Executive Summary:
In times of dynamic, transformational change, is it necessary to pursue innovative new strategies and solutions to advance health and well-being. FORESIGHT is the first initiative of its kind to design a bold, new future for health—together. Everyone deserves to enjoy good health and well-being, and we need fresh ideas and new systems to get us there. FORESIGHT is a catalyst for equitably re-envisioning health using a futuring process that includes the voices of thousands of people across the United States. The goal is to co-design and activate the strategies and partnerships that will lead to a better future.
FORESIGHT is an initiative of 17 philanthropic partners led by The Rippel Foundation, created in partnership with Blue Shield of California Foundation, and advised by people representing a diversity of sectors who are ready to uncover and implement new ideas to address our nation’s growing challenges around health and well-being.
Those involved in FORESIGHT understand that the urgency and breadth of the major issues that could impact US health and well-being could outstrip individual capacity for adaptation as well as current, collective incentives for action. Looking ahead, adjustments and solutions may be possible, but positive, systemic change is unlikely to occur without concerted and informed action. This report is the result of the first step in the FORESIGHT Phase 1 process, which focused on understanding historical trends, as well as possible opportunities and challenges on the horizon.
Our academically trained futurists conducted a scan of the health and well-being horizon to understand how the US could be impacted by various trends and emerging issues. They looked at a wide range of information sources, including academic literature, news stories, and other media. Ultimately they identified 22 trends and 52 emerging issues, which are described in brief in this report. FORESIGHT grouped this material into nine themes and shared them via the Game Changer video series in late 2019.
The second step in FORESIGHT’s Phase 1 process was to weave the trends and emerging issues into accessible stories of possible futures and share them with thousands of people—especially those whose voices are rarely heard—to provoke thinking not only about what sorts of futures might be possible, but what sorts of futures we, collectively, want. In the third step of Phase 1, FORESIGHT is asking a diversity of voices, particularly those of marginalized communities, to help identify a fresh vision and bold new ideas for shaping the best possible outcomes.
With a better understanding of possible futures, a clearer sense of priorities, and a set of bold ideas, FORESIGHT will launch Phase 2, working with people and organizations across the United States as they start making their vision for health and well-being a reality. This will likely require new strategies, partnerships and mindsets, a different allocation of resources, and a radical openness to experimentation. It will also require us to recognize that communities are different and therefore how they need to implement the vision will be different.
Scanning the Health and Well-Being Horizon is a living document, meaning we intend to update it as we all continuously learn and use futuring techniques in our work across sectors. Please note that the findings are from a scan conducted in 2019, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and protests against racial injustice.
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