The Illinois Department of Public Health received a $25 million Community Transformation Grant (CTG) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) .The funding, $5 million per year over five years (2016), was awarded after a highly competitive national application process. The Department and its state and community partners will use these funds to implement We Choose Health.  

We Choose Health is a multi-year Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) initiative to encourage and support the implementation of proactive health programs that fall under three categories: Health Eating and Active Living; Smoke-free Living; and Healthy and Safe Built Environment.    

The Health and Safe Built Environment program includes activities for:

1. Complete Streets - make road accessible to all users by making it easier to cross the street, walk to shops, and bike to work; allows buses to run on time; and make it safet for peopel to walk to and from train stations.
2. Joint Use Agreements - increase the number of facilities or areas where people can participate in physical activity through agreements between school and communities.
3. Safe Routes To School - establish and promote designated pedestrian and bike-friendly routes for children and others to use when traveling to and from community schools.  

We Choose Health has awarded 21 grantees, covering 60 counties and impacting almost 3 million people, $3.8 million goes directly to communities for the implementation of programs that address nutrition and access to healthier foods, to increase physical activity and to promote breastfeeding; to reduce exposure to secondhand smoke in multi-unit housing complexes and outdoor places; to improve the quality of screening and treatment for high blood pressure and cholesterol; to improve communities' built environments to increase opportunities for physical activity; and to improve the social and emotional health of students. Strategies will be targeted toward serving residents in rural counties and racial and ethnic minority groups in urban areas to reduce health disparities.  

A multi-sector Leadership Team and workgroups have been established to oversee and provide guidance for the implementation of the We Choose Health initiative. Workgroups will provide resources and advice for how We Choose Health can best implement strategies to reduce the burden of chronic disease at the community and state levels.

Below is a listing of awardees by counties.  Click HERE for the award notice that provides additional information.  Programs funded are listed below.   

• Healthy Eating and Active Living (1-3)
• Smoke-Free Living (4-5)
• Healthy and Safe Built Environment (6-8)