Measuring What Matters: Advancing Health, Belonging, and Opportunity
by Gena Morgan July 7, 2026
I recently joined state agency leaders, faith partners, Accountable Communities of Health directors, and others from across Washington at a summit convened by the Washington Economic Justice Alliance. We spent the day in rich discussion about what it will take to foster a Washington where every person and every community can thrive.
Our discussion was guided by the excellent work of the Rippel Foundation, an organization that is helping communities across the country track and strengthen well-being. Their aim is straightforward but ambitious; expand the number of people who are truly thriving, and measure whether we are making progress.
One tool they use is based on The Cantril Ladder, which asks people to reflect on their lives and consider if they are currently struggling, surviving, or thriving? It also asks people to look ahead and consider where they see themselves in five years? These questions open the door to understanding not just immediate needs, but whether people feel a sense of stability, opportunity, and hope for the future.
Communities are beginning to gather this data and use it to guide decisions. Here in Pierce County, Elevate Health’s Connect Pierce community care hub partners have been gathering client‑identified social and health barriers for more than two years. Housing has consistently emerged as the top need during this time, with other leading barriers including stress, food access, and financial instability.
Insights like these have prompted us to think more intentionally about how we can better identify resource gaps within our community, improve the speed and efficiency of service connections, and improve how we document community insights and program outcomes.
Our data shows that Connect Pierce participants experience a strong sense of belonging and connection in Pierce County. Between October 2025 and May 2026, we surveyed 1,239 Connect Pierce clients to establish a baseline understanding of community belonging and civic engagement.
Despite ongoing challenges related to access to care and social services, respondents reported a high level of personal purpose and direction. Nearly three-quarters (73%) strongly agreed that they "have a sense of purpose and direction in life," while an additional 21% agreed. Only 6% disagreed.
These findings demonstrate the resilience of Pierce County residents and suggest that our community is well positioned to strengthen its civic muscle and deepen community connections.
Rippel’s President and CEO, Becky Payne, says that for communities to thrive, systems must be designed in the right way from the start. At our recent summit, we discussed how, in times of crisis, funding is directed to urgent services. Urgent services are critical, but they are not designed to change the underlying conditions that shape people’s health and well-being over time. If we want to see different results, we must start investing further upstream.
Rippel developed a framework called the seven “vital conditions” for health and well-being. These conditions include safe and stable housing, meaningful work, lifelong learning, and a sense of belonging. Rippel also developed four essential stewardship practices to help build consensus and encourage the cross-sector collaboration necessary to create lasting change:
- A shared narrative about the future we are working toward;
- Investment in vital conditions, not only short-term services;
- Ongoing measurement to understand whether people’s well-being is improving;
- Shared stewardship, bringing people together across differences to shape decisions.
These results make one thing clear: thriving is a shared responsibility. No single organization can achieve it alone. Meaningful progress will require sustained collaboration, community leadership, and long-term investment in the conditions that support health and well-being. The Rippel Foundation has set a national goal of increasing thriving by 20 percentage points over the next decade. At Elevate Health, we are committed to advancing that goal in Pierce County by building the partnerships, infrastructure, and collective will needed to achieve a 20-point increase in thriving by 2036.
Gena Morgan has served as the executive director of Elevate Health since 2022.