The Rippel Foundation’s Vital Conditions for Health and Well-Being framework identifies the foundational elements every community needs to thrive—from basic needs like food, water, and housing to less tangible but equally critical factors like belonging, civic muscle, and lifelong learning. By shifting attention from short-term urgent services toward long-term structural conditions, the framework offers a practical, widely adopted model for creating equitable systems change. It has influenced federal planning, including the Equitable Long-Term Recovery and Resilience strategy, and continues to guide philanthropy, health systems, and local stewards. For Aspen CSG, which prioritizes belonging, agency, and cross-sector collaboration in rural and tribal communities, the vital conditions framework provides a powerful complement: it reinforces that genuine prosperity depends not only on meeting immediate needs but also on building the civic, social, and institutional scaffolding that sustains thriving communities across generations.
Vital Conditions for Health and Well-Being
