Public Health
North River Commission Health Organizers strives to advocate for our community through community outreach and prioritizing solutions to redress the health inequities among residents in the Albany Park, North Park and Irving Park community areas. Through our partnerships with Northwest Center, Chicago Department of Public Health and other peer agencies, our team is central to the agency's work with community members, peer organizations and health providers to identify and improve the social determinants of health. North River Commission is the Community Lead for the Northwest Regional Healthy Chicago Equity Zones (HCEZ), an initiative established to achieve the the Healthy Chicago 2025 goal: closing the racial life expectancy gap in Chicago.
Healthy Chicago Equity Zone
To access our full 2022 Community Assessment, please click here.
North River Commission staff values the importance of community voice and community involvement in the improvement and development of Albany Park and neighboring areas. North River Commission engaged Albany Park residents and used community intelligence to prioritize and work toward neighborhood needs. For this Healthy Chicago Equity Zones work, we focused on collecting qualitative data to understand the health challenges of the residents in Albany Park that existing data does not capture. Our survey captured demographics, and we developed focus groups to help us better understand health inequities related to housing, neighborhood planning, health and human services, food access, public safety, and environment. We were also able to hear directly from community members on what they believed were the most critical health issues, with the majority of the participating stakeholders identifying housing and public safety having the highest impact on their health and well-being.
