Do Unto Others
What We Do & WhyDUO equips and empowers communities using health-focused, outreach programs and activities that contribute to sustainable, health improvement – Mind, Body, and Spirit.
OUR MISSION & VISION
DUO. Do Unto Others is, “the Golden Rule.” DUO defines man’s obligation to man – loving inter-dependence – that exemplifies and reveals Divine love. DUO, is a bridge to community service for members of local, Seventh-day Adventist Churches, especially Adventist Youth/Young Adults, who lead health-focused, programs and activities that promote physical, mental, spiritual well-being in your city – sharing lifestyle principles that make Seventh-day Adventists the longest living Americans regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender (https://www.bluezones.com/exploration/loma-linda-california/).
DUO trains teams of Health Educators and Health Advocates to serve as local churches’ bridge to community partnerships that include a constellation of Community Stakeholders who also aspire to eliminate health disparities and improve our neighbors’ quality-of-life, especially those Zero to 36, using data, lifestyle-health education, relevant Blue Zone research, and the life-preserving strategies embedded in Adventism’s, Eight Health Principles.
“Two are better off than one, because together they can work more effectively.” – Solomon
DUO encourages the development of Community Engagement Zones (CEZ). CEZs are contiguous neighborhoods or towns where several Adventist Churches reside within near-geographic proximity. Churches are not left to engage the community in isolation, but on the contrary, combine the collective talents and resources of CEZ churches to increase capacity, programmatic effectiveness, and the sustainability of our health-focused outreach programs and activities.
Working closely with church leaders and members, DUO facilitates a months-long process to streamline CEZ churches’ seamless entry into the community’s, lifestyle-health education framework by serving as a catalyst for developing dynamic, strategic alliances with forward-thinking, Community Stakeholders. Mutually-beneficial partnerships leverage the untapped talents, time, and human capital CEZ church members regularly-invest in the fight to improve health city-wide, especially in BIPOC communities. The exchange of ideas and resources in the Community Engagement Zone can exponentially increase the number of “concentric circles of support” communities are able to provide for residents.
ENGAGEMENT & EMPOWERMENT
DUO NEXGen
A community’s future is positively-correlated to the trajectory of its children, youth, and young adults. Their destinies, for better or for worse, are inextricably tied to this generation of Community Stakeholders – TODAY! DUO NEXGen embodies a new vision for your city’s residents, ZERO to 36. Ensuring communities are equipping to protect and foster the health of this demographic – Mind, Body, Spirit – is NEXGen’s Priority One! Outcomes for ZERO to 36ers are worsening:
Rationale for Zero to 36
“The 25- to 34-year age group is experiencing the most opioid overdose deaths – 17,344 – a 38% increase from 2019, and a 1,312% increase since 1999.”
This, and other conclusions drawn from studies highlighting 21st century challenges faced by many young people, should be eye-opening for every city, every community, for every Community Stakeholder in the United States. Our focus, our vision for NEXGen populations must broaden and expand to include long-term life-success. Current models are missing the mark.
NEXGen Networks engage, educate, equip, empower, and encourage (E5) NEXGen-aged residents to work collaboratively with youth-serving organizations and members of other Stakeholder Groups to create “a dynamic, health-driven vision for their community’s future.” With community health (physical, mental/emotional, economic, financial, etc.) as the vehicle for engagement and leadership development, young people’s skills are cultivated in welcoming environments where they are trained to master, “the art and science” of health-focused, community outreach and health advocacy.
SOURCES: Florence, C., Luo, F., & Rice, K. (2021). The economic burden of opioid use disorder and fatal opioid overdose in the United States, 2017. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 218 (2021). Accessed on line 4/26/2022: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.108350
Community Building. NEXGen Leadership Development. Peer-to-Peer Mentoring.
NEXGen members, allying with Community Stakeholders, help formulate and implement a re-design of our historical approach to Youth/Young Adult Engagement and Leadership Development. Creating “a place at the table” for NEXGeners opens tangible opportunities for learning, growing new-found skills, and social capital building, which in turn contributes to Zero to 36 Empowerment. DUO NEXGen’s collaborative design is calibrated to impact short-/long-term individual and community health outcomes. Our role in your community’s, health improvement matrix is to train NEXGeners to provide an array of lifestyle-health education tools and programs (i.e., Workshops and Seminars in Nutrition, Community Depression and Anxiety Relief, Tobacco Cessation (Vaping), Plant-based Cooking, Diabetes Reversal, etc.) that foster long-term, community health and well-being across the age spectrum.