100% Community is an initiative of the Anna, Age Eight Institute based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We are a part of the higher education system. Our institute is guided by two books: Anna, Age Eight: The data-driven prevention of childhood trauma and maltreatment and 100% Community: Ensuring ten vital services for surviving and thriving by Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD and Dominic Cappello.

The hypothesis guiding the 100% Community initiative is that if we ensure that all family and community members have access to ten vital services, we increase their health, safety and resilience. Our ten vital services include those for “surviving,” including stable housing, secure food, behavioral health care, medical care and transportation to services. Five services for “thriving” include: parent supports, early childhood learning programs, fully-resourced community schools, youth mentors and job training.

The 100% Community initiative uses the data-driven continuous quality improvement (CQI) framework for all statewide, local and agency work. We train all initiative participants in CQI’s four steps: assessing, planning, acting and evaluating. Our county-based initiatives are also guided by collective impact, promoting a shared vision, goals, use of data, transparent communication, interrelated activities and a solid economic base.

Our local initiative is guided by two co-community organizers and ten action team leaders (or co-leaders). The local participants represent a cross section of agencies and disciplines including health care, education, youth development and community development. The initiative leadership connects with all the organizations in a county that provide the surviving and thriving services.

The 100% Community initiative is customized by local initiative leadership. One size does not fit all in a state with 33 counties that represent different histories, cultures, economies and capacities. While the fundamentals of our guiding principles don’t change, the implementation plan and schedule to create a local change process can. Our goal is setting up each county to succeed.

Technology plays a key role in the 100% Community initiative as we provide blended learning experiences with online education and technical assistance. We also provide support designing local websites, apps and communication networks to link all county stakeholders and initiative participants. Technology also plays a role in an ongoing process of collecting and analyzing data and sharing results. We also work to increase access so that all county residents take advantage of online resources like telemedicine, educational coursework and remote work opportunities.

In order to reach our initiative’s goal of ensuring that 100% of residents have access to ten vital services, local initiative participants must collaborate with county commissioners, mayors and city council members, school board members, state lawmakers and higher education leadership. The 100% Community initiative is designed to engage all leaders and stakeholders of all ages.

Our 100% Community initiative’s ten action teams (each one focused on a “surviving” or “thriving” services sector) take our web-based 100% Community course. This course covers continuous quality improvement (CQI), collective impact (CI), and adaptive leadership (AL) to empower them as they identify gaps in services, research and design strategies to address these gaps. The course is customized to meet each county’s unique needs.

The initiative is detailed in the book 100% Community: Ensuring 10 vital services for surviving and thriving by Katherine Ortega Courtney, PhD and Dominic Cappello. An electronic copy of the book will be available free-of-charge to all New Mexico residents. The book is currently in an “advance review” stage, being reviewed by stakeholders across the state. The final edition, incorporating insights from elected leaders, agency staff and community members, will be available late spring 2020.