The Rippel Foundation Highlights Healthy Communities Delaware as a Model for Well-being Programs Nationally
Healthy Communities Delaware (HCD), an initiative of the Delaware Community Foundation, the University of Delaware Partnership for Healthy Communities, and the Delaware Division of Public Health, has been featured in a report from The Rippel Foundation for integrating well-being strategies into statewide planning and investment. The report cites HCD’s proactive work in Delaware as a positive outlier among otherwise declining rates of well-being across the United States.
The report, Thriving Together in America: Trends, Discoveries, Community Action, and Advice for Leaders, released today, finds that adults ages 18 – 29 have seen an 18-point decline in well-being, moving from the most to the least thriving age group. Hope — Americans' confidence that their future will be better — fell to 59.4%, close to its lowest level since Gallup began tracking it in 2008. The report combines this national data with insights from initiatives across the country, including HCD, Communities RISE Together, and North Sound Accountable Community, which already use well-being data to better understand local conditions and take action.
Since 2019, HCD has supported community-based partners to improve the Vital Conditions in Delaware, properties that all people need to thrive and reach their full potential: reliable transportation, lifelong learning, a thriving natural world, basic needs for health and safety, humane housing, belonging and civic muscle, and meaningful work and wealth. To advance this agenda, HCD granted $1,491,163 in July 2026 to 17 organizations dedicated to 13 of Delaware's most underserved communities.
“It is time to abandon the false belief that individual well-being exists in isolation from our communities and one another,” said Healthy Communities Delaware Executive Director Kate DuPont Phillips. “An erosion in well-being nationally has affected all major racial and ethnic groups. Black, Hispanic, White and Asian American adults all report lower levels of thriving today than in 2021. This report reinforces that we must urgently chart a different course by working with residents and local leaders to create community conditions where all people can thrive.”
Rippel's report identifies four interconnected drivers of thriving: strengthening belonging and civic muscle; investing in vital conditions such as food, water, and humane housing; promoting fairness in how systems are designed; and ensuring urgent and emergency services meet immediate needs without replacing longer-term solutions.
"The report's data confirms what we already know: division, othering, and turning away from each other are bad for our well-being. The steep declines are a clarion call, but in no way a verdict on our future. We can reverse these trends, and across the country communities are already showing how: working together to understand the factors shaping their lives and choosing to prioritize and invest in the vital conditions that enable thriving. The question before us is not whether we can change the trajectory, but whether we will act with courage, take hope in the examples of the communities in this report, and put those lessons into practice," said President and CEO of The Rippel Foundation Becky Payne.
The full report, Thriving Together in America: Trends, Discoveries, Community Action, and Advice for Leaders, is available here.
About Healthy Communities Delaware
Healthy Communities Delaware (HCD) is a network of community and investment partners working to improve health, well-being and equity across the state. HCD is managed as a collaboration between the Delaware Community Foundation, University of Delaware Partnership for Healthy Communities and the Delaware Division of Public Health. A public/private partnership, we connect investors who want to make a difference with a network of communities, community-based organizations, and coalition partners. Our collective goal: improve the Vital Conditions for Health & Wellbeing so that all people and places in Delaware have the opportunity to thrive – no exceptions. Learn more at www.HealthyCommunitiesDE.org.
About The Rippel Foundation
The Rippel Foundation is pursuing an ambitious vision for health and well-being: a future where all people thrive together, with no exceptions. We join with partners who believe in the power of shared stewardship — people, organizations, networks, and communities coming together to reimagine our systems and work toward that thriving future.
Gallup delivers analytics and advice to help leaders and organizations solve their most pressing problems. Combining more than 85 years of experience with its global reach, Gallup knows more about the attitudes and behaviors of employees, customers, students, and citizens than any other organization in the world.
Methodology
Results are based on Gallup Panel surveys of randomly selected adults ages 18 and older living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Mid-2026 estimates are based on two quarterly surveys conducted in February and May 2026 with 10,091 respondents. For results based on this sample, the margin of sampling error is approximately ±1.0 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, design effect included. Demographic weighting targets are based on the most recent Current Population Survey figures for the U.S. adult population. Full methodological detail is available in the report.
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