Healthy Futures Collaborative Lake County - Purpose The Healthy Futures Collaborative Lake County will reduce childhood chronic disease and improve prenatal care in Lake County, Indiana, focusing on Crown Point, Hammond, and Gary. Led by Purdue University with the Crossroads YMCA and the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation, it unites the county’s health, education, and community assets into a coordinated demonstration project that will: (1) identify root causes of childhood obesity and related risk factors from in utero through adolescence; (2) implement evidence-based interventions across clinical care, nutrition, physical activity, and family engagement; and (3) track improvements in child health outcomes and Medicaid-relevant cost drivers, informing replication in other communities and future HHS and CDC investment in community-level chronic disease prevention. Background and Need Lake County holds substantial health assets, including strong health systems, a robust school network, and extensive community organizations, yet its health landscape is fragmented, producing gaps in prenatal care, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity. Childhood obesity and related chronic conditions are rising; adult obesity prevalence in Indiana rose from 35.3 percent in 2019 to 37.8 percent in 2023, driving a growing share of state health care and Medicaid spending. Early intervention is essential, as risk factors are established in utero and during childhood and are shaped by the environments where mothers and children live, learn, and grow. Crown Point, Hammond, and Gary face nutrition deserts, few physical activity options, prenatal provider shortages, and gaps in health literacy. The barrier is fragmentation, not scarcity; the goal of this collaborative is to make the healthy choice the easy choice. This initiative builds on a year-long Purdue and White Family Foundation effort that has connected existing partners and their assets — the Indiana Department of Health, the Lake County Health Department, Franciscan Health, Powers Health, Methodist Hospitals, and Purdue Extension — to address the root causes of chronic disease in Northwest Indiana. The Collaborative will engage a community coalition to assess local needs and assets, confirm childhood obesity, inclusive of prenatal and early-life risk factors, as the anchor condition, select evidence-based interventions, and track progress against defined outcomes. Outcomes Short-term (within Year 1): a functioning multidisciplinary coalition; a census-tract-level community health assessment with baseline data on childhood chronic conditions and Medicaid utilization; HHS and CDC approval of the anchor condition and priority intervention areas; a finalized Data Management Plan; a deployed data monitoring dashboard with bi-weekly analytic updates; and an approved intervention plan in implementation. Intermediate (within Year 2): sustained partnerships and increased community capacity to design and evaluate health improvement initiatives; use of real-time dashboard data to guide program decisions; adoption of policy, systems, and environmental changes in schools and community settings; improved clinical management of the anchor condition; and reduced emergency department utilization and Medicaid costs. Long-term (beyond the project period): strengthened trust in local systems of care; established replicable community assessment and data infrastructure models for monitoring chronic disease burden; and reduced incidence and prevalence of childhood obesity and related conditions, together with improved birth outcomes.
