Oak Park Homelessness Coalition: Fall Quarterly Meeting Recap
Last week, the Oak Park Homelessness Coalition held our quarterly Coalition Meeting. Thank you to everyone who joined us.
We heard updates from Housing Forward on their new logo and branding, along with a helpful overview of their intake system and referral process. Their updated chart clearly outlines how individuals can access services. You can view it here. They shared recent data on street outreach and overnight shelter services, which you can find in their presentation slides here.
We’re excited to share that we have new Street Outreach cards. If you’d like a physical stack to distribute, please email Andrea Ramirez.
A special thank you to Julia S. Bassett and Rahula Strohl from Rush Oak Park Hospital for their presentation on the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and Community Health Implementation Plan (CHIP).
Every three years, nonprofit hospitals are required by law to conduct a CHNA and, based on those findings, develop a CHIP. In spring 2025, Rush University Medical Center (RUMC) and Rush Oak Park Hospital (ROPH) completed their 2025 CHNA and their 2026 to 2028 CHIP. Their findings continue to highlight stark disparities in life expectancy that correlate directly with ZIP code.
To address these inequities, Rush will focus community outreach efforts on the social determinants of health, such as access to safe housing, quality education, nutritious food, and stable employment, across the 21 communities they serve. As Dr. David Ansell describes, their work aims to close “the death gap.”
