New and Noteworthy

1. About the Community Health Endowment

Mission: The Community Health Endowment was established to make Lincoln, Nebraska the healthiest community in the nation.

Vision: Lincoln is a community where all its people are valued in an environment which is safe, inclusive, supportive, and culturally sensitive; all people have the information and support needed to make responsible individual and community health decisions; all people have access to high quality, affordable health services; and we are recognized as the healthiest community in the nation based on comprehensive and accurate measures of our health status.

Values:

• Stewardship: Using resources prudently while growing and preserving assets
• Collaboration: Partnering to develop healthy children, families, and neighborhoods
• Community Expertise: Valuing good ideas from the heart of the community.
• Innovation: Finding new and better ways to improve the health of our increasingly diverse community

Approach: The Community Health Endowment invests in health-related projects and programs and convenes the community around important health issues. 

2. Strategic Planning Goals and Guidelines

Goals of the strategic planning process are to:

• Seek additional input from the community about our role and vision.
• Reaffirm our mission as established by the City of Lincoln and refine as needed.
• Address items identified in the reflection process, such as strengthening our public profile and reviewing our funding strategy.
• Identify new strategies, tools, benchmarks, or ideas for making Lincoln healthier.

Guidelines for strategic planning include:

A strategic planning process for CHE may consider the following:

• The process should build on local relationships and knowledge of the Lincoln, Nebraska community.
• The process should use community-based facilitation strategies, such as focus groups and surveys.
• The process should engage people with diverse backgrounds, lived experiences and who speak various languages.
• The process should engage CHE leadership, including the Board of Trustees, Trustee Council, and Members of the City Council, as well as the CHE staff.
• The process should build on previous work done by the organization, such as the Mayor’s Task Force recommendations that established the organization.
• The process should use data analysis to facilitate strategic planning, especially data from the Place Matters publication and should collaborate with community data analysis and planning done by the hospitals and the Lincoln Lancaster County Health Department.
• The process should be done in partnership with a trained facilitator, in a 4-6 month timeframe, and in a manner that reflects neutrality (for example, facilitators disclose conflicts of interest, nonprofits are given fair opportunities for participation, etc.)
• The process should include a specific Board review to finalize the plan and clarify ongoing monitoring.

3. Request for Proposals Information and Format

The Community Health Endowment will accept proposals for strategic planning until August 6, 2025. Proposals should be no longer than 3 pages and should include all of the information below in the following numerical order with the following subject headers.  Proposals may be received via email at kate.bolz@chelincoln.org no later than 5:00 pm on August 6, 2025.  Decisions will be made and applicants notified of decisions by August 27, 2025.  

1. Contact Information: Organization/faciliator name, email address, phone number, and website if applicable.
2. General Skills and Local Experience: A summary of applicant’s professional skills and experience in facilitation, specifically as it relates to serving the Lincoln community, cultural competency, community-based strategies (such as surveys and focus groups), and use of community level data to inform strategic planning.
3. Proposed Approach: A summary of the process the applicant proposes to follow, including timeframes incorporating the goals and guidelines above. Ideally, the process will run from September 2026-February 2026, but flexibility will be offered.
4. Proposed Cost

Proposals will be evaluated based on:

• Demonstration of skills and experience as outlined in item 2.
• Clarity and practicality of the proposed approach, incorporating the outlined goals and guidelines, as referenced in item 3 above.

Questions may be directed to Kate Bolz, President and CEO, kate.bolz@chelincoln.org or (402) 436-5516.