As COVID-19 began to spread, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois lived out our mission of standing with our members and communities in sickness and in health. We focused our efforts on helping the helpers — organizations on the front lines in local communities providing access to critical resources when they are needed most.

Organizations like Hope, a nonprofit providing educational, residential and health services to young people who have developmental and physical disabilities, needed support to keep running safely.

Hope was one of 75 organizations that received a $20,000 grant from the BCBSIL COVID-19 Community Collaboration Fund. The grants were given to organizations working to ensure access to health care, food and shelter during the pandemic.

Hope used the money to upgrade its video conferencing platform and to provide resources to parents and family members so they could continue therapy at home.

Each year, BCBSIL makes strategic investments to serve as a force multiplier in the communities where our members live, work and play.

In 2020, BCBSIL transformed an abandoned retail store in Chicago’s Morgan Park neighborhood into a 130,000 square-foot employee workspace and community-facing Blue Door Neighborhood Center^SM. The multipurpose center opened in August.

The site will house up to 550 employees that support members and network providers. Roughly 70% of new hires live within 10 miles of the center. The building’s Blue Door Neighborhood Center is a place for community members to connect with each other and focus on their whole-person health — including physical, mental, environmental and social factors that impact well-being.

We go directly into communities to improve access to care. Our two Care Vans^® celebrated their 30th year on the road by traveling throughout the state providing immunizations, COVID-19 testing and other services. The program provided 14,333 no-cost immunizations in 2020.

To further the effort of the BCBSIL Care Van Immunization Initiative, BCBSIL provided grants to 12 organizations with existing programs providing vaccines to people whether or not they have health insurance. Recipients could use the grant money to maximize the reach of those programs by doing things like hiring additional clinicians, purchasing more vaccines to distribute, or raise program awareness in the communities they serve.

BCBSIL employees also gave their own time and money to support their neighbors. The 2020 BCBSIL Volunteer of the Year, Dominique Bryant, committed nearly 285 hours of her time in 2020 volunteering for several organizations in the Chicagoland area. One of her main commitments is to the Dream Academy Foundation, a mentoring organization she founded for people ages 10-18. The organization held more than 20 events and impacted 1,000 young people in 2020.

“There are many people in less fortunate situations, and I believe that whatever I can do, whether it be big or small, it will help to make this world a better place,” Bryant said.

The BCBSIL Institute for Physician Diversity launched in October, bringing together a health plan, academic medical centers, teaching hospitals and nonprofits to work toward a goal of having the physician workforce represent the racial and ethnic diversity of the state.

Members of the pilot program are working to accelerate the recruitment of medical students, residents and clinical faculty who are underrepresented in medicine. 

 “We have an obligation as a health insurer to help accelerate the efforts of our medical education community to address this structural disparity,” said BCBSIL Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Derek J. Robinson.

Our hiring efforts are reflected in our employee demographics:

• 72% of employees are women
• 35% of employees are people of color
  • 19% are African American 
  • 9% are Asian American
  • 7% are Latino 

Employee groups
Our employee-led business resource groups (BRGs) are there to support, empower and connect employees to the business, the community and one another. 

The In-Abled BRG — focused on disability awareness and inclusion — stayed connected and supported each other during remote work in 2020 by hosting regular virtual “caregiver support” meetings to provide employees an outlet to share information, give feedback and stay connected during an uncertain time.