The Catalyst: August 2025

We closed out our fiscal year strong with a series of events focused on health and community. On June 18, we were honored to host Lifeway Kefir for an activation in the IMD Welcome Plaza to celebrate National Kefir Day. Lifeway Foods was founded in Chicago 40 years ago and has grown to make Chicago the kefir capital of the world, and Lifeway CEO Julie Smolyansky attended UIC. Medical science show increasing evidence that consumption of products with probiotics like kefir yogurt, in addition to supporting gut health, also show promise in areas like overall wellness, disease prevention, and even aiding recovery from injury.

We also continue to improve the IMD Welcome Plaza that opened last year, which now features a fully illuminated sign and colorful ground mural on the pedestrianized section of Wolcott Ave, so stop by to check it out if you haven’t visited in a while!

A week later, on June 24, we hosted the first IMD LGBT Resource Fair to celebrate Pride Month, organized through the IMD Pride Coalition, a group of IMD organizations focused on LGBT issues. Exhibitors and attendees came together to share health and housing resources welcoming to the LGBT community and for lots of dancing and laughs. Attendees also collected lightly worn winter jackets, food, and raised money to benefit TaskForce Chicago, a nonprofit located on the west side.

On July 25, we were honored to be visited by State Representative Yolonda Morris to discuss projects and plans to build a stronger and healthier IMD and west side community. From adding more public spaces like parks, workforce development training the next generation of health and life science leaders, to affordable housing and increasing the life expectancy of our most vulnerable communities, we know much work remains — and the only way we’ll get there is if we work together.

Also in July, we visited the UI Health Institute for Healthcare Delivery Design (IHDD) located in the IMD, a multidisciplinary design‑focused unit within UIC’s health sciences system. IHDD partners with local health systems, government agencies and researchers to apply human‑centered service and systems design methods — such as qualitative research, stakeholder workshops, prototyping, and experience mapping — to improve healthcare delivery, patient experience, equity, and study implementation. You or someone you care about has undoubtedly already benefited from the great work being done at IHDD with our city and state agencies! To learn more about IHDD, click here.

Just this week, our staff took an excursion to Urban Autism Solutions Growing Solutions Farm located in the IMD to learn more about the great work they do. Growing Solutions Farm is a 1.2-acre urban farm in the Illinois Medical District that offers hands-on vocational training for Chicago public high school students with autism and related disabilities. Through farming, students gain practical job skills, earn wages, and access fresh produce, while the farm also supports the broader community through produce sales and donations. To learn more about how you can support Growing Solutions Farm, click here.

We’ve also bid goodbye to some team members and added new ones. Our summer intern Collin Nuckles completed his 8-week internship in the Marketing and Communications department assisting with projects, events, and content creation. Collin also manages UIC Choir socials, so check them out to see more of his work. We wish Collin luck as he continues his education at UIC! We’re also excited to announce that after an extensive search, Carol Jones will be joining the IMD Commission as our new Chief Financial Officer this month. Carol brings a strong background in financial leadership, most recently serving as CFO at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), where she oversaw budgets, strategic planning, and financial operations. Her experience spans over 20 years in both the nonprofit and public sectors, with a focus on transparency, collaboration, and mission-driven stewardship. If you’d like to reach out to Carol, feel free to email her at [email protected] — please give her a warm IMD welcome!

Enjoy reading the rest of this late summer issue and hearing more about the work of the IMDC and our partners. I remain as inspired as ever to be a part of the IMD community and look forward to seeing all the great things your organizations accomplish this year. As always, please remember to shop local and support our partners doing great work in and around the IMD — including one of the fundraisers events below if you are able, now more than ever every dollar counts. I’ll see you around the IMD soon!

Sincerely,

Allyson Hansen

CEO and Executive Director

Developer Domus plans to build nine of these eight-unit buildings in the Illinois Medical District as part of the District Haus development’s second phase. The design eliminates hallways, increasing usable space by up to 20%, which helps lower construction costs and keep rents affordable. Market-rate three-bedroom units will start around $3,300, while affordable units will be about $1,860.

The concept originated from a 2022 contest by the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) and the City of Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development (DPD), seeking affordable, efficient homes that reflect changing lifestyles, such as remote work and energy-conscious living. These designs aim to fill the “missing middle” housing gap — homes affordable for middle-income families but not subsidized or luxury-priced.

CAC CEO Eleanor Gorski, who is also an Illinois Medical District Commissioner, praised the project, writing, “ParkFowler Plus wasn’t passive. They found the right developer with a proven record of building similar projects in the Illinois Medical District on-budget and on-time.”

The eight-flat design, she wrote, is “something a developer can get excited about because it’s a smart, modern, marketable design and allows the developer to make a good return on their investment. We need more activist architects who will push to fill a void in Chicago’s design landscape.”

Tree Planting, Maintenance and Gardening 🌳

Council members work with local organizations like Morton Arboretum to plant trees in the IMD to improve the IMD’s green canopy on our buildings and streets. They also conduct tree maintenance events to ensure those young trees remain healthy and educate the public about responsible landscaping practices. Flower plantings also take place every spring to help beautify our community.

Urban Beekeeping 🍯 🐝

Last year, the IMDC partnered with Alvéole and UI Health to launch an urban beekeeping initiative in the IMD that is now in its second year. Urban beekeeping supports pollination, boosts local biodiversity, and helps counter honeybee population decline. In the fall, we host a honey harvest workshop to learn about harvesting and storage techniques.

Styrofoam Recycling ♻️

Styrofoam is hard to recycle because it’s lightweight, bulky, and often contaminated, making it inefficient and costly to process — and we produce a lot of it. Recycling styrofoam is important because it reduces landfill waste and prevents long-lasting pollution in the environment. That’s why IMDC has partnered with South Suburban College, Rush, UIC, and Jesse Brown to collect and dispose of styrofoam in a responsible way. The first pick up of styrofoam was completed this month at Jesse Brown and transported to the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM Center).

Electronics Recycling 🖨️ ♻️

Do you have old technology to get rid of? Donate them to be refurbished and provided to low-income individuals and families in need! We partner with PCs for People to host electronics recycling events at our office. Recycled computers are refurbished and distributed back into the community to support equal access to technology for low-income families, their warehouses employee adults from diverse backgrounds and with disabilities, and if items are not reusable, they recycle every component.

Street Cleanups 🧹

Join us for a street cleanup event to help keep the streets of the IMD clean and safe. Volunteers meet at an intersection and fan out in teams to collect trash from curbs and grass areas.

If you would like to join the Sustainability council, or learn more about their events, contact Chris Fahey, Director of Real Estate Operations, at [email protected].

Each time you filter by category, it creates a URL that can be shared. For example, let’s say you have an upcoming meeting in the IMD and are looking to coordinate a local place to have lunch, just select Dining from the categories, then copy the link and send it to your contact.

You can even filter by more than one category in the same way. Let’s say you have a new hire who is looking for Housing or Residential options in the IMD. Just select both from categories, then copy the link that will populate a search for both categories when clicked.

And new this month is a Small Business category for when you want to support our hard-working independent businesses in the IMD. So, let’s say you plan to order lunch for your staff, but want to buy local and support small businesses, just select Small Business to see all the available options or send around to your team, it’s that easy.

We want to add more businesses to the directory, so if you see something that should be added, or need to correct a current listing, contact Noe Symonanis, Director of Marketing and Communications, at [email protected] — happy browsing!

Jesse Brown VA Medical Center has launched the “Buddy Card” initiative to help veterans connect their peers with VA health care services. Serving over 44,000 Veterans in Chicago and northwest Indiana, Jesse Brown VA offers comprehensive physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual care. The Buddy Card is a small card containing essential information for enrolling in VA care, designed to be shared among Veterans who trust each other’s recommendations.

Acting Executive Director Staci Williams emphasized the importance of peer referrals in the Veteran community, noting the strong bonds and trust that exist among them. The initiative encourages Veterans satisfied with their care to help others access the same services.

Jesse Brown VA is recognized for its high-quality care, earning a 5-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and a 93.8 trust score for fiscal year 2025. Only three hospitals in the City of Chicago earned this distinction (Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Rush University Medical Center being the other two). These scores reflect the effectiveness, ease, and emotional impact of interactions with Veterans.

The medical center provides a wide range of services, including preventive care and health screenings. Buddy Cards are available at all Jesse Brown VA locations and patient advocate offices. Veterans can also connect with enrollment specialists by phone or in person and apply for benefits online or through designated clinics in the region.

Thank you to Jesse Brown for going above and beyond to support veteran care!

UIC’s School of Public Health created the Chicago Public Health Innovators (ChiPHI) program to engage high school students in public health careers. In collaboration with the Chicago Department of Public Health, Healthy Chicago Zones, and One Summer Chicago,

ChiPHI offers a six-week paid summer experience. Students participate in classroom learning, fieldwork, and leadership development focused on real-world public health issues like food access, chronic disease, and social determinants of health.

The program values students’ lived experiences and encourages them to design innovative solutions for their communities. It culminates in a symposium where students present their final projects to public health professionals and community leaders.