Oak Park's Village Board unanimously approved a five-year public health plan centered on health equity on Tuesday, Sept. 29.

The 2026 Illinois Project for Local Assessment of Needs, known as the IPLAN, marks the first time in more than a decade that the Oak Park Public Health Department built the plan in-house rather than hiring an outside consultant, according to the Wednesday Journal, which first reported the approval.

Public Health Director Greg Olsen said the decision to keep the work internal was deliberate. He told the board that many health departments treat the IPLAN as a compliance exercise.

"It's become sort of a checkbox for a lot of the health departments, that they do it to stay certified, and then the plan sits on the shelf …" Olsen said. "We didn't want it to sit on a shelf."

Health education manager Sara Semelka and community health advisor Chelly Richards led the effort. It drew on roughly 18 months of data collection, community conversations and stakeholder meetings. More than 50 community members attended a July 30 open house at the Oak Park Public Library as part of the outreach.

The plan lays out three priorities: increasing access to healthy and safe environments, increasing access to positive experiences with medical and mental health systems, and implementing targeted health promotion strategies.

Specific objectives include incorporating a public health lens into local housing initiatives by 2030 and creating a community-wide health navigation system by the same year.

The IPLAN also intersects with existing village efforts, including Climate Ready Oak Park, the Vision Zero street safety initiative and the Shape Oak Park housing plan.

Olsen noted that every current public health department employee was hired since 2020. The staff had to rebuild community relationships from scratch. He described the IPLAN process as a way to strengthen those ties.

The plan also carries financial stakes. Oak Park's Public Health Department, established in 1902, is one of only five municipal public health departments in Illinois. Submitting an approved IPLAN to the Illinois Department of Public Health is required to maintain Certified Local Health Department status, which brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funding annually, according to the village's IPLAN engagement page.

Village President Vicki Scaman and several trustees pushed for additions before the plan goes to the state. Scaman called for clearer language on ageism, calling it a concern for "the largest population of our community."

Trustees Jenna Leving Jacobson and James Taglia advocated for expanded objectives on gun violence education and victim support. Taglia said the village has gun violence that should be continually examined through the plan's guidelines.

Those additions will be incorporated before the IPLAN is submitted to the state for final approval. Once the state signs off, the department plans to publish a dashboard on the village website so residents can track progress over the five-year period.