Center for Community Health Equity Information

There is a 20 year gap in life expectancy between communities in Chicago, with similar gaps in infant mortality, breast and cervical cancer, and a range of other health outcomes. And while it is true that all communities in the city have experienced some improvement in health in the past few decades, inequities in health remain a striking component of the city's sociodemographic landscape. These inequities are produced by the social determinants of health, including racism, discrimination, and economic inequality. These inequities are the product of an unjust social structure. If we continue to focus on individual behaviors at the expense of community-level factors, the problem will persist. We recognize that it is not enough to only study inequities in health. The Center is concerned with action. As reflected in our founding principle, "it is not enough to identify a problem and then do nothing to fix it”. We believe in promoting community-engaged inquiry, scholarship, and service. We engage community partners to identify, understand, and respond to public health needs. We devote effort to teach and learn from various stakeholders including community leaders, faculty, and students. We advance inter-disciplinary research to build community capacity to reduce the link between hardship and health outcomes. Our Vision: The goal of the Center is to improve community health outcomes and contribute to the elimination of health inequities in Chicago. We are a jointly run Center, co-founded by DePaul and Rush in 2015. Our work is interdisciplinary - linking sociologists, geographers, and other social scientists with health care professionals. We all share a desire to conduct meaningful research that contributes to social justice in our communities. Working closely with students and community partners, our efforts come together around the idea that deliberate action based on data can change seemingly intractable problems.