Recommendations

for a More Connected Community

Introduction to the Recommendations

Our recommendations for strengthening social connection across the Fox Valley are grounded in research, community listening, and nationally recognized frameworks that help translate complex evidence into actionable strategies.

To identify the key areas where community investment can have the greatest impact, we drew heavily on the Promising Strategies for Social Connection outlined in the Action Guide for Building Socially Connected Communities developed by the Foundation for Social Connection. This guide organizes evidence-informed approaches into a set of systems-level categories, such as built environment, education, health, cultivating skills, civic engagement, and safety, that shape the conditions in which social connection can either flourish or falter.

We added an additional category, Policy, recognizing that policies often determine whether these strategies are sustained, equitably accessible, and able to scale. Policy decisions influence how resources are allocated, which populations are prioritized, and how systems align across sectors.

As the work of Connected Fox Valley continues, these recommendations will be further refined and expanded. Over time, we will add local history, community context, and deeper detail about existing efforts, lessons learned, and opportunities to build on what is already happening across Calumet, Outagamie, and Winnebago counties.

Recommendation Categories

Built Environment

• Design, maintain, and activate inclusive public spaces in partnership with community members
• Develop transportation solutions that strengthen social connection and reduce isolation
• Create housing environments that foster community, belonging, and intergenerational relationships
• Increase access to recreation and socializing through shared-use agreements and cross-sector partnerships

Civic Engagement

• Strengthen and invest in neighborhood associations and resident-led networks
• Support, expand volunteer opportunities that foster connection, purpose, and cross-population engagement

Cultivating Skills

• Promote early relational health within families and caregiving environments
• Build social-emotional skills and prosocial behavior through arts, culture, and creative expression
• Lifelong learning

Education (School Environment)

• Continue to invest in and expand social-emotional learning into classrooms and youth-serving programs
• Expand social, educational, and recreational opportunities for school-age youth

Health

• Increase access to physical activity, wellness programs, and movement-based social opportunities
• Train health care providers in social prescribing and connect patients with community activities

Policy

  • Integrate social connection and belonging as explicit goals in local and regional policy decisions across sectors, including transportation, housing, public health, education, and economic development
  • Apply a “connection lens” to policymaking by assessing how proposed policies may strengthen or weaken opportunities for social connection, especially for populations at higher risk of isolation
  • Align local policies with state and national public health frameworks that recognize social connectedness as a protective factor for mental and physical health

Safety

  • Enhance neighborhood walkability and create safe, accessible routes for residents
  • Design and maintain public spaces that feel physically and emotionally safe for people of all ages, abilities, and identities
  • Support community-based approaches to safety that build trust, familiarity, and mutual care among neighbors

Technology

  • Expand equitable access to broadband, devices, and digital literacy to ensure all residents can participate in community life
  • Use technology to connect people to local opportunities for real-world connection, while offering virtual options when in-person participation is not possible

Work

• Strategies that connect workers beyond their workplace and into the broader community
• Employer-supported connection, flexible scheduling, and community engagement