Englewood, North Port

Laurel, Osprey, Venice, and Nokomis

Our communities are filled with stories of individuals who grapple with health problems each day. These health issues and opportunities are very real for many of our local residents, and we have the resources to come together—as community members, organizational leaders, and funders—to address some of these problems.

Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice has consistently funded health-related projects throughout our communities. Yet, there has always been an absence of relevant, timely information on what services were most needed at the community level. After nearly 18 months of discussions and planning, the CHIP project was born in 2002. The Foundation committed itself to funding a truly innovative and effective community initiative that would first tell us what services were needed and then empower citizens to develop solutions to these service gaps. This project also represents the kinds of grantmaking in which the Foundation is most interested: projects that empower residents to address the needs and opportunities for preserving and improving the quality of life in their own community.

Gulf Coast Community Foundation created the original partnership with Bon Secours-Venice Hospital, Sarasota County Health Department, Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Englewood Community Hospital, Fawcett Memorial Hospital, Bon Secours St. Joseph’s Hospital, and the Charlotte County Health Department to close this information and services gap. This is a truly innovative partnership, both in the number and diversity of its members, and we thank each organization for their CHIP commitments. CHIP also goes far beyond the work of simple needs-assessment to empower community members to understand key health issues and then develop strategies to address them.

So many community volunteers have already brought their talents to CHIP and the Community Health Action Teams (CHATs). We continue to be impressed with the skills and drive of the involved citizens and the great changes in the health of our local citizens their work has already produced. CHIP is an opportunity for all of us learn directly from and through community members which health issues they are most concerned about and what they think should be done to solve them.

CHIP is also meant to sustain itself, beginning in 2004 with the commitment of staff support from the Sarasota County Health Department so the CHATs may continue to meet and advocate for their communities' health issues long into the future. We have also been gratified for the support and partnership of the Florida Department of Health in this effort. The DOH has long been a leader in health-care assessment and the provision of quality health care to all of Florida’s citizens, and now it is interested in helping citizens develop their own health-care solutions, such as innovative projects like CHIP.

CHIP's mission is to improve the physical, mental, and social health of local communities by empowering community members to identify key health needs, develop strategic solutions, and implement and monitor health improvement strategies.

Visit the CHIP Web site to learn more about CHIP and find out how you can get involved.