Article I: Name and Purpose

The name of the coalition shall be LiveWell Douglas County, hereinafter referred to as LiveWell.

B. Purpose

The vision of LiveWell is “Communities where we all thrive.” The mission of LiveWell is “Leading a movement to build communities that support the health and well-being of all.” This includes inspiring and advancing policy, system and environmental changes supportive of healthy lives for all residents of Douglas County, Kansas.

More specifically, the purpose of the coalition is to:

1. Develop and/or support short- and long-term goals and plans to improve community health.
2. Align and coordinate member efforts so that they are mutually reinforcing.
3. Encourage and inform public discourse around policy, system, and environmental changes to address social determinants of health and advance health equity.

Article II: Coalition Membership

A. Eligibility
Membership shall be open to any individual or organization that supports the LiveWell vision and mission. Participation and inclusiveness is needed to address the diverse and changing needs of the community. The LiveWell Leadership Team will promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within the coalition and Douglas County communities.
B. Responsibilities
Members are encouraged to actively participate in LiveWell by promoting coalition initiatives within their organizations and/or the community. Members are encouraged to make decisions by consensus. If consensus cannot be achieved, decisions may be made by a simple majority vote of the members present.

Article III: Officers

A. Chair
The Chair shall be the principal elected officer of LiveWell. The Chair shall serve a oneyear term as Chair-Elect, a one-year term as Chair, and one-year term as Past Chair. The Chair will perform the following duties:

1. Schedule and plan the agenda for Executive Committee meetings in coordination with the Executive Director.
2. Preside at LiveWell Leadership Team meetings, Executive Committee meetings, and related functions.
3. Ensure that the Executive Committee performs its responsibilities.
4. Serve as a spokesperson and representative for the coalition.

B. Chair-Elect

The Chair-Elect shall be an elected officer of LiveWell. The Chair-Elect shall serve a oneyear term. Upon completion of the term, the Chair-Elect shall assume the position of Chair, followed by the position of Past Chair. The Chair-Elect will perform the following
duties:

1. Carry out the duties and responsibilities of the Chair in the absence of the Chair.
2. Serve as an active member of the LiveWell Executive Committee and Leadership Team.
3. Other duties and responsibilities as needed.

C. Past Chair

The Past Chair shall serve a one-year term as an active member of the LiveWell Executive Committee and Leadership Team. The Past Chair will help with leadership transitions, institutional memory, and will assist the Chair and Chair-Elect as needed.

Article IV. Executive Director

The Executive Director provides cohesive leadership and backbone support for this community coalition. This position is responsible for building and maintaining community partnerships and supporting the core functions of the coalition. This position reports to the LiveWell Douglas County Leadership Team. Responsibilities: Working in concert with the LiveWell Executive Committee and Leadership Team, the Executive Director will be responsible for the following:

Budgeting and Financial Management

• Grant writing and fundraising: Pursue external funding sources through grant-writing and partnership development to support activities of the coalition and individual work groups. Coordinate public fundraising campaigns as needed.
• Budgeting: Develop an annual budget for coalition expenses. Prepare budget reports for Executive Committee and Leadership Team meetings. Coordinate with fiscal agents to ensure approved payments are made to vendors.
• Grant and financial reporting: Complete all reporting requirements for grants and gifts. Prepare annual report for the Executive Committee and Leadership Team.

Public Communications

• Media representative: Serve as a public face of LiveWell Douglas County. Interact with local media and community partners. Coordinate with Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health on distributed media, including providing content for newsletter and social media platforms.
• Community partnerships: Develop and maintain relationships with community partners, including elected officials, businesses, non-profit organizations, local governments, and community members. Stay apprised of emerging issues, related projects in the community to identify potential collaborations, and opportunities for cross-promotion.
• Annual events: Coordinate annual public events of the coalition, including the annual awards celebration breakfast, anniversary events, and other public forums.

Coalition Management

• Training and orientation: Provide training and orientation on communication and documentation platforms for new members of the leadership team.
• Support strategic planning: Provide overarching strategic direction and strategic planning support as needed.
• CHIP alignment: Provide assistance to work groups in aligning work with the Community Health Improvement Plan and documentation of those activities.
• Documentation: Document accomplishments of the work groups, coalition, and community partnerships, including documentation of coalition activities related to the Community Health Improvement Plan in the Community Check Box.
• Membership: Maintain contact lists and communication platforms for work groups and the coalition. Maintain communication and engagement with past, current, and future members.
• Staff and Volunteers: Oversee interns, contractors or other willing volunteers for coalition management.
• Advocacy: Coordinate with the Leadership Team to develop an advocacy agenda for individual work groups and the coalition as a whole. When appropriate, support interaction with public officials.

Article V: Committees

A. Executive Committee

The Executive Committee of the coalition will consist of the Chair, the Chair-Elect, the Past Chair, one staff member of each Supporting Organization of the coalition, and the Executive Director (ex-officio). The term of the Chair, Chair-Elect and Past Chair will begin annually on July 1. The Executive Committee will provide ongoing oversight and guidance to the coalition. The Executive Committee shall supervise and direct the affairs of the coalition within the limits set forth in this document.
The Executive Committee shall:

1. Meet at least bimonthly or to the extent needed to support accomplishment of the purpose and goals of the coalition.
2. Schedule and plan the agenda for Leadership Team meetings.
3. Identify potential new and support existing work groups and ad hoc committees to advance the goals of the coalition, including developing processes to ensure effective leadership and composition of coalition committees.
4. Identify and seek to address capacity building needs of the organization.
5. Develop processes to remove coalition members who fail to fulfill their responsibilities.
6. Approve requests by coalition members to engage with government staff and/or elected officials on behalf of the coalition.
7. Approve requests for use of the LiveWell name, image or brand.
8. Approve unbudgeted requests for use of financial resources of less than $1,000.
9. Recommend policy and bylaw changes to the coalition, as needed.
10. Schedule, plan and conduct meetings of the full coalition as needed.

B. Leadership Team

The Leadership Team shall be reflective of the community to the greatest extent possible. The Leadership Team shall be composed of the Executive Committee and leadership positions from all Work Groups.
The Leadership Team shall:

Meet at least bimonthly or to the extent needed to support accomplishment of the purpose and goals of the coalition. A quorum of Leadership Team members must be present to conduct formal business on behalf of the coalition. Quorum is defined as representation by more than half of active work groups and at least two Executive Committee members. On any issue requiring a vote, each member of the Executive Committee and the Chairs of the Work Groups (or their designee) are eligible to cast a vote. All decisions will be made by a simple majority of those voting.

2. Establish, maintain, and when applicable, disband, work groups and ad hoc committees.
3. Develop processes to ensure ongoing input from coalition members and the community.
4. Promote broad representation from the community to promote health equity.
5. Approve leadership positions for coalition Work Groups.
6. Stay informed of work group priorities, activities, and needs to ensure alignment of work group efforts with the broader efforts of the coalition.
7. Seek emerging opportunities to collaborate and engage with community partners interested in supporting efforts to enhance community health.
8. Ensure coordination and communication between all coalition committees
9. Ensure long-term sustainability of the coalition and provide oversight of grants, grant applications, and budgets that provide operational support for the work of the coalition.
10. Approve annual operating budget of the coalition and requests for use of any financial resources of $1,000 or more.
11. Advise the Executive Committee in all major matters concerning the nature, scope and extent of coalition activities.
12. Approve, and when applicable terminate, formal relationships with community organizations who serve as the neutral supporting (backbone) organizations of the coalition.

Leadership Team members shall:

1. Serve an annual term beginning on July 1.
2. Attend a minimum of fifty percent of the Leadership Team meetings.
3. Actively promote LiveWell and the coalition’s initiatives within their organizations and/or the community.
4. Inform Work Groups of discussions/decisions made by the Leadership Team that are pertinent to the activities of their Work Group.
5. Document and report Work Group activities and progress towards meeting community health goals (including documentation in the Community Check Box, reporting at Leadership Team meetings, etc.)

To encourage participation, notice of Leadership Team meetings shall be sent at least four weeks prior to the meeting date, unless a meeting needs to be held in special circumstances. Leadership Team meeting agendas shall be sent at least one week prior to the meeting date.

C. Work Groups

The purpose of work groups is to advance policy, system and environmental changes that support the LiveWell vision and mission. The Leadership Team shall establish, maintain, and when applicable, disband, work groups that the coalition uses on an ongoing basis. Annual nominations for Work Group leadership positions will be submitted to the Leadership Team, who will then give final approval for leadership positions Work groups shall meet at least six times per year. To encourage participation, notice of work group meetings shall be sent at least four weeks prior to the meeting date, unless a meeting needs to be held in special circumstances. Meeting agendas shall be sent at least one week prior to the meeting date.

D. Ad Hoc Committees

The Leadership Team shall establish, maintain, and when applicable, disband, ad hoc committees formed for a limited period of time to address a specific need. The Leadership Team shall determine the leadership positions within ad hoc committees. Ad hoc committees shall meet as needed.

Article VI: Support

A. Supporting Organizations

Local supporting organizations will be formally identified to help provide key functional, backbone support for coalition efforts. As backbone organizations, each will have one designated staff representative serve on the Executive Committee and Leadership Team (this does not preclude other staff working with/for supporting from serving on the Executive Committee, Leadership Team, and/or work groups within the coalition). The Supporting Organizations shall support the coalition as agreed upon in the Framework of Support for LiveWell Douglas County (please see Appendix A).

Article VII: Lobbying and Advocacy

A. Advocacy efforts

Given the coalition’s focus on policy, system and environmental changes toward community health improvement, LiveWell and its members may engage in issue advocacy that is designed to educate policy makers and the public about issues. However, no coalition written materials or other communications will have a partisan stance, endorse a particular party or candidate, call for adoption of a specific resolution or ordinance and/or changes to such.

B. Seeking permission to represent coalition

Advocacy activities on behalf of the coalition are expected to be representative of the coalition’s position(s). Members who intend to approach government staff and/or elected officials as representatives of LiveWell should seek permission to do so in advance from the Executive Committee.

C. Coalition members advocacy efforts independent of LiveWell

Members may engage in their own partisan activities and lobbying efforts, but those activities must be conducted separately, independently, and transparently from the nonpartisan, non-lobbying actions they take as a coalition member.

Article VIII: Adoption and Amendment of Bylaws

These Bylaws are adopted and may be subsequently amended by the Leadership Team. These Bylaws shall become effective immediately upon their adoption or amendment by the Leadership Team. Any member of the LiveWell Leadership Team may propose amendments to the Bylaws. Proposed amendments shall be presented to the Executive Committee no less than four weeks before consideration by the Leadership Team. The Executive Committee will ensure that any proposed amendments are sent to Leadership Team members no less than two weeks prior to consideration. Adoption and Amendment of these Bylaws shall be made by a vote of the Leadership Team.
Date of adoption: February 22, 2012
Amended: October 16, 2014, June 15, 2018, June 12, 2020, November 2021

Appendix A. Framework of Support for LiveWell Douglas County

LDCPH support Provided	K-State Research and Extension Support Provided
Support Provided	Support Provided
Leadership and Community Engagement: 1) Support collaborative leadership and leadership development 2) Participate in updating organization policies and strategies as needed. 3) Participate in community event planning and execution	Leadership & Community Engagement: 1) Support collaborative leadership and support leadership development 2) Serve as a public ambassador for LiveWell 3) Work with Leadership Team to update outreach strategy as needed 4) Help identify and recruit additional cross-sector stakeholders 5) Plan and manage logistics for and attend community events.
Data & Evaluation associated with the Community Health Plan: 1) Support coalition documentation of accomplishments on the Community Check Box platform 2) Support updates to my SideWalk related to coalition accomplishments
Strategic Coherence: Action Planning/Execution: Support/ plan implementation strategies for initiatives that align with CHP and CDRR	Strategic Coherence: Support and strengthen community engagement and partnerships; conduct outreach; support collaborative efforts to advance the common agenda
Communications: 1) Maintain and fund contract for hosting coalition website 2) Assist in troubleshooting associated with ongoing maintenance of coalition website
Operations & work group support: Work as member of Executive team to plan agendas and meetings and complete organization deliverables. Participate in Leadership team meeting and on work groups associated with the CHP.	Work Group Support: Provide needed meeting supports to work group chairs (assuming the work group chairs develop agendas and lead in materials preparation)
Fiscal Support: Maintain fiscal support for coalition website and provide support for mutually beneficial grants, when appropriate.	Serve as fiscal agent, including: a) submitting grant applications in support of coalition strategies, managing funds received from these grant submissions as well as other sources, and ensuring that expenditures made on behalf of the coalition adhere to all rules and guidelines of all funding sources as well as statutory and institutional guidelines , and b) providing the Leadership Team with at least quarterly reports of fiscal activity on behalf of the coalition.