About Center for Community Health

Although Cook Children's has a long history of community outreach, it was in 2009 that we began conducting formal community health needs assessments (CHNAs) every three years to identify the health needs of children. We acknowledge the complexity and intersectionality of children’s health issues and the essential nature of community collaboration among a broad range of organizations.

To build upon our collective wisdom, Cook Children’s engages multiple community partners in this effort to research, understand, communicate and address children’s health issues. Cook Children’s created the Center for Children’s Health (now known as the Center for Community Health) in 2011 to provide an infrastructure for using children’s health assessment data to guide community programs and stakeholder collaborations that prevent illness, disease and injuries in children.

The Center for Community Health (C4CH) oversees a tri-annual community health needs assessment, community research and community health outreach. Our work with the CHNA ultimately fulfills our system's Promise, while also satisfying a requirement set by the Internal Revenue Service Section 501(r) (3) (A) for non-profit hospitals.