Elected officials, community members and partners gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony for Sankofa Wellness Center in West Garfield Park on September 16, 2024. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)

Construction is underway for a new, community-led wellness center in West Garfield Park that aims to close a life expectancy gap and improve health outcomes for West Side residents.

Elected officials, community members and partners gathered Monday morning for a groundbreaking ceremony for Sankofa Wellness Center, at the corner of West Madison Street and South Kildare Avenue.

“This moment is not just about a new building, it represents a profound commitment to health equity and community wellbeing in West Garfield Park,” said Kemena Brooks, director of development for the Community Builders, one of the organizations supporting the project.

The wellness center will offer primary care services, including reproductive, behavioral and dental health services and substance use disorder treatment, regardless of insurance status or immigration status. The center will also offer workforce development, fitness services, youth and teen programming and drop-in childcare.

Services will be provided through partnerships with Erie Family Health Centers, Rush University System for Health, the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, West Side United, the LEADERS Network Financial, Equal Hope and other groups.

The Sankofa Wellness Center, slated to be complete by the end of next year, will also have a café, credit union, community education and multipurpose room and terrace space.

A building rendering of which Sankofa Wellness Center, which is slated to be complete by the end of 2025. The wellness center will offer health services, workforce development, fitness services, youth and teen programming and drop-in childcare. (Courtesy of Moody Nolan and THIRD ENTITY)

The wellness center is a key component of a broader effort to revitalize a once-thriving commercial corridor along Madison Street through a series of capital and social investments called the Sankofa Wellness Village.

Other components planned for that initiative include a center for arts and activism, an entrepreneurship development hub and a community grocer initiative.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, Senate President Don Harmon, state Sen. Lakesia Collins and Ald. Jason Ervin (28th Ward) were among those in attendance at Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony.

In remarks during the ceremony, West Side United Executive Director Ayesha Jaco spoke about her grandmother, who settled in North Lawndale and Garfield Park during the second wave of the Great Migration. Jaco also spoke about her mother, who recounted shopping at a once-thriving corridor in the area during the 1960s and 70s.

“The work of West Side United, as a member of the Garfield Park Rite to Wellness Collaborative, is to ensure that every West Sider inherits a quality of life that will allow us to live as long as our brothers and sisters in the Loop and Oak Park,” Jaco said.

A life expectancy gap of 13 years exists between residents of the West Garfield Park and those who live in the Loop, just five miles away, according to project organizers.

Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks to attendees during a groundbreaking ceremony for Sankofa Wellness Center, at the corner of West Madison Street and South Kildare Avenue, on September 16, 2024. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)

The Sankofa Wellness Village initiative has raised $45 million so far, including a $10 million investment from the Pritzker Traubert Foundation and a $7 million investment from the city.

Dayquan Rollins, a longtime resident of Garfield Park and member of the MAAFA Redemption Project, spoke to attendees of the groundbreaking ceremony about the neighborhood often being depicted with negativity and violence.

MAAFA Redemption Project, a workforce, social and spiritual-development initiative for young Black men on Chicago’s West Side, is one of the part-owners of the Sankofa Wellness Center.

“It’s a lot more going on than just people hurting one another and doing negative things to each other,” Rollins said. “Ain't nobody doing that stuff to each other all day, every day, but I see love going on all day, every day … that’s just one of my joys living here, the family that I had gained, the people.”

Contact Eunice Alpasan: @eunicealpasan | 773-509-5362 | [email protected]