Building Healthy Communities

Welcome to The Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo and Western New York!

The non profit Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo and Western New York USA is a public benefit organization whose simple but challenging mission is to "Create Healthy Communities". The Institute's work is done by empowering people and organizations locally , statewide and across the nation.  Founded in 1989, with offices on historic Niagara Square in Downtown Buffalo New York and on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, the Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo works with diverse teams of community-focused civic groups, non profit organizations, businesses and public sector partners , all of whom share a commmon Vision: to help make the communities they serve better places to live.  The Wellness Institute recognizes that dedication to this goal is universal but that resources are not.  With an understanding that opportunities to take meaningful action are often limited by available funds or mindsets, the convening of partnerships and creation of a shared Vision , are critical skills the Institute poseses as an advocate and facilitator of positive sustainable change  An ongoing challenge for the Wellness Institute has been to teach their clients a powerful set of change process guidelines that advocate inter sector and inter disciplinary approaches for helping communities to understand how to best invest their precious resources in order to earn the most profound and sustainable return.  A key concept with-in the Healthy Community model is a simple but powerful element; every community must first identtify and understand its'  current reality and then create  a unifying shared " community Vision" . The shared Vision sets the direction and points out the destination. Working together to achieve the shared Vision enhances the social capital (levels of trust and reciprocity)that allow people , organizations and communities to create their plan of action and navigate the trials , tribulations and joys along their journey to achieving their shared Vision and a sustainable quality of life. 

The globally recognized “Healthy Community Model” identifies four forms of "capital" universally available for community reinvestment.  These are; Social Capital, Environmental Capital, Economic Capital and Human Capital.  Each of these forms of community wealth has its own unique and measurable indicators and impact potential.  Together they interact to form a solid picture of the health of any community.  An undersatnding of how to best manage and grow all these critical components of community "wealth" is key to making powerful strategic investment decisions to enable the creation of a "healthy community"..  The Wellness Institute staff, volunteers and partners manage a portfolio of community initiatives intended to increase the value of any community's stock of social, environmental, economic and human capital.  The Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo offers industry leading advocacy, facilitation and leadership roles in …

 Creating Social Capital: "Social Capital" is defined as the level of trust and norms of reciprocity that exist in communities. (Putnam)... Creating Social Capital 

 Creating Environmental Capital:  The Wellness Institute, through its participation in community initiatives... Creating Environmental Capital

Creating Economic Capital:  The Wellness Institute has employed strategic tactics in its efforts to have the “economy serve the people”... Creating Economic Capital

Creating Human Capital:  The Wellness Institute is a Visionary leader in Western New York... Creating Human Capital