Access to quality, affordable healthcare is an important factor in leading a full, healthy, and resilient life. However, there are social and systemic factors –the conditions in which we are born, live, and work–that play a crucial, if not, more influential role in our overall health.
As a community-led and engaged foundation that serves a 27 zip-code region in Chicago and the western Cook County suburbs, we seek to:
- Center community context in our grantmaking and strengthen our local health ecosystem by working with and learning from health equity leaders and their organizations
- Meet immediate and emergent community health and wellness needs for residents, especially those underserved and underinsured
- Catalyze long-term systems change to address root causes of health inequities and health barriers
The communities within our service region, each with their own unique ecosystems, hold the solutions to the issues they face. We believe in trust-based philanthropy and value the partnerships with organizations and leaders as they are the base to improving health outcomes in our region.
Why We Exist
Our mission is to measurably improve the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities in our service area by promoting health equity, quality and access.
Our Commitment
We envision that all residents of our communities lead full, healthy, and happy lives and enjoy equal life expectancy.
what we value
- Energizing the spirit and potential of our local community
- Supporting efforts to provide tools that build healthier lives
- Pursuing our work with a health equity frame
- Addressing the immediate needs while investing in long-term systems change
- Valuing experiential and evidence-based practices that produce measurable results
- Bringing stakeholders together to share wisdom and cultivate trust, collaboration, and coordination
- Maintaining the highest legal and ethical standards in the stewardship of foundation resources
COMMITMENT TO RACIAL & ETHNIC EQUITY
All residents of our service region, particularly those who live with the greatest health inequities, should have access to resources and opportunities that improve their well-being and create a sustainable quality of life.
Systemic conditions, such as implicit bias and institutional and structural racism, impede those goals and disproportionately affect BILPOC (Black, Indigenous, Latinx, People of Color) communities. We commit to addressing these barriers by being a community-informed and embedded foundation.
OUR SERVICE REGION
LEGACY
We fund a geographic region defined by the service area of MacNeal hospital, from which we received our endowment in 2000.
HEALTH EQUITY
To achieve health equity, we allocate the majority of funds to zip codes that experience the greatest health inequities and rank lowest in our social determinants of health study.
For more information about our Legacy & Equity Zone zip codes, please refer to the HCF Strategic Plan.
OUR HISTORY
2000 |
MacNeal Health Foundation established with proceeds from MacNeal Hospital sale to a private company in 1999. The Foundation officially opened its doors in 2000.
2006 |
The Foundation was renamed to The Arthur Foundation to distinguish from the hospital originally founded by Arthur MacNeal.
2017 |
The Foundation was rebranded to Healthy Communities Foundation, with new leadership and a refined focus on addressing its Legacy funding area and achieving health equity in surrounding communities with the greatest health disparities..