Community Health Needs Assessment & Implementation Strategy

An essential part of Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago’s mission is to advance health equity for all infants, children and youth. Every three years, we conduct a comprehensive Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) to inform our community health efforts. The Community Health Needs Assessments are a systematic, data-driven approach to determining the health status and needs of Lurie Children's community service areas.

Our Latest Reports

Below is our most recent Community Health Needs Assessment report, which includes our corresponding Community Health Implementation Strategy (CHIS) for 2023-2025. Our Progress Report, also below, highlights progress and achievements from our previous Community Health Implementation Strategy (2020-2022) efforts.

• 2022 CHNA Report and 2023-2025 Implementation Strategy (Full Report)
• Executive Summary of the 2022 CHNA Report and 2023-2025 Implementation Strategy
• 2023-2025 Community Health Implementation Strategy (Handout)
• 2020-2022 Community Health Implementation Strategy Progress Report

An Overview: 2022 CHNA Key Findings and Priority Areas

Nearly 30 percent of Chicagoans are under the age of 25 years. Eighty percent of Chicago’s youth are Black, Hispanic/Latinx, Asian and other youth of color. Although it is racially and ethnically diverse, Chicago is also among the top five most segregated cities in the country. Faced with these challenges, Chicago communities have demonstrated tremendous resilience and a groundswell of grassroots leadership. Working in partnership with our communities, Lurie Children’s is taking concrete steps to address the following key priority health areas: 

Priority Area A: Social and structural influencers of health and access to care

Priority Area B: Chronic health conditions

Priority Area C: Mental and behavioral health

Priority Area D: Violence and injury

2023-2025 Community Health Implementation Strategy 

Based on our learnings from significant community input and an extensive analysis of key health and social metrics, we have developed a Community Health Implementation Strategy for 2023-2025 that prioritizes community health efforts for which Lurie Children’s is uniquely positioned to have the most impact.

Health equity is not possible when communities do not have access to the conditions and resources that enable them to live their healthiest lives. To address the priority health issues/areas we identified in our most recent CHNA, Lurie Children’s has developed the following impact framework comprised of the following domains – each of which is essential to achieving health equity for youth. This framework moves us towards an impact-focused, asset-based and inclusive approach to address the priority health issues of the populations we serve more holistically and comprehensively. Across these three domains, we have identified a set of strategies that address each of the priority areas listed above.

Domain 1: Equitable and Inclusive Care

Goal: Expand the availability and accessibility of physical, mental and behavioral health and social services closer to home for youth living in disinvested communities.

Domain 2: Educational and Economic Opportunity

Goal: Foster educational and economic opportunities to help infants, children, youth and their families and communities thrive.

Domain 3: Safe and Nurturing Spaces

Goal: Cultivate safe, supportive and nurturing physical and social environments for youth where they live, learn and play.