Ashoka’s network Fellows and social entrepreneurs work across many spaces that touch the lives of children — education, healthcare, community development, and child and family services. Their insights and experiences guided this powerful framework that defines children's wellbeing and the approaches needed to usher in a culture where every child is supported.
Wellbeing for children means...
A child is equipped with a strong sense of self, belonging, and purpose.

Self
Children are self-aware and confident in their identities.

Belonging
Children feel valued by society and are surrounded by relationships of trust.

Purpose
Children with wellbeing are encouraged to dream, and drive towards playing a role in shaping society.

Self, belonging, and purpose are interdependent. Nurturing wellbeing within children requires a holistic approach.

“What do children need? They need to know, ‘I am lovable, I am safe, I can trust other people to meet my needs.’”
– Amelia Franck Meyer, Ashoka Fellow, Founder of Anu Family Services
Approaches
How do we create this world? Social entrepreneurs identified four cross-sector approaches that equip society to foster a culture of wellbeing for children.
Towards a Culture of Wellbeing
Ashoka believes that targeting culture change will create a ripple effect that fundamentally shifts the way society operates—by altering norms within institutions, among communities, and in adult-child relationships.
Creating change within individual organization brings us closer to a culture of health and wellbeing. But a more rapid shift can be made by implementing the above approaches to change the environment in which children grow up.
Social innovators and are not only creating new innovative organizations that nurture children’s wellbeing, they are also designing ways to inspire, incentivize, and infuse a wellbeing mindset into American society.