Kate Bolz, President and CEO of Community Health Endowment of Lincoln was our speaker on June 12, 2026.
Kate stated that the Community Health Endowment of Lincoln (CHE) was established in 1998 with the proceeds of the sale of the Lincoln General Hospital from the City of Lincoln to Bryan Memorial Hospital (now Bryan Health). An endowment was set up with the $37 million from that sale. Today the fund is over $80 million - keeping up with inflation over the years.
With the establishment of the Endowment, it was stated that the funds were to be used to address the needs of a healthier Lincoln. Kate stated that today that includes a focus on:
Access to Health Services
Access to Healthy Food
Access to Mental Health Care
Access to Healthy Food
Access to Mental Health Care
Kate shared the Place Matters maps with the club. They show interesting concentrations of various populations in the city. They provide us with data that serves to shape our services - how we address needs. To access the booklet with all of the maps - click here.
Kate shared that The Community Health Endowment does not create the maps - they get help from Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department, Lancaster County Medical Society, Lincoln Public Schools, Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln, City of Lincoln - Urban Development Department and Nebraska Extension.
Place Matters started in 2015. The mapping helps us understand how health is shaped by where we live - identifying challenges. They can help direct decisions about where we need to provide additional food sources and prenatal care. All of this is to work toward a healthier Lincoln.
With the Healthy Food Access map they literally visited retail outlets to find out if they had lean meats, milk (that was affordable), vegetables, etc. Some outlets had the minimums but were enough to show that there was healthy food available in many areas of the City. In the central part of the city there is an oasis where healthy food is available.
Looking at the Health Insurance Coverage map Kate stated that it was a bit of a success story with the expansion of Medicare and the Affordable Care Act. Though there is still a significant part of the community that is lacking coverage - many are working but maybe the company does not offer insurance.
We looked at the maps where Primary Medical Care and Prenatal Care is available. Kate stated that we have pretty good support for prenatal care in Lincoln. She used the Asian Center as an example of a company that is helping break down cultural differences and ensure their clients get the care they need.
She compared the Poverty maps - from 1980 to 2023. In 1980 8.6% of the residents were considered to be living in poverty. That number rose to 11.2% in 2023. She then compared the Poverty, Minority and Poverty/Minority Combined maps which were very much identical.
Looking at the Social Vulnerability Index, Kate pointed out that the CDC identified a matrix with these categories::
economic
health
demographic
infrastructure
Kate pointed out that the PACER test indicated a reduction in Youth Fitness after Covid-19 but that we are seeing an increase again now.
The final map that Kate shared was Life Expectancy. She said this is really what this is all about. Life expectancy has increased over the past few years overall. There is a difference, however, based on where the person lives. In some parts of the city it is 69.0 years where in others it is 80.7.
BIO
Kate Bolz is the President and CEO of the Community Health Endowment, working to make Lincoln the healthiest community in the nation.
Kate has extensive nonprofit and government experience. She served as the State Director for Rural Development for the United States Department of Agriculture and as a Mayoral Aide for Economic Development for the City of Lincoln, Nebraska. She served for eight years as a State Senator, leading efforts to invest in higher education and human services as Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee.
In addition to her government work, she served as the Executive Director of the Nebraska Association of Service Providers (an association of community-based disability service providers) and as an adjunct professor at Union College.
Kate earned a bachelor’s degree from Nebraska Wesleyan University and a master's in social work from the University of Michigan. A proud 6th generation Nebraskan, Kate Bolz grew up on a family farm in Otoe County, Nebraska. She and her husband Sean are the proud parents of their son Michael.