In 2016, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) launched Healthy Chicago 2.0, a plan focused on ensuring a city with strong communities and collaborative stakeholders, where all residents enjoy equitable access to resources, opportunities and environments that maximize their health and well-being. Healthy Chicago 2.0 serves as the start for a new movement dedicated to improving health equity and making Chicago a connected, vibrant and healthy city for all residents. CCR collaborates with CDPH for Healthy Chicago 2.0 aimed at improving the health and well-being of Chicago’s youth disproportionately impacted by violence and trauma, and building a trauma-informed Chicago.
Trauma-informed is grounded in service delivery, and directed by a thorough understanding of the neurological, biological, psychological and social effects of trauma and violence on humans and groups. Functioning as a trauma-informed city requires significant changes in attitude, knowledge and practice, with all of our city agencies and community- based organizations becoming trained in the impact that trauma has on our residents. A trauma-informed city utilizes this knowledge to develop policies and system improvements that ensure effective responses to recovery from trauma and to prevent individuals from being re- traumatized by individuals, schools, churches, organizations and government agencies with which they interact.
Healthy Chicago 2.0’s development and its eventual success are guided by four key principles:
- Healthy Chicago 2.0 prioritizes Health Equity, ensuring that the 200 action steps focus on neighborhoods and communities that face the greatest health disparities, so limited resources are allocated to the areas where they are needed most.
- Healthy Chicago 2.0 is a Collaborative Effort, providing action steps for not just CDPH but for other government agencies and community partners to work together and to improve health equity for every resident. Hundreds of community partners– representing health care providers, government agencies, social service providers, advocates, academic institutions, businesses, faith-based organizations, and residents – reviewed public health data and agreed upon over 200 coordinated strategies to promote health equity.
- Healthy Chicago 2.0 addresses the Social Determinants of Health, in addition to traditional health outcomes. Understanding that health is impacted by a number of factors, including economic opportunity, education and public infrastructure, Healthy Chicago 2.0 provides action steps to address these underlying issues.
- Healthy Chicago 2.0 leverages Data and Surveillance by making sure each goal and action step are measurable. Leveraging the annual Healthy Chicago resident survey and the Chicago Health Atlas, we will measure and share progress on an annual basis and make adjustments in the plan’s implementation to ensure its greatest efficacy.