MN Belonging, Meaning, Well-Being, and Purpose Community of Practice

Advancing a Shared Vision for the Future

The Minnesota Belonging, Meaning, Wellbeing & Purpose (BMWP) Community of Practice (CoP) is a statewide initiative bringing together nonprofits, intermediaries, funders, and community leaders committed to improving wellbeing outcomes for Minnesotans. The CoP cohort intentionally includes representation from rural, urban, and tribal communities. This work is grounded in the understanding that fostering interconnection and shared humanity remains an essential and enduring condition for well-being. This current moment in Minnesota’s history has made this assertion all the more visible as many communities across Minnesota are navigating division, uncertainty, and trauma.

Launched with leadership from Minnesota’s philanthropic community and in partnership with the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, the CoP was created to provide a shared language and space for learning, collaboration, and alignment around belonging, meaning, well-being, and purpose. Grounded in the BMWP framework, the Community of Practice helps strengthen wellbeing-centered practices for youth and communities, deepen relationships across sectors and geographies, and connect efforts that have often operated in parallel.

Youthprise supports this work through thought partnership, coordination, and regranting to participating community organizations. In partnership with Aspen, we are helping ensure the initiative remains grounded in equity, intersectionality, and community voice. Together, participants are building a more connected ecosystem that supports better outcomes for young people, families, and communities across the state.

What We’ve Done So Far

Since launching, the Minnesota BMWP CoP has focused on building a strong foundation for long-term collaboration and statewide learning.

Together, participants have built a cross-sector community of nonprofits, funders, intermediaries, and community leaders; co-created shared agreements rooted in lived experience, trust, and inclusion; grounded convenings in the real responsibilities communities are navigating; mapped existing work across Minnesota through a BMWP lens; and laid the groundwork for a shared long-term vision for 2030 centered on stronger youth voice, deeper collaboration, and improved wellbeing outcomes.

The Minnesota BMWP Community of Practice also welcomed john a. powell, who shared reflections on belonging without othering, bridging across difference, and building spaces rooted in empathy, connection, and shared humanity.

Projected Outcomes

The long-term vision of the Minnesota BMWP Community of Practice is to help build a more connected, responsive, and human-centered ecosystem across Minnesota, where organizations are aligned around shared BMWP practices and young people, families, and communities experience greater belonging, meaning, well-being, and purpose. This work is laying the foundation for a long-term statewide community centered on community voice, shared learning, meaningful partnership, and stronger wellbeing outcomes across Minnesota.