Investing Upstream for Community Health Equity: Setting the Course

This Sprint, known as Setting the Course, brought together teams from health institutions across the country for an introduction to investing upstream for community health equity.

Investing In Community Health

For hospitals interested in embarking on or deepening a community investment strategy, CCI offered an opportunity to learn from the experiences of health systems that have been leveraging their resources to improve community health. The program culminated with a national online conference (September 22-23, 2021) where teams received technical assistance, and individualized feedback from experts and peer institutions pursuing community investment.

CCI Resource Library

Search our publications, tools, and other resources to assist you with transforming your community’s investment systems so all residents can flourish.

Executive Engagement Crucial for Success

This applied learning opportunity introduced cross-departmental teams to investing for community health; provided them with tools to assess community needs, identify partners, and create a strategy; supported them with using those tools; and shared examples from systems around the country.

Social determinants are not academic—real systems with real resources are investing now and have learned a lot.

COVID-19 and racial equity set the context for hospital leaders looking investing upstream.

Investments need to be strategic, not technical; community-focused, not only focused on patients and staff.

This is not a journey that is lightly undertaken; it involves partnerships, sensitivity, racial equity, and community.

The Case for Community Investment

Community investments are intended to improve social, economic, and environmental conditions for individuals and communities, especially in disinvested communities of color. Place matters when it comes to the social determinants of health. Hospitals and health systems must understand—and act to improve—the conditions in the places they serve.

The Latest from Setting the Course

News, stories about our work, and more. For general press inquiries, please contact [email protected].