The B.I.G. Idea In Community Engagement
Diffusion does not occur spontaneously; it requires intentionality and formal dissemination strategies. CSEM’s “B.I.G.” idea provides an integrative needs-based approach that reframes scientific inquiry to align the incentives of businesses, individuals, and governments. The result is localized research that generates actionable opportunities for decision makers to effectively pilot both short-term community-based interventions and long-term structural reform.
Community Engagement Through Acceleration
Paying-it-forward is an infectious and integral part of this CSEM ecosystem. We believe the next generation of change agents are in our classrooms, homes and in the community organizations. These innovators are inspired to take action in their own communities and share their gifts to create change for the better.
Career and workforce development interventions refer to any treatment or effort intended to enhance an individual’s career, occupational, or work-related development, or to enable the person to make better work-related decisions and help the individual to manage work transitions. This is a broad definition that encompasses a wide array of interventions, such as individual counseling, group activities, career classes, computer information systems, and self-help interventions (Whiston et al., 2017). CSEM will help people gain skills for family-sustaining jobs collaborating with workforce development partners, researching best practices, funding community-based organizations, and innovating new programs.
Well-being may be assessed objectively—by determining whether an individual’s basic needs for food, shelter, economic security, social relationships, and health care are being met. In contrast, subjective well-being is a reflection of how an individual evaluates and experiences his or her life. Most researchers have examined three main aspects of subjective well-being: (1) life satisfaction or evaluative well-being refers to an individual’s judgments about how satisfying his or her life is over an extended period of time; (2) experienced well-being refers to an individual’s moment-by-moment assessment of the emotional quality of daily life; and (3) “eudaimonic well-being” measures an individual’s sense that his or her life has meaning and purpose. Because these three measures capture different aspects of well-being, using them together can provide a rich picture of life satisfaction and quality. CSEM will help people improve health outcomes collaborating with health services partners, researching best practices, funding community-based organizations, and innovating new programs.
Minority-led nonprofits and businesses working on the frontlines of social change and inclusive economic pathways are the engines of opportunity and inspiration that W-S needs. However, these established organizations often lack the operational capacity to put a lot of their ideas into place, and, therefore, aren’t able to achieve scale and increase sustainability. The CSEM Accelerator is a rigorous, six-month program designed to fast-track the growth and impact of organizations in W-S through consulting, mentoring and peer learning. After completion, participating organizations will have created a business growth plan with a powerful case for funding.
Economic Mobility Opportunity Awards (EMOA)
The CSEM Community Acceleration Research Track is fueled by the granting of Economic Mobility Opportunity Awards (EMOA) of up to $12,500 to businesses, individuals (organizations) and with government sponsored initiatives that aim to provide pathways for increasing economic mobility for city and county residents. The purpose of the EMOA’s are to accelerate the building of sustainable and scalable pathways to economic mobility in three distinct areas; workforce development, health and well-being, and growth of businesses for social good.
