Seeding and Spreading Happiness
Our model of empowerment has sparked leadership in the happiness movement. We have worked communities around the world, ranging from neighborhoods, cities and nations to classrooms, campuses, companies and research projects. See highlights of a few of our projects.
YOU too can become a leader in the Happiness Movement. LEARN HOW.
Cities, States and Nations
VErMONT, USA
The University of Vermont Center for Rural Studies, in collaboration with GNHUSA, conducted a random sampling of the state of Vermont using the Gross National Happiness Index in 2013. They compiled a report and presented it to the Vermont Legislature. They also conducted data laboratories to help policy makers, not-for-profit leaders and responsible business owners understand how to use the data.
|
| ||||
Pamploma, Spain
HAPPINESS STUDY BY EL BIEN VIVAR
La felicidad es un concepto multidimensional que puede medirse a través de las autoevaluaciones que las personas realizan sobre los aspectos clave de su vida. El estudio de la felicidad de la población proporciona información integral y transversal sobre las percepciones de las personas en las principales dimensiones de la vida: Bienestar Subjetivo, Bienestar Psicológico, Salud, Balance del Tiempo, Aprendizaje Permanente, Arte y Cultura, Comunidad, Apoyo Social, Medio Ambiente, Gobierno, Nivel de Vida y Trabajo. En este estudio se ha utilizado un cuestionario desarrollado por la Alianza por la Felicidad (2018) compuesto por 50 preguntas cerradas (la persona participante solo podía elegir una opción. Se han considerado las respuestas de los participantes entre enero y julio de 2018 en la Encuesta General y estos datos se han contrastado con otro grupo de población de España, denominado Mi Comunidad. En total, han participado 2660 personas. El Índice de Felicidad medio de todas las personas participantes es de 6,4 puntos en una escala de 10. Los aspectos que han obtenido las puntuaciones más altas son Medio Ambiente (7) Apoyo Social y Aprendizaje Permanente, Arte y Cultura empatados con 6,9 mientras que las dimensiones de Gobierno (5,6), y el Balance de tiempo y Bienestar Subjetivo (empatados con 5,8) cierran el ranking. Se han analizado y comparado los resultados de los dos grupos de población: en la Encuesta General el Índice de Felicidad medio es de 6,4 puntos mientras que el grupo de Mi Comunidad obtiene una puntuación significativamente mayor, de 6,8 puntos. El grupo de la Encuesta General cumple la misma valoración para las distintas dimensiones que los aspectos indicados más arriba para el conjunto de la encuesta, mientras que en el grupo de Mi Comunidad las dimensiones que obtienen mejor puntuación son: Bienestar Psicológico (7,8) Nivel de Vida (7,7) y Bienestar Subjetivo (7,4). En este último grupo, las dimensiones con valoraciones más bajas son el Gobierno (5,5), el Balance de Tiempo (5,7) y la Comunidad (5,8). En ambos grupos el Gobierno y el Balance de Tiempo obtienen puntuaciones en el rango bajo de la clasificación, con una valoración de aprobado justo.
La felicidad es un concepto multidimensional que puede medirse a través de las autoevaluaciones que las personas realizan sobre los aspectos clave de su vida. El estudio de la felicidad de la población proporciona información integral y transversal sobre las percepciones de las personas en las principales dimensiones de la vida: Bienestar Subjetivo, Bienestar Psicológico, Salud, Balance del Tiempo, Aprendizaje Permanente, Arte y Cultura, Comunidad, Apoyo Social, Medio Ambiente, Gobierno, Nivel de Vida y Trabajo. En este estudio se ha utilizado un cuestionario desarrollado por la Alianza por la Felicidad (2018) compuesto por 50 preguntas cerradas (la persona participante solo podía elegir una opción. Se han considerado las respuestas de los participantes entre enero y julio de 2018 en la Encuesta General y estos datos se han contrastado con otro grupo de población de España, denominado Mi Comunidad. En total, han participado 2660 personas. El Índice de Felicidad medio de todas las personas participantes es de 6,4 puntos en una escala de 10. Los aspectos que han obtenido las puntuaciones más altas son Medio Ambiente (7) Apoyo Social y Aprendizaje Permanente, Arte y Cultura empatados con 6,9 mientras que las dimensiones de Gobierno (5,6), y el Balance de tiempo y Bienestar Subjetivo (empatados con 5,8) cierran el ranking. Se han analizado y comparado los resultados de los dos grupos de población: en la Encuesta General el Índice de Felicidad medio es de 6,4 puntos mientras que el grupo de Mi Comunidad obtiene una puntuación significativamente mayor, de 6,8 puntos. El grupo de la Encuesta General cumple la misma valoración para las distintas dimensiones que los aspectos indicados más arriba para el conjunto de la encuesta, mientras que en el grupo de Mi Comunidad las dimensiones que obtienen mejor puntuación son: Bienestar Psicológico (7,8) Nivel de Vida (7,7) y Bienestar Subjetivo (7,4). En este último grupo, las dimensiones con valoraciones más bajas son el Gobierno (5,5), el Balance de Tiempo (5,7) y la Comunidad (5,8). En ambos grupos el Gobierno y el Balance de Tiempo obtienen puntuaciones en el rango bajo de la clasificación, con una valoración de aprobado justo.
| pilot-happiness-index-studyby-el-bien-vivar-estudio-piloto-felicidad.pdf |
Creston & District, British Columbia
The Better Life Project - Creston & District, British Columbia, Canada conducted a convenience sampling using the Happiness Index in 2014.
Creston & District's Press Release:
Los Angeles, Dubai, and Seattle are doing it. Victoria, too. The whole state of Vermont does it. In England it is national policy. Bhutan is a leader – they have been doing it for more than 30 years. In December 2014, the C&DCDF Committee invited our community to get on board! Creston & District is now one of hundreds of places around the world where residents help to measure well-being as a tool for enhancing local quality of life.
We were overwhelmed by how positively our community embraced this initiative! More than 5% of local residents took our “happiness” survey and answered questions about their lives. Over 100 volunteers and nearly 30 community partners helped to make this happen.
People shared what they love about our community – natural beauty and supportive relationships top the list. Results show a community that is thriving in many ways – we score well above global levels when it comes to social support, community, and the environment. Results also point towards local challenges and groups in need – lower income households, unemployed persons, local teens, and Lower Kootenay Band embers are all “unhappier” in all of the domains of well-being that we measured.
The C&DCDF Committee will be using what we have learned to help create a plan for putting some Columbia Basin Trust funding to work in our community.
We are sharing the results with the hope that they will inspire individuals, families, organizations, governments, and our community as a whole to make Creston & District a happier place!
Creston & District's Press Release:
Los Angeles, Dubai, and Seattle are doing it. Victoria, too. The whole state of Vermont does it. In England it is national policy. Bhutan is a leader – they have been doing it for more than 30 years. In December 2014, the C&DCDF Committee invited our community to get on board! Creston & District is now one of hundreds of places around the world where residents help to measure well-being as a tool for enhancing local quality of life.
We were overwhelmed by how positively our community embraced this initiative! More than 5% of local residents took our “happiness” survey and answered questions about their lives. Over 100 volunteers and nearly 30 community partners helped to make this happen.
People shared what they love about our community – natural beauty and supportive relationships top the list. Results show a community that is thriving in many ways – we score well above global levels when it comes to social support, community, and the environment. Results also point towards local challenges and groups in need – lower income households, unemployed persons, local teens, and Lower Kootenay Band embers are all “unhappier” in all of the domains of well-being that we measured.
The C&DCDF Committee will be using what we have learned to help create a plan for putting some Columbia Basin Trust funding to work in our community.
We are sharing the results with the hope that they will inspire individuals, families, organizations, governments, and our community as a whole to make Creston & District a happier place!
| creston___district_happiness_report_card.pdf |
Kuwait
In 2017, we worked with high level representatives of the Government of Kuwait to measure the happiness of the people of Kuwait and explore how to use happiness data for policy purposes. Our role was to educate and empower our contact.
| ipsos_kuwait_proposal_-_march_2017.pdf |
Namibia
The aim of for Progress Namibia is to pioneer New Indicators for Measuring Progress in Namibia and create a discussion platform around what we truly value and what gives our lives quality and meaning.
In 1968 John F. Kennedy said, in his very moving speech, that “GDP measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile”. Despite this, and the inventor of GDP, Simon Kuznets, warning us against the use of GDP as the measure of wellbeing, GDP has become the primary goal globally when we measure our well-being. An urgent need to redefine this paradigm is facing us now that we are hitting environmental, economic and social breakdowns. Justine and a few members from the Young Achievement Empowerment Group, with a small stipend and mentorship from the Balaton Group, began implementing a small entry point project in Namibia entitled “Citizen Wellbeing versus GDP: Towards more appropriate measures of Namibia’s success and progress”.
In 2012, the committee (Justine Braby, Angula Angula, Fikameni Matthias, John Mulunga, Newmann Nekwaya, Jess Lavelle) was formed to brainstorm ideas, develop and run a small survey in three suburbs in Windhoek, ranging from high income to low income. Justine used the expertise of Balaton members including Cuathemoc Leon, Laura Musikanski, John de Graaf, and Alan Atkisson to guide and mentor the work of her and her colleagues. They discussed surveys and initiatives such as the GNH in Bhutan, the Happiness Alliance ((formerly 'Happiness Initiative', a project of Sustainable Seattle), the Happy Planet Index, GNH in Brazil (youth work), and OECD, among many others, to adapt such examples to the Namibian context.
The work was aimed at being an entry point into measuring well-being of Namibia’s citizens for informed development planning and decision-making. Volunteers surveyed, using a questionnaire, door-to-door in households of different income suburbs of the capital city in Windhoek. Domains similar to GNH Bhutan were used – focusing on the following: State of Mind; Health; Time Balance; Community Strength; Education, Recreation and Culture; Area and Environment; Good Governance and Political Freedom; Material Well-being; Work. A multitude of indicators were used to measure the sufficiency of each domain and to then calculate the overall sufficiency (sufficiency meaning whether targeted well-being was reached – above 50% in sufficiency).
In all suburbs, only two domains’ sufficiency was reached, namely health and state of mind. Health status was the highest scoring indicator, whilst corruption and trust were the two lowest scoring indicators – and sufficiency was overall low. Okuryangava, a low income suburb in Katutura (the former township), was found to have reached sufficiency in the most domains (and indicators), namely health and state of mind, as well as education, recreation and culture, and material wellbeing, and had an overall sufficiency of 52%, just above Ludwigsdorf (high income, 51%). Hakahana had the lowest sufficiency, at 35%. Generally, and as expected given Namibia’s income disparities, wellbeing correlated along an income line, with the exception of Okuryangava. The relatively high sufficiency reached in Okuryangava is notable and begs for further study. Sense of community strength, unity and safety were the highest here compared with all other surveys, and social cohesion is a large component of wellbeing in human society. Work and time balance was an issue where all suburbs scored low. Overall, while income seems to be a relatively important ingredient to wellbeing, it is by far not the most important. This study was the first of its kind in Namibia, and hopes to spark a debate as to what is important to Namibian citizens, and form a basis in which further study can guide social development planning in the country. This study has recently been published in the Journal of Social Change, and can be found here.
We have received funding from the Institute for Studies in Happiness, Economics and Society, which Progress Namibia has matched, in order to present the results to one of the suburbs.The results were presented to the suburb residents of Shandumbala during a community workshop that was held on the 16th of April at the Multi-purpose Centre. The City of Windhoek, National Planning Commission, UNDP, and the Councillors Office also participated in the workshop. The residents, together with the other stakeholders, discussed the key issues, and came up with feasible actions towards working on the results.Currently, we are working on an action plan in consultation with the Councillor of Katutura-East to improve the conditions in the community. This is a step towards hopefully more interventions and the wider aim of bringing the project to the national arena (especially rural communities) for holistic and sustainable national development planning. For more details visit here.
In 1968 John F. Kennedy said, in his very moving speech, that “GDP measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile”. Despite this, and the inventor of GDP, Simon Kuznets, warning us against the use of GDP as the measure of wellbeing, GDP has become the primary goal globally when we measure our well-being. An urgent need to redefine this paradigm is facing us now that we are hitting environmental, economic and social breakdowns. Justine and a few members from the Young Achievement Empowerment Group, with a small stipend and mentorship from the Balaton Group, began implementing a small entry point project in Namibia entitled “Citizen Wellbeing versus GDP: Towards more appropriate measures of Namibia’s success and progress”.
In 2012, the committee (Justine Braby, Angula Angula, Fikameni Matthias, John Mulunga, Newmann Nekwaya, Jess Lavelle) was formed to brainstorm ideas, develop and run a small survey in three suburbs in Windhoek, ranging from high income to low income. Justine used the expertise of Balaton members including Cuathemoc Leon, Laura Musikanski, John de Graaf, and Alan Atkisson to guide and mentor the work of her and her colleagues. They discussed surveys and initiatives such as the GNH in Bhutan, the Happiness Alliance ((formerly 'Happiness Initiative', a project of Sustainable Seattle), the Happy Planet Index, GNH in Brazil (youth work), and OECD, among many others, to adapt such examples to the Namibian context.
The work was aimed at being an entry point into measuring well-being of Namibia’s citizens for informed development planning and decision-making. Volunteers surveyed, using a questionnaire, door-to-door in households of different income suburbs of the capital city in Windhoek. Domains similar to GNH Bhutan were used – focusing on the following: State of Mind; Health; Time Balance; Community Strength; Education, Recreation and Culture; Area and Environment; Good Governance and Political Freedom; Material Well-being; Work. A multitude of indicators were used to measure the sufficiency of each domain and to then calculate the overall sufficiency (sufficiency meaning whether targeted well-being was reached – above 50% in sufficiency).
In all suburbs, only two domains’ sufficiency was reached, namely health and state of mind. Health status was the highest scoring indicator, whilst corruption and trust were the two lowest scoring indicators – and sufficiency was overall low. Okuryangava, a low income suburb in Katutura (the former township), was found to have reached sufficiency in the most domains (and indicators), namely health and state of mind, as well as education, recreation and culture, and material wellbeing, and had an overall sufficiency of 52%, just above Ludwigsdorf (high income, 51%). Hakahana had the lowest sufficiency, at 35%. Generally, and as expected given Namibia’s income disparities, wellbeing correlated along an income line, with the exception of Okuryangava. The relatively high sufficiency reached in Okuryangava is notable and begs for further study. Sense of community strength, unity and safety were the highest here compared with all other surveys, and social cohesion is a large component of wellbeing in human society. Work and time balance was an issue where all suburbs scored low. Overall, while income seems to be a relatively important ingredient to wellbeing, it is by far not the most important. This study was the first of its kind in Namibia, and hopes to spark a debate as to what is important to Namibian citizens, and form a basis in which further study can guide social development planning in the country. This study has recently been published in the Journal of Social Change, and can be found here.
We have received funding from the Institute for Studies in Happiness, Economics and Society, which Progress Namibia has matched, in order to present the results to one of the suburbs.The results were presented to the suburb residents of Shandumbala during a community workshop that was held on the 16th of April at the Multi-purpose Centre. The City of Windhoek, National Planning Commission, UNDP, and the Councillors Office also participated in the workshop. The residents, together with the other stakeholders, discussed the key issues, and came up with feasible actions towards working on the results.Currently, we are working on an action plan in consultation with the Councillor of Katutura-East to improve the conditions in the community. This is a step towards hopefully more interventions and the wider aim of bringing the project to the national arena (especially rural communities) for holistic and sustainable national development planning. For more details visit here.
Bolivia
Las huellas del bienestar - Un estudio en Bolivia sobre felicidad y sostenibilidad ambiental en tiempos de crisis by William D. Powers, Karina Mariaca de Oliveira and Hilvert Timmer.
El contexto global proyecta que dos de cada tres seres humanos vivirán en áreas urbanas en el año 20501; en Sudamérica la proyección de urbanización es de 90%2. Pese a esta tendencia, es posible encontrar contra-movimientos migratorios desde las ciudades hacia el campo, como es el caso de Samaipata, un pueblo ubicado en el corazón de Sudamérica, Bolivia, con 4.500 habitantes. La tranquilidad, el aire puro, y el sentimiento de comunidad que se siente en Samaipata - que es común en muchos pueblos de su tamaño del Sur Global - fueron la inspiración para investigar sobre el nivel de felicidad y sostenibilidad existente en su población. Así nació la pregunta si ¿será posible que pueblos del Sur Global puedan ser un referente de sostenibilidad y fuente de aprendizaje para los escenarios globales futuros? Buscando la respuesta, se midió el Índice de Felicidad en Samaipata, con métodos reconocidos a nivel internacional como el Índice de Felicidad Bruta (basado en el Índice Nacional de Felicidad de Bután) y el Índice del Planeta Feliz. Se realizó un análisis comparativo del Producto Interno Bruto per cápita frente a los niveles de felicidad, más la medición técnica de la huella de carbono de Samaipata y su comparación con la de algunos países que tienen altos niveles de desarrollo.
El contexto global proyecta que dos de cada tres seres humanos vivirán en áreas urbanas en el año 20501; en Sudamérica la proyección de urbanización es de 90%2. Pese a esta tendencia, es posible encontrar contra-movimientos migratorios desde las ciudades hacia el campo, como es el caso de Samaipata, un pueblo ubicado en el corazón de Sudamérica, Bolivia, con 4.500 habitantes. La tranquilidad, el aire puro, y el sentimiento de comunidad que se siente en Samaipata - que es común en muchos pueblos de su tamaño del Sur Global - fueron la inspiración para investigar sobre el nivel de felicidad y sostenibilidad existente en su población. Así nació la pregunta si ¿será posible que pueblos del Sur Global puedan ser un referente de sostenibilidad y fuente de aprendizaje para los escenarios globales futuros? Buscando la respuesta, se midió el Índice de Felicidad en Samaipata, con métodos reconocidos a nivel internacional como el Índice de Felicidad Bruta (basado en el Índice Nacional de Felicidad de Bután) y el Índice del Planeta Feliz. Se realizó un análisis comparativo del Producto Interno Bruto per cápita frente a los niveles de felicidad, más la medición técnica de la huella de carbono de Samaipata y su comparación con la de algunos países que tienen altos niveles de desarrollo.
| las-huellas-del-bienestarversionfinaldigital.pdf |
Illinois, USA
An inaugural index is introduced to measure and track the well-being and happiness of Illinois’ citizens and workers. It draws on existing indicators and the happiness and well-being research literature. Similar to other such indexes, that quantify both objective and subjective well-being indicators, it contains 8 domains, but intentionally has more emphasis on measuring both the temperature and the climate for work and labor, and associated public policies. Each of the 8 categories has 10 components, from which an average is created for a composite figure.
The Happiness Alliance's Happiness Index was one of the subjective well-being indicators included in the study.
The Happiness Alliance's Happiness Index was one of the subjective well-being indicators included in the study.
| illinois.pdf |
SEATTLE, WAshington, USA
| seattle-happiness_report_card-2011.pdf |
EAU Claire, WISCONSIN, USA
An initiative to measure the "happiness" of Eau Claire residents is nearly complete. The next step is to use the results to improve quality of life in the city.
The Eau Claire Happiness Initiative is the first of its kind in the state and unique in the U.S.. Citizens take a survey rating 10 different happiness domains like psychological well being, health, time balance, and governance. Results are tabulated and handed off to local government, non-profits, and community groups to improve problem areas. John DeGraf is the outreach coordinator for the nationwide Happiness Initiative. He says the effort is about changing people's perception that happiness equates to dollars and cents, "We're talking about long run quality of life and contentment for people, people who feel good about their lives and I think city officials are concerned about quality of life."
There are about two dozen cities across the country that have adopted their own versions of the Happiness Initiative, including Richmond, California, Portland, Oregon, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In Eau Claire around 1,500 people took the happiness survey. Dr. Don Mowry Chairs the Social Work Department at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and is working with the Happiness Initiative there. He says while residents may look to local government to fix problems, everyone needs to chip in to improve their quality of life, "It's actually all of our responsibility to do something about those things around us that ignite our passion and get us wanting to make change."
While results aren't final, Mowry says Eau Claire residents say they're relatively happy. Difficulty balancing work and family was the number one complaint. The final report is expected in a few week
http://www.eauclairehappiness.com/
https://www.wpr.org/eau-claire-measures-citizens-happiness
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, USA
Life Up Las Vegas is a community-based Research, Education, and Advocacy group that inspires people to be compassionate towards themselves, the community, and the world. Late 2016 and in 2017 they the Gross National Happiness index to assess the well-being and happiness of the city and raise awareness about the importance of happiness defined holistically and about the happiness movement. Online use of the Gross National Happiness Index survey: http://www.liftupvegas.org/surveys/las-vegas-happiness-survey/
Seattle (immigrant & Refugee Communities), Washington, USA
https://happycounts.blogspot.com/2012/06/seattle-may-not-be-happy-place-to-live.html
Full text:
This week marks the end of a year long project to understand social justice in Seattle. This project is important because it is one of the first that tells us in real numbers what social justice - or injustice is. It gives us a comprehensive way to measure equity - and inequity, It makes it clear that Seattle may be a happy city for some, but may not be such a great place to live if you are not wealthy or privileged with access to resources.
The goal of the project is greater social justice and well-being for all in our city.
We used the Happiness Initiative assessment to compare the well-being of four immigrant and refugees communities in Seattle to that of the rest of the US. The Happiness Initiative survey holistically measures well-being in 10 domains: Material, Governance, Environment, Psychology, Health, Time-Balance, Community, Culture, Learning and Work-Experience.
We worked with the Oromo, Somali and Filipino community centers as well as the Vietnamese Friendship Association. We analyzed the results in comparison to a random sampling of the entire nation. The community-based organizations conducted small projects to increase the well-being of their community.
Below is the analysis for each community followed by a description of their project. In subsequent posts, we will explore this valuable and groundbreaking work.
Vietnamese Friendship Association: The Power of Youth
These survey results are the averages for 14 youth from the Vietnamese Community. They are not a representative sample; so do not scientifically represent youth in the community. They may indicate the true feelings about youth in the community, however. It is up to the community to determine if a project as per our agreement should be undertaken.
The results are compared to the results for the average American. These results are taken from a random sample and do represent the average American. All results are on a scale of 1-100, with 100 being the very best and 1 being the very worst.
The Youth Council analyzed the results on their own after conducting the survey. They were concerned about their overall low scores, and particularly the ones for material well-being, as many youth are making decisions about further education and choice of work. However, they decided that a sense of community and trust in governance were the key domains for increasing overall well-being for themselves, other Vietnamese youth, others in the Vietnamese community (non-youth!) and the neighborhood. Through discussion, the youth council determined that the optimal way to leverage the resources they had to address the low scores was to hold a “Spring-Off.” They invited local police officers and the community. Everybody learned how to make spring rolls, sat together to eat them! Contestants for a spring eating contest were chosen by raffle and three Vietnamese youth beat out the competition including two police officers. For a little over an hour, 10-30 youth and a few elders sat at five different tables to ask officers prepared and spontaneous questions. Approximately 200 people attended the event, with about 10 police officers joined by Seattle City Council member Mike O’Brian.
Below is the announcement, poster and some photos from the event.
VFA'S Youth Leadership Council is welcoming everyone from the community to join us for our first annual Spring Off event!
On April 7, 2012
The Spring Off will be located at Jefferson Community Center
from 1:00pm - 3:00pm hosted by VFA'S Youth Leadership Council
3801 Beacon Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98108
We'll be spending an afternoon learning how to make traditional Vietnamese Spring rolls, competing for fabulous prizes, meeting new people, and getting to know our local police officers and firemen with an open Q&A session! This event is completely FREE so come and bring your friends!
Vietnamese Youth and others learning how to make spring rolls. “It's not that easy, and many of our youth do not know how to do this!” said James Hong, Director of Youth and Community Engagement for the Vietnamese Friendship Association.
Seattle University Students sitting down with a local police officer. (photo)
Spring roll eating contest: Guess who wins? (photo)
Guess now! (photo) You got it! Youth triumph! (photo)
Youth and officers in discussion to build trust in government.(photo)
Another table.(photo)
James Hong, Director of Youth and Community Engagement for the Vietnamese Friendship Association (VFA), said about “The project was wonderful in the context of working with our youth council. It gave them the opportunity to get them involved at every level, which is rare. They were able to conduct the survey, reflect upon the results, decide on a project and then coordinate it all themselves. We want to continue using this model for youth council. There was so much learning and it was all very valuable.”
He said the VFA was very pleased with all aspects of the project as the survey gave youth a strong platform for personal discovery and development and the event provided a way for youth, other community members and police officers to understand each other, and for the Vietnamese community to bond. The Happiness Initiative (HI) is making a you-tube video of the event and has submitted proposals to write articles to magazines and national blogs. A flickr account shows many photos from this event.
Somali Community Center: Happiness and culture.
These survey results are the averages for 45 individuals from the Somali Community. They are not a representative sample; so do not scientifically represent the community. They may indicate the true feelings about Somali people in the community, however. It is up to the community to determine if a project as per our agreement should be undertaken.
The results are compared to the results for the average American. These results are taken from a random sample and do represent the average American.
All results are on a scale of 1-100, with 100 being the very best and 1 being the very worst.
DomainSomali Average (45)US Raw Average
Satisfaction With Life63/77
Mental Well-Being60/76
Your Health54/71
Time Balance48/60
Community Vitality56/63
Social Support62/76
Access to Education, Arts & Culture59/73
Your Neighborhood57/78
Environmental Quality57/76
Governance53/59
Material Well-Being64/68
Work58/70
sample45
This is what the survey results say:
o The Somali community members who took the survey scored lowest in Governance (trust in government and other agencies), at 53 out of 100. The average American scored 59 out of 100.
o The Somali community scored second lowest in Health at 54 out of 100, with the average American scoring 71 out of 100.
o Somali community scores were lower in every domain than the Average American
o The largest difference between Somali community and average American is in the sense of Neighborhood, with a difference of 21, and Somali community scoring at 57, while the average American scored 78. The second widest difference is Environmental Quality, with Somali scoring 19 points lower than the average American: Somali community scored 57, while the average American score is 76.
The Somali community spent a great deal of time taking the survey. As most people do not have internet access, community leaders and volunteers sat down individually with people to take the survey. The community leaders analyzed the results, which are quite low overall. They decided to hold an event celebrating their culture and sharing the information in a way to gather strength in the community and increase the bond to each other.
On April 27, 2012 the community gathered for an event called Family Night at the New Wholly gathering hall. Many community members turned out and filled the hall with the help of Hope Academy located West Seattle and Al Noor Mosque on MLK Jr. Way S which has the largest congregations of all Mosques in South Seattle. Photographs and videos were taken during the event, and 4 restaurants provided different testes of African and Arabian culture. One of the Imams of Masjid Al Noor addressed the crowd and explained the report and how we fared as a community. During his speech, members of the community were paying so much attention as he touched one by one all measures of the survey. It was shock to many people to hear that the community fared the lowest on every area in the survey.
After the reading of the report questions and answers were opened and small groups were formed so the community can discuss while meals served during that time. It was in between laugh and sadness or disbelieve of why the community fare low grade on such matters. They discussed how those numbers could be increased if such survey ever happen again.
Many have suggested the survey was not relevant to the Somali or Muslim culture. Others have thought that what is going on back home impacted their behavior and feelings. Some said the economic downturn and the high unemployment among the Somalis which is estimated 50% is also a factor for the low scores.
After all the evaluations the community talked about how to increase the community well-being. Some suggested if we should act more like Americans to beat them in the next survey. Some others said no, and argued it does not matter since the test is different and acting will never make things better, but it is better to protect your own ways and culture. It was an eye opening for all. The community is now talking about how to educate the members for a better life, greater well-being and happiness.
Oromo Community Center: Small steps for a large difference.
These survey results are the averages for 44 individuals from the Oromo Community. They are not a representative sample; so do not scientifically represent the community. They may indicate the true feelings about Oromo people in the community, however. It is up to the community to determine if a project as per our agreement should be undertaken.
The results are compared to the results for the average American. These results are taken from a random sample and do represent the average American. All results are on a scale of 1-100, with 100 being the very best and 1 being the very worst.
DomainOromo Raw AverageUS Raw Average
Satisfaction With Life54/77
Mental Well-Being57/76
Your Health54/71
Time Balance48/60
Community Vitality47/63
Social Support59/76
Access to Education, Arts & Culture52/73
Your Neighborhood51/78
Environmental Quality52/76
Governance52/59
Material Well-Being57/68
Work Experience53/70
44
All ages
This is what the survey results say:
o The Oromo community who took the survey scored lowest in Community Vitality at 47 out of 100. The average American scored 63 out of 100.
o The Oromo community scored second lowest in Time Balance at 48 out of 100, with the average American scoring 60 out of 100.
o The Oromo community scored third lowest in Neighborhood at 51 out of 100, with the average American scoring 78 out of 100.
o The Oromo community scored fourth lowest in Access to Education, Arts & Culture, Environmental Quality, Governance each at 52 out of 100, where the average American scored 73 in Access to Education, Arts & Culture, 76 in Environmental Quality, and 59 in Governance.
o Oromo community scores were lower in every domain than the average American.
o The largest difference between Oromo community and average American is in the sense of Neighborhood, with a difference of 27. The second widest difference is Environmental Quality, with Oromo scoring 24 points lower than the average American: Oromo community scored 52, while the average American score is 76. The third largest difference is in Satisfaction with Life, at 23 points lower than the average American, with the Oromo community scoring 54 and the average American scoring 77.
The Oromo Community Center held a town meeting for their neighbors. The people who attended the community meeting were the adults and teenagers of the community. The board of directors was also there. People who participated in the survey were very surprised at the scores. Not only did they score extremely low on every part of the test, but they got the lowest of all the communities in many of the categories. When the project started, they were sure that the would of have had a higher score, but to their surprise and dismay, the results proved us wrong.
Some quotes from community members:
· “We really need to change”-Khalid Mohamed
· “Are you serious?”-Fuad Mohamed
· “You have got to be kidding me” – Sumaya Mohamed
·
When asked what they should do increase well-being, the replied with the following:
· “ We need the youth to participate more, we can do this by having video games and maybe a hoop at the center”- Kimo Sani
· “We need the community to form a greater bond, we can accomplish this by having more community events like have lunches and dinners and sleepovers. It shouldn’t be too hard to put these events together.”
· “The children do not participate in community events as much as olds, because the events are considered ‘boring’ by kids, so we should have some events that the kids would enjoy”
There were many other suggestions such as video game tournaments, picking up garbage around the neighborhood and having classes at the center.
The community members had a very long discussion on what they should do. They took into consideration what everyone had to say, and decided to do something that would benefit the environment, the youth, and the community. There were many suggestions that fit these categories such as having a recycling drive, a food drive, and a gaming tournament.
They also decided to conduct monthly activities that would increase the well-being of their community and their own personal sense of happiness. They decided to meet once a month in order to plan the activities that would take place during the month.
Some pictures from the first activity:
Cleaning up garbage in the rain.(photo)
Here come some helpers!(photo)
Time for snacks.(photo)
Everybody is having fun.(photo)
It was a good day.(photo)
Filipino Community of Seattle: The well-being of elders
These survey results are the averages for 45 elders from the Filipino Community.
They are not a representative sample; so do not scientifically represent the community. They may indicate the true feelings about the elders in the community, however. It is up to the community to determine if a project as per our agreement should be undertaken.
The results are compared to the results for the average American. These results are taken from a random sample and do represent the average American.
All results are on a scale of 1-100, with 100 being the very best and 1 being the very worst.
DomainFilipino
Elders
Average for 45US Raw Average – representative survey
Satisfaction With Life57/77
Mental Well-Being51/76
Your Health51/71
Time Balance52/60
Community Vitality50/63
Social Support56/76
Access to Education, Arts & Culture51/73
Your Neighborhood66/78
Environmental Quality54/76
Governance57/59
Material Well-Being61/68
Work54/70
This is what the survey results say:
o In every domain, or aspect of wellbeing, the elderly Filipino community is worse off then the average American.
o The Filipino elders surveyed scored lowest in Community Vitality at 50 out of 100. This is 13 points less than the average American.
o The Filipino elders also scored low in Mental Wellbeing, Health, and Access to Education, Arts & Culture, at 51 out of 100. This is 20-25 points lower than the average American
o The biggest difference between the Filipino elders and average American is Mental wellbeing, with a difference of 25 points. The second biggest differences are Access to Education, Arts & Culture and Environmental Quality, with Filipino elders scoring 22 points lower than the average American
Scientific findings indicate people’s happiness is lowest in the middle-ages (45-50) then rises as one gets older. World Happiness Report, Layard and Helliwell, Cambridge. Yet the elders in the Filipino community scored lower than the average American. The Filipino community center held a town meeting. Fifteen elders and other community leaders attended. They discussed why Filipinos scored lower than the average of the American. It was not much of a surprise to anyone and some had mixed feeling about it. Some been living here for a long time and others are newly immigrants. The meeting and discussion was conducted in Tagalog to ensure that everyone could participate and understand the reason and the importance of the outcome of the project. The community meeting was held on March 31, 2012.
The town meeting.
The community members examined the results, followed by a very good discussion about each domain of happiness and focused on psychological well-being (satisfaction with life and mental well-being) physical health, time balance, community vitality, social support, access to education, arts & culture.
One comment from the meeting was “Life back home are different, we don’t have a lot of stress, because everybody know everyone including your neighbors and have trust them even when you leave your house you feel safe and they will watch your kids and house until you came back. Here in the United States are different, most of the time we don’t know who our neighbors are, and the fear of knowing them because of the attitude they have towards immigrants(which some of us had a bad experienced, because of our accents, how we talk)”
The community talked about what they personally could do in their own lives to be happier. Some of their answers were:
· Not to worry too much about the problems, there’s always a solution
· Save money for the future.
· Serve others, such as by volunteering
· Utilize your life to the fullest ( enjoy every minute of it)
· Read the newspaper.
· Go to the Filipino Community Center.
· read Pinoy jokes.
· Love God and be loving people.
They talked about what they want to do:
· Serve other people.
· Serve community by volunteering
· Visit sick people
· Talk to people for the betterment of our community
· join civic organizations.
When asked “what do you want to see done? (this is for policy makers), they said:
· Create more jobs
· Create a peaceful environment
· Put more lights on dark street and put cameras in.
· Put more police on the streets and ensure they are more visible.
They discuss and decide on a project to enhance community wellbeing. They decided to focus on public safety. They decided to have a community forum to create and understand how to start Neighborhood Watch that would include education on how to get involve and bring other people to the forum. The group decided that they would have a community forum on public safety and will invite the law enforcement, crime prevention council and others to present to the community information about public safety such as burglary, robbery, safety, ID theft and hate crimes.
Pictures from the public safety meeting.
Elders bring the community together discuss public safety. (photo)
The community discusses tough issues.(photo)
Full text:
This week marks the end of a year long project to understand social justice in Seattle. This project is important because it is one of the first that tells us in real numbers what social justice - or injustice is. It gives us a comprehensive way to measure equity - and inequity, It makes it clear that Seattle may be a happy city for some, but may not be such a great place to live if you are not wealthy or privileged with access to resources.
The goal of the project is greater social justice and well-being for all in our city.
We used the Happiness Initiative assessment to compare the well-being of four immigrant and refugees communities in Seattle to that of the rest of the US. The Happiness Initiative survey holistically measures well-being in 10 domains: Material, Governance, Environment, Psychology, Health, Time-Balance, Community, Culture, Learning and Work-Experience.
We worked with the Oromo, Somali and Filipino community centers as well as the Vietnamese Friendship Association. We analyzed the results in comparison to a random sampling of the entire nation. The community-based organizations conducted small projects to increase the well-being of their community.
Below is the analysis for each community followed by a description of their project. In subsequent posts, we will explore this valuable and groundbreaking work.
Vietnamese Friendship Association: The Power of Youth
These survey results are the averages for 14 youth from the Vietnamese Community. They are not a representative sample; so do not scientifically represent youth in the community. They may indicate the true feelings about youth in the community, however. It is up to the community to determine if a project as per our agreement should be undertaken.
The results are compared to the results for the average American. These results are taken from a random sample and do represent the average American. All results are on a scale of 1-100, with 100 being the very best and 1 being the very worst.
The Youth Council analyzed the results on their own after conducting the survey. They were concerned about their overall low scores, and particularly the ones for material well-being, as many youth are making decisions about further education and choice of work. However, they decided that a sense of community and trust in governance were the key domains for increasing overall well-being for themselves, other Vietnamese youth, others in the Vietnamese community (non-youth!) and the neighborhood. Through discussion, the youth council determined that the optimal way to leverage the resources they had to address the low scores was to hold a “Spring-Off.” They invited local police officers and the community. Everybody learned how to make spring rolls, sat together to eat them! Contestants for a spring eating contest were chosen by raffle and three Vietnamese youth beat out the competition including two police officers. For a little over an hour, 10-30 youth and a few elders sat at five different tables to ask officers prepared and spontaneous questions. Approximately 200 people attended the event, with about 10 police officers joined by Seattle City Council member Mike O’Brian.
Below is the announcement, poster and some photos from the event.
VFA'S Youth Leadership Council is welcoming everyone from the community to join us for our first annual Spring Off event!
On April 7, 2012
The Spring Off will be located at Jefferson Community Center
from 1:00pm - 3:00pm hosted by VFA'S Youth Leadership Council
3801 Beacon Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98108
We'll be spending an afternoon learning how to make traditional Vietnamese Spring rolls, competing for fabulous prizes, meeting new people, and getting to know our local police officers and firemen with an open Q&A session! This event is completely FREE so come and bring your friends!
Vietnamese Youth and others learning how to make spring rolls. “It's not that easy, and many of our youth do not know how to do this!” said James Hong, Director of Youth and Community Engagement for the Vietnamese Friendship Association.
Seattle University Students sitting down with a local police officer. (photo)
Spring roll eating contest: Guess who wins? (photo)
Guess now! (photo) You got it! Youth triumph! (photo)
Youth and officers in discussion to build trust in government.(photo)
Another table.(photo)
James Hong, Director of Youth and Community Engagement for the Vietnamese Friendship Association (VFA), said about “The project was wonderful in the context of working with our youth council. It gave them the opportunity to get them involved at every level, which is rare. They were able to conduct the survey, reflect upon the results, decide on a project and then coordinate it all themselves. We want to continue using this model for youth council. There was so much learning and it was all very valuable.”
He said the VFA was very pleased with all aspects of the project as the survey gave youth a strong platform for personal discovery and development and the event provided a way for youth, other community members and police officers to understand each other, and for the Vietnamese community to bond. The Happiness Initiative (HI) is making a you-tube video of the event and has submitted proposals to write articles to magazines and national blogs. A flickr account shows many photos from this event.
Somali Community Center: Happiness and culture.
These survey results are the averages for 45 individuals from the Somali Community. They are not a representative sample; so do not scientifically represent the community. They may indicate the true feelings about Somali people in the community, however. It is up to the community to determine if a project as per our agreement should be undertaken.
The results are compared to the results for the average American. These results are taken from a random sample and do represent the average American.
All results are on a scale of 1-100, with 100 being the very best and 1 being the very worst.
DomainSomali Average (45)US Raw Average
Satisfaction With Life63/77
Mental Well-Being60/76
Your Health54/71
Time Balance48/60
Community Vitality56/63
Social Support62/76
Access to Education, Arts & Culture59/73
Your Neighborhood57/78
Environmental Quality57/76
Governance53/59
Material Well-Being64/68
Work58/70
sample45
This is what the survey results say:
o The Somali community members who took the survey scored lowest in Governance (trust in government and other agencies), at 53 out of 100. The average American scored 59 out of 100.
o The Somali community scored second lowest in Health at 54 out of 100, with the average American scoring 71 out of 100.
o Somali community scores were lower in every domain than the Average American
o The largest difference between Somali community and average American is in the sense of Neighborhood, with a difference of 21, and Somali community scoring at 57, while the average American scored 78. The second widest difference is Environmental Quality, with Somali scoring 19 points lower than the average American: Somali community scored 57, while the average American score is 76.
The Somali community spent a great deal of time taking the survey. As most people do not have internet access, community leaders and volunteers sat down individually with people to take the survey. The community leaders analyzed the results, which are quite low overall. They decided to hold an event celebrating their culture and sharing the information in a way to gather strength in the community and increase the bond to each other.
On April 27, 2012 the community gathered for an event called Family Night at the New Wholly gathering hall. Many community members turned out and filled the hall with the help of Hope Academy located West Seattle and Al Noor Mosque on MLK Jr. Way S which has the largest congregations of all Mosques in South Seattle. Photographs and videos were taken during the event, and 4 restaurants provided different testes of African and Arabian culture. One of the Imams of Masjid Al Noor addressed the crowd and explained the report and how we fared as a community. During his speech, members of the community were paying so much attention as he touched one by one all measures of the survey. It was shock to many people to hear that the community fared the lowest on every area in the survey.
After the reading of the report questions and answers were opened and small groups were formed so the community can discuss while meals served during that time. It was in between laugh and sadness or disbelieve of why the community fare low grade on such matters. They discussed how those numbers could be increased if such survey ever happen again.
Many have suggested the survey was not relevant to the Somali or Muslim culture. Others have thought that what is going on back home impacted their behavior and feelings. Some said the economic downturn and the high unemployment among the Somalis which is estimated 50% is also a factor for the low scores.
After all the evaluations the community talked about how to increase the community well-being. Some suggested if we should act more like Americans to beat them in the next survey. Some others said no, and argued it does not matter since the test is different and acting will never make things better, but it is better to protect your own ways and culture. It was an eye opening for all. The community is now talking about how to educate the members for a better life, greater well-being and happiness.
Oromo Community Center: Small steps for a large difference.
These survey results are the averages for 44 individuals from the Oromo Community. They are not a representative sample; so do not scientifically represent the community. They may indicate the true feelings about Oromo people in the community, however. It is up to the community to determine if a project as per our agreement should be undertaken.
The results are compared to the results for the average American. These results are taken from a random sample and do represent the average American. All results are on a scale of 1-100, with 100 being the very best and 1 being the very worst.
DomainOromo Raw AverageUS Raw Average
Satisfaction With Life54/77
Mental Well-Being57/76
Your Health54/71
Time Balance48/60
Community Vitality47/63
Social Support59/76
Access to Education, Arts & Culture52/73
Your Neighborhood51/78
Environmental Quality52/76
Governance52/59
Material Well-Being57/68
Work Experience53/70
44
All ages
This is what the survey results say:
o The Oromo community who took the survey scored lowest in Community Vitality at 47 out of 100. The average American scored 63 out of 100.
o The Oromo community scored second lowest in Time Balance at 48 out of 100, with the average American scoring 60 out of 100.
o The Oromo community scored third lowest in Neighborhood at 51 out of 100, with the average American scoring 78 out of 100.
o The Oromo community scored fourth lowest in Access to Education, Arts & Culture, Environmental Quality, Governance each at 52 out of 100, where the average American scored 73 in Access to Education, Arts & Culture, 76 in Environmental Quality, and 59 in Governance.
o Oromo community scores were lower in every domain than the average American.
o The largest difference between Oromo community and average American is in the sense of Neighborhood, with a difference of 27. The second widest difference is Environmental Quality, with Oromo scoring 24 points lower than the average American: Oromo community scored 52, while the average American score is 76. The third largest difference is in Satisfaction with Life, at 23 points lower than the average American, with the Oromo community scoring 54 and the average American scoring 77.
The Oromo Community Center held a town meeting for their neighbors. The people who attended the community meeting were the adults and teenagers of the community. The board of directors was also there. People who participated in the survey were very surprised at the scores. Not only did they score extremely low on every part of the test, but they got the lowest of all the communities in many of the categories. When the project started, they were sure that the would of have had a higher score, but to their surprise and dismay, the results proved us wrong.
Some quotes from community members:
· “We really need to change”-Khalid Mohamed
· “Are you serious?”-Fuad Mohamed
· “You have got to be kidding me” – Sumaya Mohamed
·
When asked what they should do increase well-being, the replied with the following:
· “ We need the youth to participate more, we can do this by having video games and maybe a hoop at the center”- Kimo Sani
· “We need the community to form a greater bond, we can accomplish this by having more community events like have lunches and dinners and sleepovers. It shouldn’t be too hard to put these events together.”
· “The children do not participate in community events as much as olds, because the events are considered ‘boring’ by kids, so we should have some events that the kids would enjoy”
There were many other suggestions such as video game tournaments, picking up garbage around the neighborhood and having classes at the center.
The community members had a very long discussion on what they should do. They took into consideration what everyone had to say, and decided to do something that would benefit the environment, the youth, and the community. There were many suggestions that fit these categories such as having a recycling drive, a food drive, and a gaming tournament.
They also decided to conduct monthly activities that would increase the well-being of their community and their own personal sense of happiness. They decided to meet once a month in order to plan the activities that would take place during the month.
Some pictures from the first activity:
Cleaning up garbage in the rain.(photo)
Here come some helpers!(photo)
Time for snacks.(photo)
Everybody is having fun.(photo)
It was a good day.(photo)
Filipino Community of Seattle: The well-being of elders
These survey results are the averages for 45 elders from the Filipino Community.
They are not a representative sample; so do not scientifically represent the community. They may indicate the true feelings about the elders in the community, however. It is up to the community to determine if a project as per our agreement should be undertaken.
The results are compared to the results for the average American. These results are taken from a random sample and do represent the average American.
All results are on a scale of 1-100, with 100 being the very best and 1 being the very worst.
DomainFilipino
Elders
Average for 45US Raw Average – representative survey
Satisfaction With Life57/77
Mental Well-Being51/76
Your Health51/71
Time Balance52/60
Community Vitality50/63
Social Support56/76
Access to Education, Arts & Culture51/73
Your Neighborhood66/78
Environmental Quality54/76
Governance57/59
Material Well-Being61/68
Work54/70
This is what the survey results say:
o In every domain, or aspect of wellbeing, the elderly Filipino community is worse off then the average American.
o The Filipino elders surveyed scored lowest in Community Vitality at 50 out of 100. This is 13 points less than the average American.
o The Filipino elders also scored low in Mental Wellbeing, Health, and Access to Education, Arts & Culture, at 51 out of 100. This is 20-25 points lower than the average American
o The biggest difference between the Filipino elders and average American is Mental wellbeing, with a difference of 25 points. The second biggest differences are Access to Education, Arts & Culture and Environmental Quality, with Filipino elders scoring 22 points lower than the average American
Scientific findings indicate people’s happiness is lowest in the middle-ages (45-50) then rises as one gets older. World Happiness Report, Layard and Helliwell, Cambridge. Yet the elders in the Filipino community scored lower than the average American. The Filipino community center held a town meeting. Fifteen elders and other community leaders attended. They discussed why Filipinos scored lower than the average of the American. It was not much of a surprise to anyone and some had mixed feeling about it. Some been living here for a long time and others are newly immigrants. The meeting and discussion was conducted in Tagalog to ensure that everyone could participate and understand the reason and the importance of the outcome of the project. The community meeting was held on March 31, 2012.
The town meeting.
The community members examined the results, followed by a very good discussion about each domain of happiness and focused on psychological well-being (satisfaction with life and mental well-being) physical health, time balance, community vitality, social support, access to education, arts & culture.
One comment from the meeting was “Life back home are different, we don’t have a lot of stress, because everybody know everyone including your neighbors and have trust them even when you leave your house you feel safe and they will watch your kids and house until you came back. Here in the United States are different, most of the time we don’t know who our neighbors are, and the fear of knowing them because of the attitude they have towards immigrants(which some of us had a bad experienced, because of our accents, how we talk)”
The community talked about what they personally could do in their own lives to be happier. Some of their answers were:
· Not to worry too much about the problems, there’s always a solution
· Save money for the future.
· Serve others, such as by volunteering
· Utilize your life to the fullest ( enjoy every minute of it)
· Read the newspaper.
· Go to the Filipino Community Center.
· read Pinoy jokes.
· Love God and be loving people.
They talked about what they want to do:
· Serve other people.
· Serve community by volunteering
· Visit sick people
· Talk to people for the betterment of our community
· join civic organizations.
When asked “what do you want to see done? (this is for policy makers), they said:
· Create more jobs
· Create a peaceful environment
· Put more lights on dark street and put cameras in.
· Put more police on the streets and ensure they are more visible.
They discuss and decide on a project to enhance community wellbeing. They decided to focus on public safety. They decided to have a community forum to create and understand how to start Neighborhood Watch that would include education on how to get involve and bring other people to the forum. The group decided that they would have a community forum on public safety and will invite the law enforcement, crime prevention council and others to present to the community information about public safety such as burglary, robbery, safety, ID theft and hate crimes.
Pictures from the public safety meeting.
Elders bring the community together discuss public safety. (photo)
The community discusses tough issues.(photo)
Nevada City, California, USA
n 2012, the Nevada City council conducted a happiness initiative and used the gross national happiness index to engage residents in crafting city policy. They worked with local high school students to conduct outreach, resulting in a community-rooted learning experiences for the youth and the community
Press Release:
Can you measure happiness? Nevada City Happiness Initiative thinks so. From March 23rd to April 6th, Nevada City residents can take the Happiness survey that could ultimately be used to craft city policy. Though the survey will be open to all Nevada County residents, Nevada City city officials will extrapolate city residents’ anonymous survey results only.
The survey is now online at nchappiness.org. Anyone may take the survey and receive an immediate evaluation of personal well-being for each of the ten domains of happiness identified by international researchers: psychological well-being; physical health; time balance; work experience, education; cultural vitality and access; social connection; good government; environmental quality and access to nature; and material well-being.
To learn more and get involved with the Nevada City Happiness Initiative email [email protected]. As well, sign up for timely updates and information on Twitter (nevadacityhappy).
https://www.nevadacitychamber.com/take-the-happiness-survey/
Press Release:
Can you measure happiness? Nevada City Happiness Initiative thinks so. From March 23rd to April 6th, Nevada City residents can take the Happiness survey that could ultimately be used to craft city policy. Though the survey will be open to all Nevada County residents, Nevada City city officials will extrapolate city residents’ anonymous survey results only.
The survey is now online at nchappiness.org. Anyone may take the survey and receive an immediate evaluation of personal well-being for each of the ten domains of happiness identified by international researchers: psychological well-being; physical health; time balance; work experience, education; cultural vitality and access; social connection; good government; environmental quality and access to nature; and material well-being.
To learn more and get involved with the Nevada City Happiness Initiative email [email protected]. As well, sign up for timely updates and information on Twitter (nevadacityhappy).
https://www.nevadacitychamber.com/take-the-happiness-survey/
| happiness-poster-final.pdf |
Tacoma, Washington, USA
Chiara Wood and Kate Stirling~Founded the HIP in 253 (Happiness Initiative Project in Tacoma/Pierce County.)
---
Living Well in Pierce County: Happiness, Economy and Environment
10 am – 3 pm at University of Puget Sound Rotunda
Please vote for which 5 key environmental health indicators you’d like the May 11 event and next
Pierce County Environmental Health Trends report to focus on at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3VHPWJY
More information on the 2010 report indicators at www.tpchd.org/ehindicators
Please take the Happiness Index survey at http://happycounts.org/survey/GNH/2532013
The 2532013 code is pre-entered so we can easily get a summary of community data to share at the May 11 event.
We’ll be using the Happiness Index as a tool to help improve our communities’ well-being.
Recent NPR story on Happiness Index: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/02/08/171414674/how-happy-is-america
Happiness Initiative Project in our area:
HIP in the 253 founders Chiara Wood and Kate Stirling: http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/mudroom/features/2013/01/Happiness-Initiative-Project-Tacoma-Toward-An-Economy-of-Well-Being/
We’d love to hear any thoughts or questions, and if you’re a blogger, please feel free to add your thoughts at http://hipinthe253.com/
Please forward this - the more people taking the survey the better our community data will be!
https://groups.google.com/g/tpc-eh-priorities-coalition/c/DshMI7TSe1c?pli=1
---
Living Well in Pierce County: Happiness, Economy and Environment
10 am – 3 pm at University of Puget Sound Rotunda
Please vote for which 5 key environmental health indicators you’d like the May 11 event and next
Pierce County Environmental Health Trends report to focus on at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3VHPWJY
More information on the 2010 report indicators at www.tpchd.org/ehindicators
Please take the Happiness Index survey at http://happycounts.org/survey/GNH/2532013
The 2532013 code is pre-entered so we can easily get a summary of community data to share at the May 11 event.
We’ll be using the Happiness Index as a tool to help improve our communities’ well-being.
Recent NPR story on Happiness Index: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/02/08/171414674/how-happy-is-america
Happiness Initiative Project in our area:
HIP in the 253 founders Chiara Wood and Kate Stirling: http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/mudroom/features/2013/01/Happiness-Initiative-Project-Tacoma-Toward-An-Economy-of-Well-Being/
We’d love to hear any thoughts or questions, and if you’re a blogger, please feel free to add your thoughts at http://hipinthe253.com/
Please forward this - the more people taking the survey the better our community data will be!
https://groups.google.com/g/tpc-eh-priorities-coalition/c/DshMI7TSe1c?pli=1
Los Angeles, CaliforniA, USA
The Happy C⁴ Project is designed to make the city of LA happier, safer and more just. No matter where you are, you can perform a Random Act of Happiness to make the city of LA a better place. It used the Happiness Alliance Happiness Index in 2013-14.
Burnsville, Minnesota, USA
WETHEP brought the Happiness Index to Burnsville in 2013
| wethephappinessprojectburnsville0513__amgedits_.pdf |
Santa Fe, New MExico, USA
n 2013, Santa Fe, New Mexico conducted a Happiness Initiative inspired by Merle Lefkoff of the Center for Emergent Diplomacy, who was coordinator for the communications working group at the UN High Level Meeting Wellbeing and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm held in 2012
https://www.abqjournal.com/188611/people.html
https://www.abqjournal.com/188611/people.html
Kearsage, New Hampshire, USA
This report discusses the Transition Town movement and the Happiness Initiative that has been started in the Kearsarge Valley area by the 2012-2013 Environmental Science and Studies Community Based Research Project students and community members at Colby-Sawyer College in New London.
| kearsage_.pdf |
REdwoods, CAlifornia, USA
Redwoods, California's Happiness Initiative was a grassroots effort lead by a diverse group of community members, which continued with annual Happiness Sprinkeling events. https://www.facebook.com/redwoodshappiness/
Eugene, Oregon, USA
The City of Eugene's well-being program includes gathering data using gross national happiness index and spreading awareness about the importance of happiness. In 2013, the city's department of parks and natural resources used the concepts and data for happiness to influence their plans.
https://www.eugene-or.gov/2535/Happiness
https://www.eugene-or.gov/2535/Happiness
Vanuatu
Happiness Alliance's Planet Happiness signed an agreement with Vanuatu's Department of Tourism in May 2020 to design an intersectional COVID-19 impact analysis. The partnership aims to engage Ni-Vanuatus in conversations about tourism and community well-being and use the data for its national tourism strategy.
https://dailypost.vu/news/vanuatu-to-measure-well-being-as-part-of-the-vanuatu-sustainable-tourism-strategy-2021-2025/article_237ba708-7a1d-11eb-84c6-afecf5cc82ce.html
https://www.traveldailynews.asia/vanuatu-becomes-first-nation-in-asia-pacific-to-adopt-a-wel
https://dailypost.vu/news/vanuatu-to-measure-well-being-as-part-of-the-vanuatu-sustainable-tourism-strategy-2021-2025/article_237ba708-7a1d-11eb-84c6-afecf5cc82ce.html
https://www.traveldailynews.asia/vanuatu-becomes-first-nation-in-asia-pacific-to-adopt-a-wel
Goldfields Region, VIctoria, Australia
Happiness Alliance's Planet Happiness signed an agreement with 13 local governments in the Victorian Goldfields to use the Happiness Index as part of its bid to become a World Heritage Site and for tourism recovery from COVID-19 : https://goldfieldsworldheritage.com.au/latest-news/
Fort Portal & Kabarole district, Uganda
The Happiness Alliance's Planet Happiness signed an agreement with the Kabarole District to use the Happiness Index for tourism recovery from COVID-19.
The Kabarole District is located in Western Uganda and lies at an altitude of 1300-3800 meters above sea level. The district comprises of two counties: Burahya and the Fort Portal Municipality. Kabarole is the regional centre of the Tooro Kingdom and is inhabited by three ethic groups: the Batoro, Bakiga, and Bakonjo (Source: Kabarole local government). Fort Portal, the capital city of the region, was designated as a "Tourism city of Uganda" in July of 2020, offering a number of tourism attractions including: Lake Kyaninga, the Ambeere Caves, Tooro "Omukama" Palace, and within close proximity to Kibale National Park, Semuliki Wildlife Reserve and National Park, and the Rwenzori Mountains.
The Kabarole District is located in Western Uganda and lies at an altitude of 1300-3800 meters above sea level. The district comprises of two counties: Burahya and the Fort Portal Municipality. Kabarole is the regional centre of the Tooro Kingdom and is inhabited by three ethic groups: the Batoro, Bakiga, and Bakonjo (Source: Kabarole local government). Fort Portal, the capital city of the region, was designated as a "Tourism city of Uganda" in July of 2020, offering a number of tourism attractions including: Lake Kyaninga, the Ambeere Caves, Tooro "Omukama" Palace, and within close proximity to Kibale National Park, Semuliki Wildlife Reserve and National Park, and the Rwenzori Mountains.
Bali
The Happiness Alliance's Planet Happiness signed an agreement with the Bali Tourism Industry to use the Happiness Index for host community wellbeing.
Hoi An, Vietnam
The Happiness Alliance's Planet Happiness worked with stakeholders in the Hoi An tourism destination are to use the Happiness Index for host community wellbeing.
Auttahaya, Thailand
The Happiness Alliance's Planet Happiness signed an agreement to work with DASTA, the national governmental tourism agency, to use the Happiness Index for host community wellbeing in Auttahaya.
Research & Student Projects
The HAPPY Boomer Index
THE HAPPY BOOMER: BABY BOOMER LIFE SATISFACTION THROUGH AFFECT AND FEELING OF BELONGING A Dissertation by Brooke Massey. The Happy Boomer is copyright Massey (c) 2016. The age cohort of 65 years and older is a growing population. It is part of the group referred to as Baby Boomers, the generation born between the years 1946-1964. It will be the largest population to reach late adulthood to date. In the United States alone, the Baby Boomer cohort is expected to reach 70 million by 2030. In response to this growing elderly population much research has been conducted on Baby Boomer quality of life issues. Such research uncovered the phenomenon known as the well-being paradox. The well-being paradox refers to the findings that older adult’s life satisfaction remains stable or can even increase with age despite age-related losses. Utilizing the theories of positive psychology and socioemotional selectivity, the Happy Boomer project offers an explanation for the well-being paradox. Using data from The Gross National Happiness Index Survey (Happiness Alliance, 2011), the Happy Boomer project analyzed associations between the dependent variable of life satisfaction and the independent variables of positive affect, negative affect, and feeling of belonging for 1,268 individuals ages 65 years and older. No previous research has been found that compares the predictive powers of these specific independent variables on the dependent variable, life satisfaction. Through an ordinal multiple regression, results showed that positive affect had the strongest association with levels of life satisfaction, followed by negative affect and feeling of belonging. Gender was not predictive of life satisfaction. The results also demonstrated the independence of positive affect and negative affect associations with life satisfaction. These findings suggest that affect, specifically positive affect, could mediate the effects of age-related loss as they pertain to life satisfaction for older adults. Furthermore, these findings suggest that Baby Boomers may be able to maintain or increase levels of life satisfaction by focusing on activities that increase positive affect as well as activities that decrease negative affect. The electronic version of this dissertation is at OhioLink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd.
| the_happy_boomer__baby_boomer_life_satisfaction_through_affect_an.pdf |
Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment
Proposal for a sustainable communities rating tool that included use of the Happiness Alliance's Happiness Index domain concept and data.
While sustainable urbanization is now widely recognized as integral to achieving global sustainability goals, no one framework for monitoring the sustainability performance of urban areas has been adapted into planning practice by multiple scales of government. This research introduces a new sustainability assessment tool, the Sustainable Communities Rating (SCORE) Tool, under development by the Centre for Sustainable Community Development at Simon Fraser University, which addresses a missing link in assessment tools by evaluating the performance of neighbourhoods that have already been developed, against a six-capital framework through a sustainable community development lens. The SCORE Tool is piloted in the UniverCity neighbourhood in Burnaby, B.C., then it is discussed in detail with a view to how the tool worked in its inaugural application. Finally, a discussion about the strengths and comparability of neighbourhood sustainability assessment systems is structured as a comparative analysis between the SCORE Tool and the Dutch Foundation for Sustainable Area Development FSA Tool
While sustainable urbanization is now widely recognized as integral to achieving global sustainability goals, no one framework for monitoring the sustainability performance of urban areas has been adapted into planning practice by multiple scales of government. This research introduces a new sustainability assessment tool, the Sustainable Communities Rating (SCORE) Tool, under development by the Centre for Sustainable Community Development at Simon Fraser University, which addresses a missing link in assessment tools by evaluating the performance of neighbourhoods that have already been developed, against a six-capital framework through a sustainable community development lens. The SCORE Tool is piloted in the UniverCity neighbourhood in Burnaby, B.C., then it is discussed in detail with a view to how the tool worked in its inaugural application. Finally, a discussion about the strengths and comparability of neighbourhood sustainability assessment systems is structured as a comparative analysis between the SCORE Tool and the Dutch Foundation for Sustainable Area Development FSA Tool
| birdkiri_2015_mrm620.pdf |
Adaption of the Gross National Happiness Index
The concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH) was proposed in 1972 by the 4th King of Bhutan and differs from the Western notion of happiness in two aspects: it is multidimensional, and also takes responsibility and other factors explicitly. The four pillars of GNH are sustainable and equitable socio-economic development, environmental conservation, preservation and promotion of culture and even good government. Nine domains form the basis of the FIB. The Happiness Initiative used this concept of domains and added domain experience in working to create a new questionnaire. Based on this, another questionnaire and a GNH index for the evaluation of happiness of students at UNICAMP was prepared. It was found that the university provides a reasonable environment to students, regardless their field of study. The indicators related to community are the best performing, however, is verified dissatisfaction with regard to academic life and its demands.
| 427-1534-1-pb.pdf |
PurDue Honors College & George washington University Student Posters
George Mason University Korea and Purdue Honors College Student posters prepared for and presented at the 6th OECD World Forum at the Happiness Alliance Exhibition Booth
| oecdstudentposterbrochurefinal.pdf |
Seattle University Albers School
Presentations by students from the Seattle University Albers School of Business and Economics, course “Consumption and Happiness" taught by Matthew Isaac, Ph.D. Students took the Happiness Alliance Happiness Index, then used their data, the data from University of Washington class, and the general population to explore aspects of the Happiness U-curve
| a_happiness-index-analysis.pptx |
| b_happiness-analysis-index.pptx |
| c_happiness-index-analysis..pptx |
| d_happiness-index-analysis.pptx |
| e_happiness-index-survey.pptx |
| f_happiness-index-analysis..pptx |
| g_happiness-index-analysis..pptx |
Good Governance and Self Managed Constructions
This paper discusses the pillar of good governance of the Gross National Happiness index (GNH) as it is considered essential in building the human being as an individual and as in community, witch reflects directly into the production of cities. To do this, it is considered an auto task force process managed by Usina CTAH - Center of Works to the Habited Environment - that, by trying to supply the housing demand in the city of São Paulo and provide a better quality of life for people with low income, is actually playing a role that is the State’s job
| good_governance_.pdf |
Leisure Routine and Positive Attitudes: Age-Graded Comparisons of the Path to Happiness
Behavior, attitudes, and lifespan development are key antecedents of happiness. However, little is known about the multivariate effect of those items on happiness. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the comparative impacts of leisure routines and attitudes on overall happiness and to elucidate how routine leisure activities and attitudes may influence happiness at different life stages. Questionnaires were completed by 379 students and 253 alumni members of the same university. Analysis of variance indicated alumni rated locus of control and happiness variables significantly higher than did current students. Students rated the leisure routine variable significantly higher than did alumni. Structural equation modeling showed leisure routines had a significant indirect effect on happiness with attitudes as a full mediator. Multigroup path analysis showed there is little variance between the two groups. Findings indicate that one's routine leisure activities and attitudes can have a significant positive effect on overall happiness, and this path is consistent at different life stages.
(PDF) Leisure Routine and Positive Attitudes: Age-Graded Comparisons of the Path to Happiness. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297893324_Leisure_Routine_and_Positive_Attitudes_Age-Graded_Comparisons_of_the_Path_to_Happiness?ev=prf_high
(PDF) Leisure Routine and Positive Attitudes: Age-Graded Comparisons of the Path to Happiness. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297893324_Leisure_Routine_and_Positive_Attitudes_Age-Graded_Comparisons_of_the_Path_to_Happiness?ev=prf_high
Use of Leisure Facilities and Wellbeing of Adult Caregivers
The current research examines leisure facility use as a moderator of the negative association of caregiving demands with wellbeing among informal caregivers. In accordance with the leisure constraints model, the study also explores the role of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural factors that may constrain or facilitate caregivers’ us of leisure infrastructure. Data were collected as part of a survey conducted by the Canadian Index of Wellbeing in three communities. Results showed that greater use of leisure facilities buffered the association of greater hours of care with lower levels of mental and physical wellbeing for informal caregivers. Attitudes toward leisure, sense of community, and facility accessibility all positively predicted caregivers’ use of leisure facilities. The results suggest that leisure infrastructure plays an important role in supporting wellbeing among caregivers and identify three types of constraints to consider when supporting caregivers’ use of leisure facilities in their communities.
The Happiness Alliance's Happiness index was used for the study:
Measures of wellbeing. Wellbeing was measured using two items borrowed from the Happiness Initiative Survey (Howell, deGraaf, Musikanski, & Godzikoskaya, 2011), which is based on the 2010 Survey on Gross National Happiness of Bhutan (Ura, Alkire, Zangmo, & Wangdi, 2012). Participants were asked to rate on a 7-point scale from “extremely dissatisfied” (value = 1) to “extremely satisfied” (value = 7) their satisfaction with their mental wellbeing and their physical wellbeing. Analyses were conducted for each of these two outcome variables separately
The Happiness Alliance's Happiness index was used for the study:
Measures of wellbeing. Wellbeing was measured using two items borrowed from the Happiness Initiative Survey (Howell, deGraaf, Musikanski, & Godzikoskaya, 2011), which is based on the 2010 Survey on Gross National Happiness of Bhutan (Ura, Alkire, Zangmo, & Wangdi, 2012). Participants were asked to rate on a 7-point scale from “extremely dissatisfied” (value = 1) to “extremely satisfied” (value = 7) their satisfaction with their mental wellbeing and their physical wellbeing. Analyses were conducted for each of these two outcome variables separately
| use_of_leisure_facilities_and_wellbeing_of_adult_caregivers.pdf |
A Referential Methodology for Education on Sustainable Tourism Development
Sustainable tourism has the potential of contributing to local development while protecting the natural environment and preserving cultural heritage. Implementation of this form of tourism requires human resources that can assume effective leadership in sustainable development. The purpose of the international student program, described in this paper, was to develop and implement an educational methodology to fulfill this need. The study, which was developed and applied by two universities, took place in August 2013, in the study setting of Kastamonu, Turkey. The effectiveness of the program was measured by pre- and post-surveys using the Global Citizenship Scale developed by Morais and Ogden. The findings document a change in intercultural communication, global knowledge and political voice dimensions of the scale.
| referentialmethodologyforeducation.pdf |
Happiness: A Path towards Sustainable development
Being environmentally responsible is traditionally viewed as a sacrifice of personal happiness in order to do something good for the world. However, recent studies suggest the opposite; committing to an environmentally responsible behavior (ERB), when intrinsically motivated, leads to an increase in well-being of the individual involved. Environmentalists sometimes employ financial incentives or coercion to spur individuals to be eco-friendly. These methods are not effective because they only lead to transient change. On the other hand, when individuals change behavior as a result of an internal sense of responsibility and connectedness, the change lasts longer than if it were a result of external incentives. Furthermore, individuals derive a sense of satisfaction from such a behavior change as well. Therefore, the message sent by environmentalists should be that ERB increases the well-being of both the individuals and the planet. Research that investigates the relationship between environmental sustainability and happiness is still in its early stages, but the correlation between personal happiness and environmental sustainability has already led to new lifestyle and policy alternatives, including the Voluntary Simplicity movement and Gross National Happiness policy in Bhutan. This paper explores the available literature on this interdisciplinary field of study, and highlights some alternatives to the current economic growth paradigm. Research has shown that a world in which both the environment and citizens are well is possible, but the misunderstanding that economic growth always increases happiness needs to be corrected. Current societal values will need to shift in order to enhance our well-being.
| happiness_a_path_towards_sustainable_dev.pdf |
Third Place Technologies
Third Place Technologies, a non-profit, worked with the University of Washington on a study using Gross National Happiness Data and social media data to assess well-being based on multiple factors and identify leverage points for a community-resource intervention. In the study we adopt a multi-method approach to examine whether the growing use of social media as a channel for hyper-local conversation may provide meaningful insights into the well-being of neighborhood communities. First, through interviews and a questionnaire with 174 residents of 26 neighborhoods we explore what are indicators of neighborhood level well-being, and what are current communication practices around the use of social media to support community well-being. Second, through an analysis of neighborhood-level Twitter messages we examine the extent to which mood and social interactivity in Twitter correspond with our neighborhood well-being indicators. Overall, we found self-reported usage of social media positively correlated with community well-being. However, while smaller neighborhood communities had higher community well-being, they were lower in usage of social media for interacting with neighbors. Only in larger, more urban centers characterized by younger professionals, did Twitter message mood and social interactivity correlate with well-being.
| neighborhoodstudy_2_6_4.pdf |
The Taiwanese Student Happiness Initiative: Fulfilling Lives and Success in the Future
This research examines happiness levels in a group of Taiwanese students and extrapolates what the data may mean for government and educational policy. I conducted this research by allowing students at universities in Taiwan to access the Seattle-based Happiness Alliance Gross National Happiness Index Survey, which measures happiness. I examine happiness levels in the students, compare them with global happiness survey results, and then recommend policy developments that can be taken by Taiwanese government and educational institutions. This data and the recommendations may have far-reaching implications in Taiwanese society. I focus my recommendations on areas where the students scored lower on happiness levels than global averages, including in satisfaction with life; psychological well-being; community; social support; education, arts, and culture; environment; and government.
| the_taiwanese_student_happiness_initiative__1_.pdf |
Are Museum professionals Happy?
Are Museum Professionals Happy? Exploring Well-Being Across Domains and in the Workplace Researcher Andrea N. Michelbach Within the museum field, it is widely acknowledged that museums can have a positive influence on public well-being.
| michelbach_washington_0250o_11485.pdf |
Are Asian Americans Happy?
The purpose of this paper is to understand the contributing factors of happiness among Asian Americans. This paper examines whether there are correlations with age/gender, income, and spirituality.
| are_asian_americans_happy_.pdf |
The Science of SukHA
There are many engaged Buddhists incorporating science into Buddhism without reference to traditional value structures and there are many Buddhist scholars ignoring or rejecting the ongoing development of Buddhism by scientific research. This paper seeks to avoid these two extremes by constructing a platform upon which Buddhists and scientists can meaningfully advance one another’s understanding of happiness and well-being without neglecting important differences. Using an integrative literature review format, research from positive psychology, happiness economics, and contemplative science will be linked to Buddhist ethics, in an effort to delineate the territory and boundaries of Buddhism’s engagement to the science of happiness.
Since there is no operational definition for a Buddhist concept of happiness in current scientific literature, this paper will also attempt to lay the foundation for its establishment in three ways: First, it will define happiness in correspondence to the Buddhist concept of sukha; second, it will integrate scientific research into a construct that retains the concept’s traditional integrity; and third, it will experimentally demonstrate the validity of sukha by providing evidence of its functional relevance to lived Buddhist practice. The paper will conclude with a critical analysis of the potential merits of Buddhism’s happiness hypothesis in future studies.
Since there is no operational definition for a Buddhist concept of happiness in current scientific literature, this paper will also attempt to lay the foundation for its establishment in three ways: First, it will define happiness in correspondence to the Buddhist concept of sukha; second, it will integrate scientific research into a construct that retains the concept’s traditional integrity; and third, it will experimentally demonstrate the validity of sukha by providing evidence of its functional relevance to lived Buddhist practice. The paper will conclude with a critical analysis of the potential merits of Buddhism’s happiness hypothesis in future studies.
| the_science_of_sukha_a_scientific_theory.pdf |
Events
Assumption University , Bangkok
Assumption University’s Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management marked the United Nation International Day of Happiness with a special speaker’s session, 20 March, 2019 at Assumption University’s Suvarnabhumi campus. A lively panel discussion was held, focusing on Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness, led by travel journalist Andrew Wood and Assumption University Alumni Pichai Visutriratana. Bhutanese students studying at Assumption University shared their thoughts regarding sustainable tourism development in the kingdom of Bhutan.
The event was organized by Tourism Policy students and Dr Scott Michael Smith from Assumption University’s Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management. The “International Day of Happiness” recognizes happiness as the basic human goal and calls upon government and associated agencies to make policies towards improving peoples’ general well-being. The UN also acknowledges that social, environmental and economic well-being is mandatory for global happiness.
The event was organized by Tourism Policy students and Dr Scott Michael Smith from Assumption University’s Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management. The “International Day of Happiness” recognizes happiness as the basic human goal and calls upon government and associated agencies to make policies towards improving peoples’ general well-being. The UN also acknowledges that social, environmental and economic well-being is mandatory for global happiness.
| international-day-of-happiness-20-march-2019.jpg |
| press-release-tourism-students-celebrate-the-un-international-day-of-happiness.docx |
University of Central Missouri
Every year in April the the University of Central Missouri celebrates the Pursuit of Happiness. An award is given on Pursuit of Happiness Day to a faculty or staff member that goes beyond the call of duty to make others happy.
| universityofmissouripursuitofhappinessdaypowerpoint-151028045530-lva1-app6891.pdf |
Columbia Gorge, ORegon
Nonprofit One Community Health celebrated its 30th anniversary by hosting a month of activities based on the science of happiness, designed to make our community healthier. The project included the Happiness Alliance's Happiness Index, events, an app for daily practice and platforms for community members to connect with each other in person and virtually. See More.
Eastern Washington University
In 2013 and 2014, Eastern Washington University conducted a Happiness Initiative and used the Gross National Happiness Index to measure student, faculty and community wellbeing. The online platform for the project ran from Facebook.
Grist Magazine Readership Happiness Awareness
In 2014, Grist Magazine invited readers to take the Gross National Happiness Index. The survey was used to encourage discourse about the importance of a new economic paradigm and personal happiness.
https://grist.org/living/are-you-happier-than-other-grist-readers-take-this-survey-to-find-out/
https://grist.org/living/are-you-happier-than-other-grist-readers-take-this-survey-to-find-out/
Teens in Public Service (TIPS) in Seattle
The summer of 2014, Teens in Public Service (TIPS), a Seattle-based nonprofit used the Happiness Initiative’s Gross National Happiness Index to understand what makes teenagers happy. TIPS works with teens by providing paid employment in public service.
