IDPH Seeks Proposals for Innovative Health Equity Zone Pilot Project to Advance Efforts to Eliminate Health Disparities

Program Stems from Heathy Illinois 2028 State Health Improvement Plan

CHICAGO – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced it is seeking proposals from local health departments and community-based organizations for a Health Equity Zone (HEZ) pilot project that will work to eliminate health disparities using innovative practices in specified geographic areas. The notice of funding opportunities gives interested groups until December 3 to file an application for up to $500,000 in grant funding.

The HEZ program is funded through a $1 million appropriation from the General Assembly and is an outgrowth of the department’s Healthy Illinois 2028 State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) and State Health Assessment (SHA), which include addressing racism as a public health crisis as a key priority. The effort is led by IDPH in partnership with the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health.

“Public health, at its core, is about the health of communities,” said IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra. “IDPH is excited to partner with our local leaders to create innovative, cross-sector, community-led solutions to address health disparities and improve outcomes. These Health Equity Zone pilots aim to provide community members with the resources they need to identify local assets and develop solutions for their most pressing challenges.”    

The two projects that are approved for funding will also receive technical assistance to support the work of multi-sector collaboratives in planning and implementing public health preventative solutions to high-priority health inequities within a defined geographic area. The program is looking for proposals that combine two or more service sectors within the HEZ. This could include healthcare, public health, education, housing, labor, social services, child welfare, transportation, parks and recreation, commerce, justice, environmental protection, or other related areas.

“While we know that health disparities have persisted for far too long, the COVID-19 pandemic brought home the stark impact of these historic inequities through higher rates of deaths and hospitalizations,” said IDPH Assistant Director Dr. Janice Phillips. “Through the HEZ program, we are looking to tap the knowledge and creativity of our local partners, those who know their communities best. The goal is to develop focused interventions that will have a meaningful and measurable impact on people’s health and well-being.”

Applications are being sought from local health departments or other organizations capable of leading a collaborative HEZ project through the development and implementation of interventions that recognize the unique assets and address the specific challenges of their communities. Awarded HEZs must also ensure that their interventions align with the priorities spelled out in the SHIP, the Healthy Illinois 2028 plan, and/or a local health jurisdiction’s Illinois Project for Local Assessment of Needs (IPLAN), which refers to the certification process in which local health departments conduct a community health assessment and an organizational self-assessment and create a community health plan.

The Healthy Illinois 2028 plan was released at the beginning of 2024 and serves as a blueprint for building a more responsive public health infrastructure aimed at improving equitable access to care and health outcomes for all Illinois’s residents. The State Health Assessment identified five major priorities to be addressed over the next five years, including racism as a public health crisis, chronic disease, COVID-19 and emerging diseases, maternal and infant health, and mental health and substance use disorder. The plan was developed with the input and participation of dozens of public health and health experts and advocates from the public and private sector across the state.

More information about the HEZ grant opportunity is available on this IDPH Grants page.