Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA)

  • What is a CHNA?

    A CHNA is a community-driven data collection effort to identify the strengths, challenges, health priorities, and opportunities to address and improve public health. Every three years, the Kent County Health Department, in collaboration with healthcare and community partners, conducts a CHNA to better understand the current state of health and well-being in Kent County and to hear directly from residents about the issues that matter most to them.

    CHNAs typically include data from well-established sources, as well as new data collected from residents through community input processes. The CHNA includes local-level data on topics such as:

    • Physical and mental health conditions
    • Access to health care and services
    • Behaviors that impact health
    • Built environment (like housing, neighborhood safety, and access to healthy foods)
    • Community conditions that impact health (like education, economic stability, and employment)
    • Health inequities
    • Quality of life
    • Community strengths and challenges
  • Why is a CHNA Important?
    A county-wide CHNA helps us…
    • Better understand the current state of health and well-being in Kent County
    • Hear directly from residents about the issues that are most important in their communities
    • Mobilize community partners and align resources to address community-identified priorities
    • Identify inequities and who is most impacted so we can work towards achieving health equity
    • Focus on policy, systems, and environmental change
    • Keep track of changes over time and know what is getting better, what is getting worse, and what is staying the same
    • Identify emerging issues
  • How is CHNA Data Used?
    The CHNA is available to anyone who is interested in learning about our community's health status, health behaviors, and biggest needs for improvement. In the past, the data collected in the CHNA has been used to:
    • Create community health improvement plans (CHIP) that address the priorities
    • Apply for and secure grant funding
    • Get community- or population-specific data (e.g., for a certain zip code or demographic group)
    • Evaluate how well current health improvement efforts are working
    • Share with boards, funders, and community stakeholders
  • CHNA Reports