April 1, 2026 Forum

And I’ve also found that communities are very open to young people and the youth going into them. So, when our students go out, they see hope in the young people. And some of them identify with their own community. The young Latino who’s going back into his community, the young African Americans go back into their community. They see hope in their future. And so they want to help support them. And the leaders of these communities are willing to allow them to come into communities and help in ways that some of us can’t and don’t. Or even retirees, as Bill B mentioned. You know, you’re coming back into your community to serve again, because you have more time or you have other gifts to offer. So, we can link those elderly people with the needs of our community. I think that kind of linking really builds and looks at assets in the community. It is those asset sheds that sometimes I think we don’t identify. And then those asset sheds become the communities of solution in the future.

Bill B

Jo, there used to be a term when I was involved in a lot of community work called natural helping networks, which was a big thing for a while. Essentially, rather than healthcare workers coming in to a community in order to build a fancy hospital or a new healthcare service center, these workers look at what are the natural networks already existing—the places where services are being provided. The healthcare workers support those services and help to reinforce them rather than introducing new service systems that are alien to this community. And I wonder, Jack, are these natural helping networks related to some of the things you’re talking about?

Jack

Yes. The emphasis is placed on the linkages between the people who are doing the work. And for me, the issue always has been that those organizations work on volunteerism and foundation support frequently or philanthropic support rather than being a codified part of healthcare system. Now, we’ve been trying to change that with the labeling of social determinants of health. We are trying to get Medicaid to cover some components of social determinants of health and get Medicare to think about how you measure a patient’s social determinants of health. I think there is some progress being made, but it’s slow and it is shallow. We still have to support these networks in other ways.

Bill B

Jack, how about social entrepreneurship? The blended service and profit-oriented approach that came out of a bank in Bangladesh. It’s working around the world. Has social entrepreneurship hit healthcare yet?