Chronic health divisions at state public health departments are interested in partnering with the community development sector to improve health outcomes in low- and moderate-income communities. NACEDA and the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD) are working to foster these partnerships by educating our members about each others' work and providing opportunities for connection. Learn more and get connected.

Partnerships for Health Equity and Opportunity provides practical advice on navigating the vast healthcare ecosystem with your organizational assets in mind. Use this playbook to help you:

• an overview of IRS Community Benefit regulation, Community Health Needs Assessments, and Community Health Improvement Plans
• suggestions on how to engage with hospitals in work that improves community health
• online tools you can use to access information about hospital community benefit staff, priorities, and spending.

View the webinar and PowerPoint slides.

Nonprofit hospitals' community benefit requirements provide an opportunity for community developers to engage with hospitals. Use this Healthy Leaders Policy Guide to connect with nonprofit hospitals and implement plans for healthier communities. 

Using the Community Benefit Insight database, community economic development associations can use data to initiate relationships with hospitals and make realistic suggestions on the long-term impacts. 

This report innovative examples to illustrate how systems of financial resources, public policies, leadership principles, and programs are aligning to improve health and economic outcomes for low- and moderate-income people and places.

Population-level health data provides evidence for community developers to identify cost-effective health programs that improve health outcomes. Access five strategies to use this data to encourage healthcare systems to invest in communities.

Health Impact Assessment is a rapidly growing field that brings data, health expertise, and public input together. This data can identify the potential effects on public health of projects, programs, and policies. These case studies show how Health Impact Assessments work and inform state and local community development decisions.

Health Impact Assessments can inform choices to improve public health through community design. Use this interactive map to sort and analyze data and figure out how to use these assessments to make your community healthier.

This issue brief explains how communities can leverage capital from hospitals and health systems to improve the environment for healthy living.

In Healthy Communities: A Framework for Meeting CRA Obligations, Elizabeth Sobel Blum of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas provides guidance on how financial institutions can invest in improving the social determinants of health in low- and moderate-income communities. 

The 500 Cities project provide city- and census tract-level small area estimates for chronic disease risk factors, health outcomes, and clinical preventive service use for the largest 500 cities in the United States. It is a collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the CDC Foundation. 

Plan4Health connects communities across the country, funding work at the intersection of planning and public health. Coalitions work with communities to increase access to healthy food or increase opportunities for active living where residents live, work, and play. Their toolkit provides policies, best practices, checklists for success, and webinars.  

Nonprofit hospitals are required by the IRS to provide health services or other benefits to low-income communities. Community Catalyst provides tools and resources for grassroots organizations to engage local nonprofit hospitals in addressing unmet community health needs. 

Find out how healthy your county is and explore factors that drive your health. County Health Rankings provides an interactive tool to gauge the relative health of communities, a roadmap for steps to create healthy communities, and a database rating health-based policies and programs. 

Working across the health and community development sectors begins with speaking the same language. If you’re lost in a sea of acronyms, this tool can help. The Build Healthy Places Network Jargon Buster demystifies common industry jargon.

Anchor institutions can play a key role for low-income communities by better aligning their institutional resources—like hiring, purchasing, investment, and volunteer base—with community needs. The recommendations for hospitals and health systems in The Anchor Mission Playbook are drawn from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. 

These toolkits help hospitals and health systems build community wealth through inclusive hiring, investment, and purchasing — and give community developers insights on how to develop partnerships with hospitals. Access the Hospitals Aligned for Healthy Communities Toolkits.