Inspired by the unique identities and life experiences of Illinois’ 2.7 million children and their families, ILCHF Embraces Diversity, Encourages Inclusivity, and Champions Health Equity. Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation’s Board of Directors and team commits to advance the equity, diversity, and inclusion* (EDI) practices necessary to ensure the fulfillment of our vision that every child in Illinois grows up healthy. This explicit focus on EDI builds upon the Foundation’s 20-year commitment to identify and fund strategies that expand access to the affordable quality health care services and resources that every child deserves.
For ILCHF, our EDI commitment means the strategies we fund, the organizations with whom we partner, the businesses and consultants whom we retain, and our board and team members all represent the diversity we celebrate in children and families throughout our state. It means, we challenge ourselves to understand the past and how systemic racism and discriminatory practices have shaped the root causes of health disparities and disparate outcomes. Our EDI commitment means diverse voices and experiences influence how and what we fund so that communities can express their vision of children’s health and are leaders in reshaping systems and policies to promote social justice, impartiality, and fairness for all people.
We will continue our journey of learning, reflection, and action for the foreseeable future. This journey will focus on EDI goals across six domains that touch every part of our mission including accountability; grantmaking; governance; talent and organizational structure; training and education; and vendor and consultant relationships. Our overall intention is to not only embed principles of EDI into our policies, programs, and practices, but to further evolve our work to be a better foundation, a better partner, and to create a better future for every child in Illinois. We look forward to measuring our progress and sharing it with you in the future.
ILCHF Core Messages & Definitions:
*These core messages of our vision and mission statements and definitions of healthy, equity, diversity, and inclusion below help ground our work.
- Vision Statement: That every child in Illinois grows up healthy.
- Mission Statement: We cultivate, support, and promote initiatives that improve the health and wellness of
children in Illinois.
- Healthy: A healthy child thrives in a state of physical, mental, intellectual, social and emotional wellbeing and resiliency beyond the absence of disease or infirmity, and fully realizes and sustains their full potential across their lifespan. This is best achieved when children are valued and live within safe and nurturing environments and communities and have access to comprehensive high-quality supports.
- In this definition,
- “safe and nurturing environments” include: parents/primary care-givers; free from violence and toxicity;housing; food; and ensures stable economic well-being; and
- “comprehensive high-quality supports” include: health care; education; public policy; and community resources
- Equity: A healthy child thrives in a state of physical, mental, intellectual, social and emotional wellbeing and resiliency beyond the absence of disease or infirmity, and fully realizes and sustains their full potential across their lifespan. This is best achieved when children are valued and live within safe and nurturing environments and communities and have access to comprehensive high-quality supports.
- Diversity: The word “diversity” can mean different things to different people. We’ve defined it broadly to encompass the demographic mix of a specific collection of people, taking into account elements of human difference, but focusing particularly on racial and ethnic groups, economic status, LGBTQIA populations, people with disabilities, and women/girls.
- Inclusion: Refers to the degree to which diverse individuals are able to participate fully in the decision-making processes within an organization or group. While a truly “inclusive” group is necessarily diverse, a “diverse” group may or may not be “inclusive.”