Dir Community Health Improvement-29207

Rush University Medical Center; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 72,000 - 107,000; Full time

Job summary

Rush University Medical Center in Chicago oversees a wide portfolio to advance community health equity. The Director leads strategy, program design, and implementation across social drivers of health, with accountability for the CHEE portfolio and community benefit activities.

The role includes managing a team, partnering with internal and external stakeholders, and guiding funding and grants. Travel up to 20-25% across Rush sites and community partners is required.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in public health, public policy, social work, business administration, or related field.
• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in community health, public health, health equity, or related fields.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, multi-program portfolios.
• Experience in program startup, scaling, or organizational transformation.
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience managing teams and multiple layers of staff.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategy, portfolio leadership, innovation and execution for community health equity initiatives.
• Co-lead engagement strategies and required community benefit reports.
• Provide oversight of evidence-based community programs including CHW hub and health equity efforts.
• Foster partnerships with government, nonprofits, and community leaders to advance health equity.
• Manage budgets, grants, and financial planning for program areas.

Skills

leadership

stakeholder engagement

communication

change management

project oversight

Education

Master’s degree in public health, public policy, social work, business administration, or related field

10+ years of progressive leadership experience in community health, public health, health equity, or related fields

experience leading complex, multi-program portfolios

experience in program startup, scaling, or organizational transformation

minimum of 5 years’ experience managing teams and multiple layers of staff

Job description

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Hospital: Rush University Medical Center

Department: Community Health Improvement

Work Type: Full Time

Work Schedule: 8 Hr (9:00 AM - 5:00 PM)

Rush offers exceptional rewards and benefits learn more at our Rush benefits page (https://www.rush.edu/rush-careers/employee-benefits).

Pay Range: $52.15 - $77.70 per hour

Rush salaries are determined by many factors including, but not limited to, education, job-related experience and skills, as well as internal equity and industry specific market data. The pay range for each role reflects Rush’s anticipated wage or salary reasonably expected to be offered for the position. Offers may vary depending on the circumstances of each case. This role has a corresponding incentive plan based on multiple factors. incentive compensation and additional benefits can be found on our Rush benefits page (https://www.rush.edu/rush-careers/employee-benefits)

Summary

Reporting to the Vice President, Community Health Equity, the Director will be responsible for advancing the strategy, development, and execution of community health equity initiatives across the Rush system. Collaborate, develop and implement strategies that result in improved health care services, practices, and programs that effectively address identified needs. Engage internal stakeholders across the Rush System on comprehensive social drivers of health-related initiatives within Rush hospitals and in the community. The Director provides strategic direction and leadership for the, Community Benefit, Health Needs Assessments, and Implementation plans, and Community Health Strategy including the community health worker hub. The Director will co-lead partnership development for community health,, community-focused grant-making and programs offered by the Office of Community Health Equity and Engagement (CHEE). This role is accountable for translating strategy into action, leading program design and startup efforts, managing organizational change, and ensuring disciplined execution of high-priority initiatives, including place-based community health initiatives. This includes developing the programmatic strategy, deliverables, metrics and accountability for each of these areas. The Director will also be responsible for operational and fiscal oversight for each of these areas. Exemplifies the Rush mission, vision and values and acts in accordance with Rush policies and procedures.

Other Information

• Master’s degree in public health, public policy, social work, business administration, or related field
• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in community health, public health, health equity, or related fields
• Demonstrated experience leading complex, multi-program portfolios
• Experience in program startup, scaling, or organizational transformation
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience managing teams and multiple layers of staff
• Excellent interpersonal communication and leadership skills
• Strong knowledge of health equity, social drivers of health, and community-based program models
• Experience in managing budgets, writing grants and securing funding
• Experience developing strategic plans for programs, measuring and evaluating performance for continuous improvement.
• Excellence in leadership and management capabilities, with a proven track record of growing nonprofit resources, partnerships, community relations and fundraising
• Must keep up to date with all national, regional, and local trends in community health and benefit and serve as a content expert for Rush.
• Excellence in organizational skills and management with the ability to coach staff, manage and develop high performing teams, set and achieve strategic objectives
• Strong forward-thinking competence and the ability to identify viable solutions to known and unknown problems
• Must be self-motivated, accountable and responsive to internal and external clients.
• Ability to engage and communicate effectively with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, , including community members, corporate executives, researchers, academics and policy makers
• Ability to be flexible and collaborative in the identification of solutions to workplace problems
• Experience and ability to work with a diverse staff and communities of color
• Must be able to travel to all Rush hospital sites including community partners across the greater Chicago region. Approximately 20-25%

Preferred Job Qualifications

• Experience leading CHW programs or workforce models
• Experience with place-based initiatives (e.g., West Side Chicago)
• Experience with CHNA/CHIP processes and community benefit reporting
• Proven success securing funding and building cross-sector partnerships

Experience in an academic medical center or large health system

Competencies

Physical Demands:

Responsibilities

Strategy, Portfolio Leadership, Innovation & Execution

• Lead development and execution of community health strategies aligned with community health needs assessments, Community Health Improvement Plans, and system health equity priorities.
• Co-lead development of annual and tri- annual community engagement strategies, development of federal and state required community benefit reports
• Provide oversight of other evidence-based community programs, including faith-based, health education and Food is Medicine initiatives
• Facilitate the development and implementation of evidence-based practice and quality efforts to advance health equity.
• Identify opportunities to expand impact through program innovation, partnerships, and new investments
• Lead startup efforts for emerging models, including community-centered care approaches and flagship work at Sankofa Village Wellness Center
• Evaluate and refine program models based on community input, performance data, and evolving needs
• Monitor progress, mitigate risks, and ensure initiatives achieve intended outcomes
• Lead change management efforts related to new program implementation, restructuring, and system- wide initiatives Lead change management efforts related to new program implementation, restructuring, and system-wide initiatives
• Foster a culture of accountability, adaptability, and continuous improvement

Community Health Worker (CHW) Hub Leadership

• Provide full operational, strategic, and financial oversight of the Community Health Worker Hub, including sustainability planning.
• Co-Lead workforce strategy, including recruitment, training, deployment, and career pathway development
• Ensure effective integration of CHWs across clinical, community, and population health initiatives
• Establish performance metrics, quality standards, and accountability systems
• Scale CHW models to support care coordination, health equity, and community-based care delivery

Community & Partnership Engagement

• Manage internal and external stakeholder engagement strategy in coordination with colleagues, including Social Work and Community Health, Communications, Rush Oak Park, Rush Copley, Rush Medical Group, and Rush University.
• Acts as a thought leader and partner in the development of a system-wide strategy for community benefit, community health needs assessments and implementation plans.
• Co-lead efforts to develop and sustain community engagement councils across the Rush System
• Develop and maintain a productive network of professional relationships with key government, philanthropic, policy, nonprofit, community leaders, and other key stakeholders to advance the organization’s health equity agenda
• Builds and maintains relationships with community, government, philanthropic and corporate partners to achieve departmental programmatic goals.

Finance & Budget

• In partnership with the VP, Community Health Equity, engages in fundraising by developing and implementing strategies to increase financial support from corporations, foundations, state and federal government.
• Oversees grant submissions, proposals and reports for prospective funding.
• Manages the financial processes for Community Health Improvement Outreach, Community Benefit and Community Health Worker Center, including developing an annual budget, financial forecasting, reporting and compliance in line with RUSH policies and procedures.
• Develop, train and manage a team of 4-6 direct reports, with oversight of a team of 25

Rush is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, and other legally protected characteristics.