News
Your Voice, Your Health: Why Community Health Assessments Matter (posted June 25, 2026)
By Adam Behnke | June 2026
In Wisconsin, there is a set of rules that govern the duties of local health departments. One of the most important roles is completing a Community Health Assessment, or CHA for short. A CHA is a process in which health workers collect information to gauge the health and wellness of people in the community. The findings of a CHA help us plan how to prevent diseases and address health concerns to improve life in Brown County.
This edition of the Healthy Herald explains the new Community Health Assessment underway in Brown County, and why your participation is so important to the effort.
Health Checks are Required by Law
As mentioned in the intro, Wisconsin law sets the rules for how public health agencies operate. Chapter DHS 140, titled “Required Services of Local Health Departments”, has two subsections that set the stage for the Community Health Assessment (CHA) requirement. They can be summarized as:
- Gather data and decide which health problems to focus on.
- Create a written plan every few years to improve health based on gathered data.
"We work on a three-year cycle so we can complete the CHA collaboratively with our healthcare partners. Health systems are required to work on a CHA every three years," said Grace Rollin, Brown County Public Health Strategist. She has a lead role in gathering data and creating this current Community Health Assessment.
Data and Details
So, what makes up a Community Health Assessment? We look at where people live, work, learn, and play, because those places affect health just as much as a doctor's visit. By using two main types of information—a mix of numbers and stories from people in the community—we can get a full picture of Brown County’s health.
The "numbers" part looks at things like how many people have heart disease or suffer from poor mental health days. But numbers do not tell the whole story. We also talk to people in focus groups and get feedback through surveys, to help us understand the stories behind the numbers. These stories help us understand why people might be afraid to go to the doctor or how they feel about the various factors that my influence their health, such as the environment they live in.
It is also important to look at how different groups are doing. By looking at data based on age, race, or where people live, we get a better picture of where the gaps are. This helps identify potential strategies at the macro (“big picture”) level to improve the conditions that may impact health for everyone, recognizing that some will need a little more help than others to get there.
Brown County Public Health is currently getting input for the next CHA through a survey! It can be completed by anyone who lives, works, or learns in Brown County.
"The survey only takes about 5 minutes to complete, and anyone who does can enter to win a $50 gift card,” said Rollin. “The survey is available online on StayHealthyBC.com or we have paper versions available at our downtown Green Bay office."
You can take the Community Health Assessment survey by clicking here.
In collaboration with Beyond Health, Brown County Public Health led the creation of the most recent CHA in 2023-2024. You can read it by clicking here.
Turning Knowledge into Action
Once the community’s doctor visit is over, and the CHA has been finalized, it’s time to turn all that knowledge into action! The action plan is known as a Community Health Improvement Plan, or CHIP. While the CHA finds the problems, the CHIP is the list of focus areas and the steps aimed at fixing them. Improvements in health outcomes at the community level often take many years before a positive impact can be noted. Wisconsin law says a CHA and CHIP must be updated in an ongoing cycle every five years. But, as mentioned earlier, many places do it every three years to align the goals and timelines of a broader coalition.
Brown County’s most recent Community Health Improvement Plan was released in early 2025 and serves as a guiding document through 2027.
You can read the 2025-2027 CHIP by clicking here. The current Beyond Health CHIP focuses on strategies around:
- Mental Health and Substance Use
- Healthy and Safe Homes
- Pathways (access) to Healthcare
An annual report is also created for every year of an active CHIP. You can read the 2025 CHIP Annual Report by clicking here.
"We release the CHIP Annual Report because health improvements at the population level take time,” said Rollin. “A yearly check-in provides us a chance to the see the progress made toward the long-term goals identified in the CHIP."
This Happens at the State Level, Too
Every ten years, state law requires the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) to create a state health plan. Following best practices, DHS has now changed to a five-year cycle.
Similar to local-level agencies, the state health plan includes a state health assessment (SHA) and a state health improvement plan (SHIP). Together, they give an overview of Wisconsin’s health and guide improvements in the years ahead.
The DHS completed a State Health Assessment in 2025. It offers a snapshot of Wisconsin’s health and well-being across many topics. It also highlights the social and community factors that impact health. According to the DHS, the community at-large identified several health and well-being priorities:
- Economic stress, including the rising cost of living.
- Mental health, including feelings of burnout and poor access to care.
- Housing, including a lack of affordable housing.
- Transportation, including inadequate public transportation; transportation challenges in rural areas; and need for transportation options to work, health care appointments, and other necessary places.
- Health care, including high costs; poor access to care; and lack of whole-person, prevention-focused care.
Read the 2025 Wisconsin State Health Assessment (SHA) by clicking here.
Read the 2023-2027 Wisconsin State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) by clicking here.
Final Thoughts
The start of a new CHA/CHIP cycle is an important time for a local public health department. It’s bad practice to make assumptions about what a community needs for better health, and a CHA helps eliminate the guesswork. Our message to the people of Brown County: You are the expert of your own experience, and a few minutes of your time helps shape priorities for years. The survey is quick, confidential, and open to anyone in Brown County. Plus, you can enter for a $50 gift card! We thank you in advance for lending your voice to the betterment of Brown County.
Stay Healthy, Brown County!