Community health assessment and planning
What are Minnesota's Community Health Boards Working on Right Now?
Every five years, Minnesota community health boards assess what is impacting the health of their community, determine their health priorities, and plan how to address those priorities. This is often done in partnership with other community organizations. These steps are called a community health assessment (CHA) and a community health improvement plan (CHIP).
Read on to learn about:
- Issues most frequently prioritized statewide
- Issues your local jurisdiction has included in its plan
- Jurisdictions working on the same issues
- Related: Minnesota statewide health assessment (opens in new tab)
Top priority health issues by community health boards, 2025
This report is updated every four to five years. For the most up-to-date information, select the county or community health board below.
Mental health: 46 community boards (90%) identified mental health as a top priority.
In addition to prioritizing mental health and access to mental health care, many community health boards identified related issues like adverse childhood experiences, parenting, family systems, suicide, and social connectedness.
General substance use: 22 community health boards (43%) identified general substance use as a top priority.
General substance use includes e-cigarette use, tobacco and secondhand smoke, alcohol, illicit drugs such as meth and cocaine, opioids (prescription and non-prescription), and other substances listed below. Some community health boards have identified specific substances as a top priority - in fact, 64% of community health boards are addressing some type of substance use (general or focused) in their community health improvement plan.
Access to health care services: 17 community health boards (33%) identified access to health care services as a top priority.
Access to health care services includes the availability of services, affordability, acceptability and cultural competence, accessibility, and health literacy and system navigation. Other boards identified more specific health services as top priorities, including access to dental care (8 boards) and access to mental health services (6 boards) for their communities.
Economic stability: 10 community health boards (19%) identified economic stability as a top priority.
Economic stability includes issues such as poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, and affordable housing.
Neighborhood and built environment: 10 community health boards (19%) identified neighborhood and built environment as a top priority.
Neighborhood and built environment include transportation accessibility, quality of housing, access to healthy foods, safe neighborhoods, and easy access to services (for people of all abilities).
Which issues are community health boards addressing?
Which counties and community health boards are working on the same issues?
Even if a community health board hasn't identified an issue as a top priority in its community health assessment, it doesn't mean the community health board isn't working on it in another capacity. The list below just includes those issues that community health boards have identified as top priorities needing attention.
- Access to dental care services
- Access to health care services
- Access to mental health care services
- Adolescent/youth high-risk behavior
- Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
- Aging population
- Air/air quality
- Asthma (pediatric)
- Asthma (adult)
- Breastfeeding
- Bullying
- Child maltreatment
- Childcare access and affordability
- Children and youth with special health needs
- Chronic disease
- Civic participation
- Climate
- Disabilities
- Discrimination
- Domestic and relationship violence
- Eating habits
- Economic stability (poverty, employment, food security, housing stability)
- Education (high school graduation, educational attainment, early childhood education)
- Environmental disasters and emergencies
- Food safety
- Groundwater quality
- Health inequity of specific populations
- Homelessness
- Immunizations
- Incarceration
- Infectious disease (TB, STIs, measles)
- Lead
- Mental health
- Neighborhood and built environment (quality of housing, transportation access, access to healthy foods, neighborhood crime and safety)
- Obesity
- Oral health
- Outdoor recreation
- Parenting-family systems
- Physical activity
- Radon
- Social connectedness
- Soil
- Substance use: Alcohol
- Substance use: E-cigarettes
- Substance use: Marijuana
- Substance use: Opioids (heroin, prescription)
- Substance use: Tobacco and secondhand smoke
- Substance use: Other illicit drugs (meth, cocaine)
- Substance use: Other prescription drugs
- Substance use: General
- Suicide
- Surface water quality
- Technology access (high-speed internet)
- Teen pregnancy
- Uninsured and/or underinsured
- Unintended injuries
- Vectorborne disease
- Violence
- Other issues not listed above