Collaboration Lab™ Introductory Session
2025-07-15 10:00 - 11:30, 2025-06-25 14:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | Virtual
Want to strengthen your knowledge and skills to achieve impactful community improvements? Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from our partners at Healthy Places by Design about a menu of options to help you! Collaboration Lab™ is a practice-tested approach that builds participants’ confidence and capacity in collective leadership, cross-sector partnerships, building trust, and navigating power. The approach offers a balance of structured facilitation, live problem-solving, and an interactive and responsive space for deep learning and application. Sign up for one of the introductory sessions to learn more in a Power of Collaboration Introductory Session.

Solving the Youth Wellbeing Challenge
2025-07-03 08:00 - 17:00 | NY
Rates of depression, anxiety, and loneliness are surging among young people, as social connections weaken and mental health challenges intensify.
In response, researchers and experts are sounding the alarm—calling for urgent, comprehensive solutions to reverse these trends and support youth wellbeing.
Semafor journalists will lead in-depth conversations exploring the complex drivers of this crisis, highlighting opportunities to rebuild social ties, foster resilience, and develop lasting strategies to improve the mental health of young people.
Watch the live event on demand on July 16th at 9 AM ET
Learn more here.

WHO Commission on Social Connection's flagship report launch
2025-06-30 09:00 - 10:30 | Virtual
Anyone, anywhere, can be lonely or socially isolated. But in the last decade, science has transformed our understanding of how important social connection is for our health and well-being.
The WHO Commission on Social Connection (2024–2026) was set up to see the issue recognised and resourced as a global public health priority. The Commission is now ready to publish their flagship report, which:
• Explains what we know about social connection, isolation, and loneliness – how big the problem is, what causes it, and how it affects us
• Identifies solutions that work – like public awareness campaigns, national policies, community programmes, and ways we can build stronger relationships
• Offers a practical way forward with clear steps to help governments tackle social isolation and loneliness and support people around the world to feel more connected Join us to learn more about how we can harness the #PowerOfConnection together to transform communities and societies across the globe.
Register here.

Social Connection Summit: The Invisible Third Pillar of Wellness
2025-06-26 17:00 - 20:30 | Fabrik DUMBO, 20 Jay St Suite 218, Brooklyn, NY, 11201, United States
Join us for Fabrik’s inaugural Social Connection Summit, Thursday, June 26th
​We prioritize our physical health by going to the gym, our mental health by meditating or seeing a therapist, but what about our social health?
​Social wellness is the third pillar in our wellness triangle, often meaningfully influencing the others, yet it remains largely invisible. Loneliness is the largest health crisis of our time—as deadly as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and costing our economy $460B annually. Despite the severity, no one has identified a real solution.
​We’re changing that by pioneering the social spaces industry and giving us all a reason to approach social connection with the same intentionality we bring to the gym. This isn’t just about addressing loneliness – it’s about designing a life where connection isn’t left to chance.
​Ready to get back together IRL? Join us as we build the social health movement together at Fabrik, a network of social spaces designed specifically for community, connection, and finding a sense of belonging.

Click to learn more and register.

Young Future's YF Innovators Showcase ft. the Under Pressure Cohort
2025-06-25 12:00 - 13:00 | Virtual
Today’s youth are drowning in digital pressure—perfectionism, performance, and social scrutiny amplified 24/7 by technology. But here’s the good news: the solutions are just as powerful!
Our friends at Young Futures invite you to the YF Innovators Showcase featuring the Under Pressure Cohort on June 25, 2025. Hear directly from 10 visionary leaders who are designing innovative ways to support teen wellbeing and ease pressures in the digital age.
From fostering healthy tech habits to building spaces for connection and resilience, these YF Innovators are redefining how we support youth wellbeing in today’s high-pressure world. Whether you’re a parent, educator, funder, or youth wellbeing advocate, you’ll leave with actionable insights to support the young people in your life.
Event Details:
📅 Wednesday, June 25, 2025
⏰ 9:00 a.m. PT / 12:00 p.m. ET
📍 Virtual – Register here: bit.ly/UPCShowcase
Join us in celebrating these changemakers! Together, we can help teens navigate the digital world with confidence and joy.

Advancing Social Connection through Food and Nutrition
2025-06-17 14:00 - 15:00 | Virtual
Food is more than just fuel for our bodies – it’s a powerful tool for fostering connection and building community. In this upcoming webinar, the Foundation for Social Connection will explore how food and nutrition can go beyond physical nourishment to strengthen relationships, bridge divides, and build a sense of belonging.
Drawing upon their latest SOCIAL Framework report on the Food and Nutrition Sector, presenters will dive into how food systems – spanning everything from production to distribution to consumption – can be intentionally designed to strengthen social bonds across diverse populations and settings.
Featuring a fireside chat with experts who contributed to the report, they’ll also discuss actionable strategies and share insights for advancing social connection through systems change and community engagement.
Whether you are a farmer, policymaker, business owner, health practitioner, or engaged citizen, this webinar invites you to reimagine our relationship with food and discover effective ways to build a stronger culture of connection through food and nutrition. Register here.

Share Our America: The Summit
2025-06-11 12:00 - 15:00 | Virtual
Join, 92NY’s Belfar Center for Innovation & Social Impact and Weave: The Social Fabric Project for their free, online event, Share Our America: The Summit, hosted by Rainn Wilson. Americans of all beliefs and backgrounds are worried about our country’s future. We’re in a crisis of community and broken connection. Hear from thinkers, leaders, and citizens who are not giving up on America. They’ll focus on how we can show up for each other and lean into all that connects us to rebuild trust and collaboration, starting where we live.
Register today here.

Global Loneliness Awareness Week Webinar: Poverty & Social Connection
2025-06-10 06:30 - 08:00 | Virtual
Join the Global Initiative on Loneliness and Connection for this Global Loneliness Awareness Week (8 -14 June 2025) discussion on the drivers of economic insecurity and the relationship with social isolation, loneliness, and social connection. Hear from global and local experts and contribute to the worldwide dialogue.
Learn more and RSVP here.

2025 Global Loneliness Awareness Summit
2025-06-09 - 2025-06-10 | NY
Join the Foundation for Social Connection Action Network in Washington, DC, June 9th and 10th for our summit, this year titled: Improving Wellbeing and Social Capital: Bipartisan Solutions to End Social Isolation and Loneliness in America.
Welcome Reception
We invite you to the rooftop of our offices in Washington, DC, to network, socialize, and kick off Loneliness Awareness Week with friends and partners. Light refreshments will be served. Special guests TBA!
When: Monday, June 9th
Location: Rooftop: Arnold & Porter Building | 601 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001
Recommended attire: Professional/business casual.
**More information regarding arrival instructions will be shared closer to the event date.
Summit
Join us to hear from Congressional champions, thought leaders, and changemakers about the devastating impacts of social isolation and loneliness and what solutions exist to create cross-sector, system-wide connection to promote a healthier and more resilient society.
When: Tuesday, June 10th
Location: U.S. Capitol Visitor Center | 1st St SE Washington, DC 20515
**More information regarding arrival instructions, including what to bring, how to enter, etc., will be shared closer to the event date.

Building cities and neighbourhoods for children and all ages
2025-06-06 10:00 - 11:30 | Virtual
The OECD report Cities for All Ages, supported by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism of Japan, aims to promote key policy actions to create more age-inclusive cities. The share of older people in OECD cities is rising fast, while many large cities continue to grow and attract young people. Without age-inclusive policies, cities face significant social and economic consequences, ranging from poorer health outcomes and higher isolation to workforce loss, increased public spending, and brain drain. The Cities for All Ages report explores how local and national governments can address these challenges and make cities work for all generations. It highlights strategies such as adapting urban design and land use planning for more accessible cities, providing age-friendly housing, and engaging both young and older people in labour and consumer markets. To drive progress, the report offers a checklist of nine policy actions across three key areas – strategy setting, resource development and stakeholder co-ordination – to help local and national governments shape cities for all ages.
The project Building Child-Friendly Neighbourhoods, supported by the Van Leer Foundation, elaborated an OECD-wide monitoring framework, which lays out the neighbourhood elements that matter for children’s well-being and development, and maps available cross-national indicators. The identified neighbourhood elements encompass aspects of the built environment, communities’ social relationships, and children’s access to basic services such as schools and health services. An OECD-wide monitoring of children’s neighbourhood conditions can support local and national policy makers in building child-friendly neighbourhoods and in attenuating geographical disparities by facilitating resource allocation, collaboration across sectors and levels of government, and cross-country learning with respect to effective policy tools. The project also summarises practical considerations for national and local policy makers and other stakeholders involved in data-driven efforts to improve children’s neighbourhoods. It highlights how locally adapted policy solutions hold greater promise to mitigate the locational disadvantage that some children experience. Moreover, it emphasises the need for more rigorous implementation and evaluations to increase policies’ effectiveness and gain a more complete understanding of the potential of place-based policies to build stronger neighbourhoods for children.
The webinar will be held virtually over Zoom. To participate, please register here. The link with log-in details will be sent to all registered participants. The meeting will be recorded and made publicly available.

Bridging and Belonging to Strengthen Social Connections
2025-05-28 15:00 - 17:00 | Virtual
Bridging across divides and creating a shared sense of belonging in communities is essential to sustain a broader socially connected community. Approaches that honor the diversity of members in the community require bringing people together across differences to avoid othering and siloing of subgroups. Creating a sense of belonging involves helping all community members feel safe and valued. Join us on May 28, 3-4 pm ET to learn about the status of disconnection in our country and communities, as well as evidence-based strategies and community examples to foster bridging and belonging while honoring diversity. Calista Small, Research Manager with More in Common, will share highlights from the recently released report, The Connection Opportunity: Insights for Bringing Americans Together Across Difference. Kira Hamman, Senior Director of Programs with Urban Rural Action, will share how the Uniting for Action program is bringing highly polarized and once divided communities together.
Register here to join the live webinar on Wednesday, May 28th from 3-4 pm ET, and hold time in your schedule to join the post-webinar discussion group from 4-5 pm ET to engage in deeper discussions with presenters and peers.
The Socially Connected Communities webinars are recorded and made available on Healthy Places by Design’s YouTube channel for public access. The discussion groups are conducted in Zoom meetings. The discussion group session is recorded for internal purposes and is not shared publicly in order to provide a safe and confidential space for participant engagement.
Webinar registrants are automatically added to the Socially Connected Communities Network communications list and can opt-out at any time.

Unpacking the Third AHC Evaluation Report
2025-05-08 14:00 - 15:00 | Virtual
In November 2024, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) released the third evaluation report of the Accountable Health Communities (AHC) Model, in which Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries in 28 communities were screened for social risks and offered navigation to help resolve identified risks. The 177-page report is chock full of interesting findings. Join us for a webinar on May 8th 11-12 PST/2-3pm EST to unpack the report’s findings with Dawn Alley, former director of the AHC Model at CMMI and Head of Scale at IMPaCT Care and SIREN Co-Directors Caroline Fichtenberg and Danielle Hessler-Jones. This webinar is made possible with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Building Community Care Hubs to Address Health-Related Social Needs: Lessons from New York and North Carolina Medicaid
2025-04-30 13:00 - 14:00 | Virtual
As state Medicaid programs seek ways to address health-related social needs (HRSN), partnerships with community-based organizations (CBOs) are increasingly important. As trusted community entities, CBOs are well positioned to understand community members’ needs and provide essential services and supports. In recent years, the number of CBOs contracting with health systems and managed care organizations (MCOs) to deliver HRSN has grown significantly. Creating the infrastructure for effective partnership, however, can be costly and burdensome for CBOs, particularly for smaller, less resourced organizations. In response, CBOs are forming networks — often led by a backbone organization called a community care hub — to establish shared infrastructure and a systematic approach for MCOs, providers, and CBOs to coordinate service delivery and referrals.
This webinar explored how state Medicaid programs are using the community care hub model to better tailor and coordinate delivery of HRSN services to address community needs. It highlighted key design and implementation considerations for building effective hubs, based on the experiences of Medicaid agencies in New York and North Carolina.
The states featured are participants in the Medicaid Health-Related Social Needs Implementation Learning Series, led by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) in partnership with HealthBegins and SIREN, and made possible by the Kaiser Permanente National Community Benefit Fund at The East Bay Community Foundation.
