Health

Metropolitan Chicago benefits from less environmental toxins and better access to health care with support from the Trust.

To improve the health of all residents of metropolitan Chicago, The Chicago Community Trust supported programs that reduce boost the health care system's efficiency and train the next generation of medical leaders.

Getting the Lead Out

Since 2004, the Trust has supported the Loyola University Chicago School of Law's Lead Safe Housing Initiative to reduce lead poisoning among children and increase awareness about the dangers of lead poisoning on childhood development. Projects have included creating guidelines on lead-safe housing, passage of legislation to use county funds for lead abatement and joining the county's Lead Poisoning Prevention Unit Advisory Council. The initiative has helped to reduce citywide rates of blood lead poisoning among Chicago children to below 2 percent—a historic low since the onset of routine testing.

Improving Access to Health Care

With the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, up to 1.5 million uninsured Illinois residents will receive greater access to health care services. With full implementation of the ACA, public and private agencies must transform their systems and practices to meet the needs of newly eligible residents. To meet this challenge, the Trust convened the Starting Strong Collaborative, a group of health care advocates, providers and service agencies that develop strategies to successfully enroll all eligible Illinois residents into health care plans in the next two years. Key strategies include the expansion of the medical home network, testing new models of care management, strengthening the existing health safety net, testing new payment systems and enhancing health information technology.

The Trust supported the outreach and education efforts of organizations working to implement health care reform. A grant to AgeOptions ensured senior citizens have access to health care. The Campaign for Better Health Care received Trust support to educate communities of color and the underserved about key elements of the ACA. Trust support also helped Health & Disability Advocates build a health-reform-implementation coalition among disabled Illinois residents. And the Trust funded the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group to research the unique needs and barriers to care within the health system for vulnerable populations.

Future Leaders

Many low-income, diverse communities in the Chicago region have suffered from a perennial shortage of physicians, creating gaps in health care. Through the endowments of Drs. David Monash and Ruth Mitchell, the Trust's Monash/Mitchell Medical Scholarships awarded $185,000 in grants in 2011 to provide scholarships to students attending medical school in metropolitan Chicago and internship grants for students to conduct community health research and participate in community service projects. Additionally, the Trust awarded a $123,000 grant to the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Urban Medicine to help train physicians to deliver medical care in underserved communities. Funding these programs helps to build the pipeline of medical providers committed to health care for all of the region's residents.

See the complete list of 2011 Health grants