The Anchor Mission Playbook
WITH SUPPORT FROM CHICAGO ANCHORS FOR A STRONG ECONOMY (CASE), THE CIVIC CONSULTING ALLIANCE, AND THE DEMOCRACY COLLABORATIVE
Anchor institutions can play a key role in helping the low-income communities they serve by better aligning their institutional resources—like hiring, purchasing, investment, and volunteer base—with the needs of those of communities. The recommendations in this “playbook,” drawn from research carried out to help Rush University Medical Center (RUMC) align around its Anchor Mission, are being published to help other hospitals and health systems accelerate their own efforts to drive institutional alignment with community needs.
We hope this playbook contributes to the anchor institution literature as this important field develops and deepens. We encourage other institutions to also document and tell their stories in a transparent manner—both opportunities and barriers, success and failures—because that is the only way we will succeed in closing the economic, racial, and health disparity gaps that prevent us from achieving healthy communities physically, mentally, and spiritually. Together, we can all learn and accelerate the implementation of these critical and needed strategies in our communities.