Community Development

What is Community Development?

Community Development is a process for bringing various sectors of a community together to understand a need, identifying common goals, and mobilizing resources within a community to achieve those goals.

Community development staff at CHCACT works with communities to increase access to healthcare and to reduce health disparities through community health centers.

The focus of community development at CHCACT is The President’s Initiative for Health Center Growth. CHCACT works with CT community health centers to increase access to primary care, dental care, mental/behavioral health services, pharmacy, and other health services through expansion of existing community health centers. CHCACT also assists communities in starting new community health centers. Technical assistance is provided to these communities around the 10 Critical Elements of Managing Growth:

Identification/Verification of Need
Community Development
Board Development
Workforce Development
Capital Financing (including facilities and necessary equipment)
Operating Systems (including clinical, business and management operating systems and electronic medical systems (EMR)
Continuum of Care Linkages
Leveraging Resources (federal, state, private)
Outreach to Special Populations (e.g., homeless, farm workers, school based, public housing etc.)
Service Delivery to Special Populations