Reflections on Healthy Roots Event ‘From Seed to Strength’

On February 20, more than 100 nonprofit, government, and business leaders across the New River Valley gathered at the Healthy Roots NRV (HRNRV) event, From Seed to Strength.

Healthy Roots NRV is a regional network co-lead by the Community Foundation of the New River Valley. The network is dedicated to strengthening connections and nurturing collaboration to enhance well-being in Virginia’s New River Valley.

Attendees heard updates on HRNRV and helped priorities for the regional network as it works to strengthen connections and nurture collaboration to enhance well-being across our community. Additionally, attendees heard from Mark Cruise about the success of a similar initiative – STRONG ACC – in far SWVA and see initial results from our analysis of how NRV organizations already work together to address issues like food insecurity or substance use disorder.

What’s next for Healthy Roots?

 To understand how organizations are already working together and regional priorities, we’re conducting a network study. There is a survey for each of the Healthy Roots affiliate networks. If your organization provides services relevant to any or all of these networks, please take each survey relevant to you using the links below. Information and frequently asked questions to help you complete the surveys are attached.

• Aging in Community Survey – For those providing services to older adults and/or their caregivers.
• First Steps Survey – For those providing services to young children and families.
• NRV Recovery Ecosystem Survey – For those addressing substance use disorder recovery and prevention
• PATH Survey – For those providing healthcare or working to expand access to healthcare
• Thrive Survey – For those working to expand access to fresh, nutritious food to neighbors in need

Ways to Get Involved in Healthy Roots

• Join the HRNRV MightyNetwork: We’re building an interactive website that allows you to learn about and share information with other NRV organizations. Join the site and stay tuned for more features like submitting community events and more.
• Get involved with an affiliate network: To be added to the mailing list for a specific affiliate network, email jessicawirgau@cfnrv.org.

Following the event, the executive director of Mountain Valor Veteran Services, Katt Whittenberger reflected her experience. Hear from Katt via the video and written reflection below.

I recently attended a Healthy Roots NRV gathering through the Community Foundation of the New River Valley, and I wanted to share what it was about and why it matters for veterans and families here.

Healthy Roots NRV focuses on connecting organizations that deal with health and quality-of-life issues across the New River Valley — not by creating new programs, but by helping existing ones coordinate better. The goal is to reduce gaps, avoid duplication, and make sure people can actually access the help that already exists.

Right now, they’re working across five main areas: supporting older adults and caregivers, helping young children and families, recovery and prevention for substance misuse, improving access to healthcare, and expanding access to nutritious food. All of those directly affect daily life in rural communities, including for veterans.

There were people in the room from public health, healthcare providers, community action groups, recovery programs, food access organizations, local government, and aging services — a cross-section of the folks doing the work across the region.

Strong ACC’s Work

We also heard from Mark Cruise from the STRONG Accountable Care Community, which is a similar effort that started earlier and has grown into a large regional collaboration with more than 400 partner organizations across Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. He talked about collective impact — the idea that big problems don’t get solved by one organization alone, but by groups working together with shared priorities, shared data, coordinated effort, and consistent communication. If you’re curious, you can learn more at strongacc.org.

After the presentations, the focus shifted to priorities. Organizations looked at survey results showing what people believe matters most in the region versus where groups realistically have the capacity to focus. Those don’t always line up, and it led to some honest conversations about where collaboration could make the biggest difference.

For Mountain Valor, the biggest takeaway was the connections. We built relationships with organizations across the New River Valley that are already helping people today. That makes it easier for us to connect veterans and families to real support faster — whether that’s healthcare, food, housing, childcare, or recovery services.

It also gives us more opportunities to reach rural veterans and their families earlier, before things turn into a crisis. Most people don’t look for help until they’re overwhelmed, and the more connected we are, the better chance we have to get information and support in front of them sooner.

Learn more about Mountain Valor Veterans Services here on their website and here on their Facebook page.