Skip to Content
NorthShore is part of Endeavor Health Learn more ›
Home » Newsroom » Press Releases » NorthShore University HealthSystem Announces 2023 Community Investment Fund Partners

Newsroom

NorthShore University HealthSystem Announces 2023 Community Investment Fund Partners

NorthShore University HealthSystem Announces 2023 Community Investment Fund Partners

NorthShore awards $4 million across fifteen local organizations, building on strong momentum from inaugural year

1/19/23 – NorthShore University HealthSystem, including Swedish Hospital and Northwest Community Healthcare (NCH), has awarded $4 million across fifteen organizations in Lake and Cook Counties during the second year of its Community Investment Fund (CIF). As part of their merger, NorthShore and Edward-Elmhurst Health each committed an initial combined $200 million to establish CIFs designed to support organizations committed to enhancing community health and well-being, advancing health equity and contributing to local economic growth. To date, these funds combined have provided more than $14 million to local organizations.

“These powerful partnerships are all about creating meaningful, lasting impact through data, relationships and resources,” said Gabrielle Cummings, President, NorthShore Acute Care Operations and Highland Park Hospital, NorthShore – Edward-Elmhurst Health. “In just our first year, we already made impressive strides and have increased our understanding of how we can work together to make our communities healthier. In year two, we are proud to further these partnerships, while also welcoming new partners and expanding our focus to include areas like bi-cultural medical care, complex trauma treatment and multilingual healthcare education.”

New partners and focus areas for NorthShore’s 2023 CIF, include:

  • ASPIRE Lake County Community Healthcare Workforce Development Program ($115,000): Establish a new community collaborative to connect students and young adults with career exploration opportunities. 
  • Fenix Family Health Center Centro de Salud  ($600,000): Provide bilingual, bi-cultural and comprehensive medical care, mental health services and prenatal care in Lake County.
  • Howard Brown ($402,175): Upskill and expand capacity to treat people with complex trauma, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community, and training staff on therapy methodologies.
  • Josselyn ($550,000): Support renovation of a new behavioral health services facility in Waukegan for Lake County residents, especially Medicaid patients.
  • Kenneth Young Center ($600,000): Enhance mobile behavioral health crisis response, providing safe, accessible and 24/7 mental health services, navigation and follow-up.
  • Lutheran Social Services of Illinois ($120,000): Provide behavioral health services, including individual and group counseling sessions for Budlong Elementary in Chicago.
  • PEER Services/ TASC ($1,026,926): Expand services to treat substance use disorders and provide ongoing recovery support for Northern Cook County residents involved with the criminal justice system.
  • Rohingya Culture Center ($500,000): Support new space and multilingual services for citizenship and English language classes, group and youth services and case management.
  • YWCA Metropolitan Chicago ($279,993): Promote culturally responsive outreach, education, health screenings, healthcare case management and navigation for individuals in Lake County.

All seven of NorthShore’s inaugural CIF partners will continue to team up with NorthShore to advance their important work, already demonstrating how they are making a difference. Together, to date, these collaborations have impacted over 50,0000 community members and created more than two dozen jobs. Partners, programs and total amounts awarded to date since the CIF’s inception include:

  • ASPIRE Evanston Community Healthcare Workforce Development Program ($400,000): Extend City of Evanston partnership supporting a healthcare career pipeline for students and young adults. In year one, ASPIRE Evanston matched over 45 Evanston students and young adults to career exploration opportunities.
  • Between Friends ($463,237): Expand domestic violence support programs to end the cycle of abuse, including a 24-hour helpline and counseling services. To date, CIF funding has helped provide wellbeing programs to more than 150 domestic violence survivors and their families.
  • Highwood Public Library & Community Center ($1,854,000): Continue bilingual preventative health and mental health education, case management and family counseling. So far, the CIF award has helped serve over four thousand community members.
  • Partners for Our Communities ($430,408): Increase access to vital resources for new immigrants and low-income residents. POC serves more than one thousand people monthly.
  • Rosalind Franklin University’s Community Care Connection ($1,750,050): Expand mobile medical services in Lake County to improve health equity and long-term health outcomes.Through its partnership with NorthShore’s CIF, it has improved community access to vital health services, such as health screenings and vaccinations, by 33 percent.
  • The Friendship Center ($504,250): Support low-stigma food pantry, mobile outreach and accessibility to public benefits and resources in Chicago. Friendship Center has doubled its population served since receiving its first CIF award.
  • The AUX ($500,000): Funds awarded in 2022 support the build of a new hub for startups, small businesses, Black entrepreneurs and Evanston job creation. In addition to its NorthShore award, it has raised nearly $6 million toward building costs through grants and investors.

To learn more about NorthShore’s Community Investment Fund, including 2022 inaugural partners, click here. For details about Edward-Elmhurst Health’s Community Investment Fund for Cook, DuPage and Will Counties, click here.