The Chicagoland Healthcare Workforce Collaborative unites healthcare employers and industry partners to develop innovative workforce solutions and respond to the emerging employment needs of our local sector. We work together to eliminate employment barriers, support a strong and qualified workforce, and hire directly from the communities where we work and live. By focusing on action-oriented solutions, we aim to support a more inclusive healthcare workforce in Chicagoland.

CHWC follows the employer-led, community-supported sector partnership model (What is a sector partnership?). CHWC was originally launched in October 2015 with grant support from JPMorgan Chase and was led by Advocate Healthcare and the Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance. Now, CHWC’s membership includes a dozen health and hospital systems and is overseen by a volunteer steering committee of employer representatives. They receive support from 20+ strategic partners throughout Chicagoland.

Together, CHWC partners execute research projects, host peer learning events, work in committees, and launch pilot programs. Find out more about our current partners and projects on our website.

For more information about this program, please contact:
Matt McClintock, Health Workforce Systems Manager, mmcclintock@hmprg.org

The YPC brings partners from both the Public Health Workforce Collaborative and the Chicagoland Healthcare Workforce Collaborative to identify and address the unique needs that young people face in navigating a career in the health sector. With representatives from hospital systems, educational institutions, employers, and other youth-facing organizations, we aim to create a community of practice that will encourage communication and collaboration among diverse stakeholders while centering youth voices to lead innovative outreach and exposure initiatives that empower and build access for young people seeking careers in the health sciences, with a specific focus on those that have been historically underrepresented and marginalized in the health workforce.  

The YPC envisions a future where all Chicagoland youth can explore and succeed in quality health careers that include thriving wages, benefits, and a recognition of the profession’s communal and societal importance. 

Our mission is to:

• Support, strengthen, and highlight the youth pathways ecosystem by convening industry leaders, employers, unions, and educational institutions;
• Empower youth, families, mentors, counselors, teachers, and other champions with strategic shared tools and sustainable resources;
• Lead outreach and exposure initiatives to increase health career awareness, exploration, and participation; and
• Establish youth voice as the primary advocate and guide, uplifting youth to become the authentic mouthpiece of the committee.

Community health workers (CHWs) are frontline public health workers who are trusted members of and/or have an unusually close understanding of the communities they serve. Health & Medicine has a long-standing commitment to the Community Health Worker (CHW) model and has been a key player in the formation and implementation of CHW research and legislation at the state level, as well as supporting various CHW initiatives and collaborations. 

• CHW Workforce Programming: Health & Medicine operates robust CHW Workforce Programming in Cook County, sponsored by several local philanthropic foundations and the Cook County Health Department. These initiatives help to address the ongoing local need to increase awareness of health and human service resources, connect people to needed services, and promote community health workforce development. In coordination with the Sinai Urban Health Institute our CHW Workforce Programming trains CHWs; supports their supervisors; and leads a learning collaborative that strengthens the skills, referral networks, and knowledge of those involved. In 2022, we launched the CHW Learning Lab, a quarterly learning collaborative opportunity open to CHWs across the Western Suburban region. The Learning Lab offers an additional space for expanding CHW referral networks and cross-sector relationship building as well as additional professional development opportunities.

Health & Medicine is also proud to co-chair the Illinois Community Health Worker Association’s (ILCHWA) Workforce Development Committee, and to support the strategic development of efforts and policies that promote the financial sustainability of CHWs through the Public Health Workforce Collaborative. 

• CHW Research: Health & Medicine has supported the development of multiple surveys and reports that assess and promote the work of Community Health Workers at the local and state level, including Illinois’ and Cook County’s Common Indicator Report, and an evaluation of CHW philanthropic funding trends in Cook County. Health & Medicine has also participated in the Environmental Scan of Community Health Worker Assets (ENACT) project to inform CHW certification and reimbursement standards in Illinois. 
• CHW Policy/Advocacy: Health & Medicine has been a proud advocate of CHWs for over a decade. We supported the drafting and passage of the 2014 CHW Advisory Board Act (Public Act 098-0796), as well as the 2021 Community Health Worker Certification and Reimbursement Act (Public Act 410 ILCS 67). These policies seek to standardize, formalize, and reimburse for CHW services across the state. We regularly attend meetings, support community members in providing public comment, and provide strategic guidance to leaders of these efforts.  

We are thrilled to share the results of the tireless work of the CHWs and the learning collaborative model that supports their efforts. As we forge ahead into new and exciting projects that helped us advance beyond a “pilot” phase, take a look at our evaluation reports from the first five years:

• West Suburban CHW Initiative Year 1 Report [note: links to come after upload to new site]
• West Suburban CHW Initiative Year 2 Report
• West Suburban CHW Initiative Year 3 Report
• West Suburban CHW Initiative Year 4 Report
• West Suburban CHW Initiative Year 5 Report