On June 12 and 13, 2013, the community development and policy studies (CDPS) division of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, in partnership with the Illinois Public Health Institute, the Adler School of Professional Psychology, and others hosted a convening to explore the shared goals and visions of the community development and public health fields. This Chicago metro-focused meeting was one in a series of meetings that have been held across the Federal Reserve System around the intersection of public health and community development. This article captures some of the key insights of the conference.

The Chicago Regional Summit focused on three broad areas of convergence – policy, practice and finance. Community development and public health practitioners learned about their respective fields, how they are evolving, and where new opportunities exist for collaboration. The emphasis of the meeting was on the social determinants of health – economic and social conditions (and their distribution across the population) that influence individual and group differences in health status and not necessarily on the provision of health care. However, a portion of the meeting was devoted to explaining and exploring the implications of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for individuals, institutions, and communities.