We leverage partnerships to raise funds, deliver programs and elevate solutions in communities: Dr. Jean Accius on how CHC: Creating Healthier Communities is making a difference

“In addition to supporting 5,000 nonprofits plus official partnerships with more than 1,500 nonprofits, we have collaborative partnerships with community-based organizations in numerous states.”

CHC: Creating Healthier Communities brings nonprofits, businesses, and communities together to improve community health. It focuses on health equity, addresses underlying issues, and removes barriers so everyone can thrive. The organization works to ensure every person in every community has an opportunity to live their healthiest life.

CHC is headquartered in Alexandria, VA with staff across the country.

The Silicon Review reached out to Dr. Jean Accius, President and CEO of CHC, and here’s what he had to say.

Interview Highlights

Q. What circumstances or events led to the creation of CHC? Please brief us about the history so far.

CHC has been in existence for more than 65 years. We work to ensure every person in every community has an opportunity to live their healthiest life. We leverage partnerships to raise funds, deliver programs, and elevate solutions in communities. It’s about creating healthier communities (hence our name) where everyone can thrive.

We support more than 5,000 nonprofits every year and work with hundreds of businesses, foundations, and organizations, mobilizing the giving and volunteer support of millions of employees. We’ve driven billions of dollars to high-impact nonprofits.

CHC was created by nonprofits to represent and raise funds for them in workplace giving, such as Combined Federal Campaign. CHC still raises critical resources for nonprofits through workplace giving with companies, local and national governments, universities, and more. We went through a brand and strategic evolution, moving from “Community Health Charities” to “Creating Healthier Communities” - still CHC but focusing on our end goal. In addition to giving and volunteering, CHC expanded to include a new program office and our organization is now successfully working on numerous strategic grant programs with community-based organizations.

In 2023, the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance published an independent case study about CHC’s strategic evolution: BBB Wise Giving Alliance Case Study | CHC: Creating Healthier Communities (chcimpact.org)

Q. How does CHC bring nonprofits, businesses, and communities together and improve community health?

We leverage partnerships to raise funds, deliver programs and elevate solutions in communities.

We work with grant funders on health equity programs; with the federal government, local governments, states, universities, and private sector companies on employee giving campaigns; with large grant funders on community programs advancing health equity; and with numerous companies of all sizes on employee engagement, volunteerism, and strategic partnerships.

Our national board of directors and board advisory council are comprised of cross-sector leaders. In addition to supporting 5,000 nonprofits plus official partnerships with more than 1,500 nonprofits, we have collaborative partnerships with community-based organizations in numerous states.

CHC’s Corporate Leadership Council is represented by 50 of the world’s top social impact leaders from companies such as Nike, Walt Disney, Starbucks, Comcast, Wells Fargo, J&J, Walmart, FedEx, the NFL, and more. Corporate Leadership Council | CHC: Creating Healthier Communities (chcimpact.org).

Q. What are CHC’s key focus areas?

We have three focus areas:

Health Awareness and Access: Maternal health, cancer, and mental health are our active programs and core initiatives advancing health equity:

Our Black Birthing Initiative with Elevance Health Foundation seeks to reduce preterm births among Black women and improve maternal health equity. Black Birthing Initiative | CHC: Creating Healthier Communities (chcimpact.org)

• We also partner with companies like Hilti and MetroHealth to host screenings of Aftershock and raise awareness of the maternal health crisis.
• We collaborate with companies like Saks, Hilti, and Elevance and their employees to assemble Healthier Mom Kits, a volunteer activity packing kits filled with educational resources and items that support Black pregnant women to help reduce preterm births. These have been given to more than 10 birthing centers in 10 states.
• Our breast and cervical cancer initiative works to increase health equity in Black, Hispanic and underserved communities with Merck: Partnership for More Equitable Outcomes in Breast and Cervical Cancer | CHC: Creating Healthier Communities (chcimpact.org).
• We have mental health initiatives with Saks, The Steve Fund, Chickasaw Nation, Hilti, Liberty Diversified International, and others, focused on local grant making, raising awareness and support for young people of color, providing mental health and substance abuse support for the underserved, and engaging with companies on mental health programs for their employees. One example: Mental Health Equity | CHC: Creating Healthier Communities (chcimpact.org).

Health Philanthropy: CHC works on employee giving, strategic grants, corporate giving, and nonprofit partnerships, supporting more than 5,000 nonprofits annually, and working with hundreds of businesses and other organizations and more than 650 campaigns.

Education and advocacy: CHC provides volunteer programs -- virtual/remote, hybrid, and in-person -- to help companies around the world engage their employees in communities; we create coalitions and councils; we convene cross-sector leaders; and we provide capacity building and technical assistance for community-based organizations and nonprofits of all sizes.

• CHC’s Corporate Leadership Council represents 50 of the world’s top social impact leaders from top companies.
• We have community-based collaboratives in Atlanta, Cleveland, and Detroit.
• In April and May 2023, we did volunteer projects with Saks, Connexus Energy, Elevance, Tolomatic, S&C Electric, and more. We also have a major volunteer partnership with MetLife and have worked with hundreds of others.

Tell us, what’s next for Creating Healthier Communities.

CHC is going big. The business and economic case for investing in health equity is critical. The World Economic Forum and Deloitte both estimate health inequities cost $320 billion annually and could surpass $1 trillion annually by 2040. AARP’s Livability Index shows significant life expectancy gaps based on the ZIP code where someone lives, such as an age of 94 years old in Washington DC’s 20007 ZIP code but only 67 in DC’s 20373 ZIP code, just six miles away. The average in the U.S. is a 13-year life expectancy gap based on where you live.

Time is our only non-renewable resource – and CHC is fighting for more time for each person to live and love with their family and friends. And closing this disparity gap also generates an additional $8 trillion to our GDP by 2050 and increases federal tax revenues by $450 billion and state and local tax revenues by $100 billion every year.

This is impacting every person, every family, every community, every business, every local government as well as our federal government. The only way to get through this is together, and CHC is about finding common ground and bringing people together to solve these challenges, community by community. It’s about co-creating solutions, building infrastructure, and supporting innovative policies and programs, especially for the underserved.

Dr. Jean Accius | President & CEO

Dr. Jean Accius is an accomplished leader and innovator in health equity, longevity, health systems transformation, and building equitable systems so that every person in every community can live a longer, healthier, and more productive life. As President and CEO of CHC: Creating Healthier Communities, Jean leads a high-performing team that is dedicated to breaking down the barriers to health and empowering communities to thrive. With business acumen and deep experience across sectors, Dr. Accius understands how to develop creative and actionable solutions, policies, and programs that uncover the economic advantages of addressing disparities. He has a proven track record of collaborating across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to accelerate the pace of change.

“We support more than 5,000 nonprofits every year and work with hundreds of businesses, foundations, and organizations, mobilizing the giving and volunteer support of millions of employees. We’ve driven billions of dollars to high-impact nonprofits.”