In May of 2023 the Allentown Health Bureau began the process of performing a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) for the City of Allentown.
A CHNA determines the individual and community health of an area through a structured framework. This includes 4 parts:
- Community Health Status Assessment or snapshot of health and social factors in the City of Allentown
- Forces of Change, or qualitative brainstorming of Forces and underlying Trends impacting health status
- Local Public Health System Assessment or rank of Public Health using the 10 Essential Public Health Services
- Community Themes and Strengths Assessment, or integration of Residents surveyed on health, focus group input, and the results of the two local health networks health assessments.
Over the course of 10 months the Allentown Health Bureau has met with community organizations, community leaders and stakeholders, focus groups and residents to gather data and perform the work to complete the CHNA to inform the creation of a Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) to attempt to address some of the overarching problems effecting our residents’ health.
The complete Community Health Needs Assessment is availble for download, with an interactive data portal being rolled out in Summer 2024.
The Community Health Improvement Plan will be rolled out in Summer 2024 focusing on 3 areas of need identified by the CHNA:
- Loneliness & Social Isolation
- Safe, Stable & Affordable Housing
- Upward Economic Mobility
That plan will also be publicly available.