West Garfield Park’s $50M wellness center project wins $10M grant

ives are about to improve and trips for daily necessities will shorten in West Garfield Park with the development of a 60,000-square-foot wellness center, the neighborhood’s leaders said, and a $10 million grant is propelling the project from planning to reality.

The Garfield Park Rite to Wellness Collaborative won the $10 million Chicago Prize from the Pritzker Traubert Foundation for its plan to create the Sankofa Wellness Village, which will have a total development cost of $50 million, the Chicago Tribune reported. The project includes construction of fitness centers, health clinics, after-school youth care facilities, job-training centers, grocery stores, a business incubator and credit union to be built on vacant lots.

The group’s main goal is to increase health and wellness in Garfield Park, according to its website.

“West Garfield Park has one of the lowest life expectancies on the West Side,” Ayesha Jaco, executive director of West Side United, told the outlet. Average life expectancy in the neighborhood is 69 years, compared to 85 in the Loop, according to a 2015 study cited by Block Club Chicago. “This project will be a one-stop shop, with a wellness center as the focal point, where the community can access care and address every factor that impacts life expectancy.”

The group plans to break ground on the project by the end of this year and open the village by 2025.

The Pritzker Traubert Foundation was created with the intent of kicking off development and investment in select neighborhoods, President Cindy Moelis.

The 60,000-square-foot Erie Family Health Center will rise on a vacant lot on West Madison Street. The wellness center will provide healthcare for 6,000 residents each year and the planned credit union will help 10,000 locals open bank accounts.

In addition, until the collaborative can secure a permanent grocery tenant in West Garfield Park, it will open pop-up groceries to serve residents.

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