Do Tank partnered with the Illinois Health and Hospital Association and the Chicago Healthcare System Coalition for Preparedness and Response (CHSCPR) to design a five-year strategic plan that strengthens how the region prepares for and responds to public health emergencies.

Through a highly collaborative process, the engagement aligned a diverse network of healthcare, public health, and community partners around shared priorities — creating a clear roadmap for improving coordination, strengthening readiness, and building a more resilient regional response system.

CHSCPR represents a complex, multi-sector coalition responsible for coordinating emergency preparedness and response across Chicago and EMS Region 11. Its membership includes hospitals, public health agencies, emergency management, and community organizations — each with distinct roles, capabilities, and constraints.

While the coalition had a strong foundation, leaders recognized the need for a more structured, forward-looking strategy to address evolving risks and strengthen alignment across partners. Emergency preparedness required not just plans, but coordinated systems — including shared protocols, communication pathways, and the ability to respond collectively under pressure.

The challenge was to develop a strategy that reflected the realities of the system: diverse stakeholders, varying levels of readiness, and the need to align local priorities with state and national preparedness standards.

Do Tank’s Role:

• Designed and facilitated a multi-stakeholder strategic planning process across the coalition
• Structured engagement across healthcare, public health, and community partners
• Synthesized stakeholder input, survey data, and regional priorities into a cohesive strategy
• Helped define system-level priorities, governance considerations, and implementation focus areas
• Ensured the strategy reflected both real-world operating conditions and national preparedness frameworks

Do Tank approached the work as a system design challenge — focusing not only on defining priorities, but on how the coalition would operate as a coordinated response network.

The process began with extensive stakeholder engagement, including planning sessions and surveys that captured perspectives from hospitals, public health agencies, emergency responders, and community partners. This ensured the strategy reflected the realities of those responsible for preparedness and response across the region.

Through facilitated sessions, stakeholders identified key gaps, opportunities, and system dependencies — surfacing the need for stronger coordination mechanisms, clearer communication pathways, and more consistent approaches to training and readiness.

These insights informed a set of core strategic priorities, including training, coordinated exercises, and information sharing — all designed to strengthen the coalition’s ability to respond effectively during emergencies. Additional focus areas included enhancing emergency operations coordination, improving medical surge capacity, and supporting responder safety and resilience.

The work also emphasized governance and system infrastructure — including the role of a Strategic Advisory Committee, integration with emergency operations frameworks such as the Public Health Emergency Operations Center, and mechanisms for ongoing coordination across partners.

Throughout the process, Do Tank ensured that strategic direction was grounded in operational feasibility, aligning priorities with the capabilities, constraints, and responsibilities of coalition members.

The resulting strategic plan provides a clear, actionable roadmap for strengthening emergency preparedness and response across the Chicago region. It aligns a diverse coalition around shared priorities, defines the structures needed for coordination, and establishes a foundation for ongoing system improvement.

Importantly, the work extended beyond strategy development. The process itself strengthened relationships across partners, increased shared understanding of system challenges, and built momentum for coordinated action.

The coalition is now better positioned to:

• Improve readiness through targeted training and exercises
• Strengthen real-time information sharing and situational awareness
• Coordinate response efforts across organizations during emergencies
• Ensure resources and preparedness efforts address the needs of vulnerable populations

Emergency preparedness at this scale is not achieved through planning alone — it requires alignment across organizations that must act together under pressure.

This work reinforces a consistent lesson: effective strategy in complex systems depends on designing how coordination will happen before a crisis occurs. When governance, communication, and shared priorities are clearly defined, organizations are better able to respond quickly and collectively when it matters most.

For coalitions and regional networks, the question is not simply what to prioritize — but how to build the structures, relationships, and readiness required to act as a system.