses are yes available for viewing on our website.
The state of the community is thus clearly and data-based reflected back onto the administration. This provides the administration with important key information allowing them to make better decisions. Both the city administration and socially active organizations can thus respond to the needs of the community in a more targeted manner.
What were the biggest challenges?
There were four groundbreaking points: On the one hand, we had to convince the city administration that change does not necessarily mean more work - it can also mean less work if you take smarter paths. Change and new approaches require a mixture of perseverance and patience!
Coming to a decision about which data to collect proved to be difficult as well. It was not a question of more data, but of finding the right data.
Another challenge was to tell the stories behind the data in a way that was understandable to everyone. We found creative ways to do this, especially in collaboration with designers and students, and by incorporating experiences straight from the community.
And finally, we had to align administrative actions so that the well-being of the residents was once again brought into focus.
How has the Wellbeing Index influenced city management?
In 2017, we began realigning the city's budget to align all of the administration's work with the Wellbeing Index. This resulted in broader changes for the administration in how it perceives its own work.
For example, the police, library, and city housing departments were allocated budgets and programs to target different aspects of homelessness.
This helped to recognize that interdepartmental collaboration with pooled resources is more effective than many separate individual efforts.
By 2019, we had then reallocated the city's budget to link administrative goals and outcomes to the Wellbeing Index. This was a significant step toward embedding wellbeing into the local government.
What benefit did the Wellbeing Index bring to Santa Monica?
The beauty of Wellbeing is that many people benefit from it. It was a significant step to show people that they can expect their government to care about how they are doing, not just build roads. Considering people's well-being from early childhood to urban land-use plans, from public safety to public works, leads to changing the focus and an impact on administrative activities.
The Office of Civic Wellbeing was established in 2017. It should ensure the measurement of the Wellbeing Index and corresponding measures in all departments of the administration.
The office spearheaded the city's anti-racism efforts and established the Wellbeing Microgrants program for residents. In November 2019, the office hosted the first Wellbeing Summit for quality of life actions and ideas.
In July 2020, the work of the Office of Civic Wellbeing now transitioned into Civic Wellbeing Partners. The aftermath of the COVID pandemic and the resulting economic crisis forced the city to make drastic cuts and establish new partnerships to support the administration. Civic Wellbeing Partners now advises the administration, NGOs and other institutions on how to implement the Wellbeing Index.
How have residents embraced the Wellbeing Index?
To put it in the words of a well-known politician in Santa Monica: "In the past, the administration focused mainly on buildings, traffic and the like. But we believe that the government's job is also their people, their well-being and quality of life.... The Wellbeing Index now provides the data to support what we're saying and can help guide the focus onto the city and community staff. The Wellbeing Index reminds us of things we already know, but also many things we did not know. And now that we know, we can address those issues and challenges so residents can focus on their well-being, their families, and the things that matter to them and bring them joy." [Irma Carranza, excerpted from Huffington Post by Oliver Balch, Jan. 12, 2018]
Related Links:
• Civic Wellbeing Partners www.santamonicawellbeing.org
• Well-Being: Expanding the Definition of Progress, Edited by Alonzo L. Plough, Oxford Press October 2020 [Afterward Chapter written by Julie Rusk] www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2020/05/well-being--expanding-the-definition-of-progress.html
• Smart at Scale: Cities to Watch 25 Case Studies, Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization, World Economic Forum www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Smart_at_Scale_Cities_to_Watch_25_Case_Studies_2020.pdf
• Santa Monica Wellbeing Index 3 minute video youtu.be/fTFnuicV4_E
• Moving Beyond the Divide In America: Insights from Wellbeing Metrics, Teenagers, and Sister Sledge by Carol Graham and Julie Rusk, Brookings Institute, March 2018 www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2018/03/28/moving-beyond-divide-in-america-insights-from-well-being-metrics-teenagers-and-sister-sledge/
• RAND Wellbeing Partnership www.rand.org/capabilities/solutions/measuring-wellbeing-to-help-communities-thrive.html