About the Community Health Council:

The Community Health Council (CHC) was established in 2013 through an ordinance passed by the Knox County Commission, with supporting resolutions from the Knoxville City Council and the Farragut Board of Mayor and Aldermen. The Council serves Knoxville, Knox County and the town of Farragut and is supported and facilitated by the Knox County Health Department. An advisory council, the CHC supports and steers the community health improvement process by acting as a forum for discussion and coordination of community-wide efforts to improve health outcomes and advise elected and appointed officials in matters of health. Council members serve staggered three-year terms. Presently, there are thirteen members, six of which are appointed by the following elected officials/bodies: County Commission, City Council, Farragut Board of Alderman, Knox County Mayor, City of Knoxville Mayor, Town of Farragut Mayor.

The CHC uses components of a national model to create a framework that engages stakeholders around priority health topics. These topics are identified through the Knox County Health Department's statement report - a community health assessment which is conducted approximately every five years. The Health Council uses the data compiled in the community health assessment to select priority health issues and create a community health improvement plan. This plan is a roadmap to improvement for the priority health issues selected. Previous action plans addressed issues surrounding mental health, opioid abuse, tobacco use and access to safe parks, greenways and sidewalks.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CHC did not hold regularly scheduled meetings in 2020 and 2021. The Council will resume meetings in November 2021 and will focus on creating a new Community Health Improvement Plan based on qualitative and quantitative data from the Health Department’s most recent iteration of the Community Health Assessment.