Chicago's Southeast side includes six geographic community areas:

• South Shore
• South Chicago
• Calumet Heights
• South Deering
• East side
• Hegewisch

Historically these community areas were called "The Calumet Area Steel Belt of the Midwest" because the major source of employment was steel mills, railroad cart production and automotive industries. This area became industrially active during the early 1900s and faced severe decline during the 1980s. The steel mill era also left behind air, water and ground pollution as well as high rates of cancer, asthma and other respiratory diseases.

In June 1999 the Chicago Southeast Diabetes Community Action Coalition was established with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Founding members included the Midwest Latino Health Research Training Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago; Illinois Diabetes Control Program, Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS); and the Healthcare Consortium of Illinois. The coalition received a three year grant from the Centers for Disease Control's Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health 2010 (REACH 2010). This initiative enables the coalition to engage in a comprehensive diabetes community assessment and action planning process in Phase 1.

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