The Sankofa Wellness Village

In 2022, Sankofa Wellness Village was awarded the Chicago Prize, a $56 million transformative health and economic development project in West Garfield Park.

The initiative includes a comprehensive Wellness Center (opening in 2026), the MAAFA Center for Arts & Activism, an entrepreneurship hub called The K, and a community grocer initiative —all designed to close the 13-year life expectancy gap between this neighborhood and downtown Chicago while creating jobs and opportunity. 

The Garfield Park Rite to Wellness Collaborative (GPRWC) was convened by community stakeholders to address the neighborhood conditions that contribute to the economic, physical, psychological, and spiritual health of West Garfield Park residents. The Collaborative uses the tenets of Sankofa: Black Culture Wellness, where Black history, resilience, and culture form the foundation for healing, empowerment, and repair. We imagined, “What would we do if we were granted 13 more years of life?” After years of planning and community engagement, this vision now has a name: the Sankofa Wellness Village.  

The Sankofa Wellness Village (SWV) is a series of interconnected capital projects and social enterprises along the Madison-Pulaski commercial corridor that will create safe, community-informed and owned, culturally empowering services. The projects will house health, recreation, and wealth-building programs; a residential leadership and workforce development program; an arts center; a business incubator and accelerator; and an initiative to bring new grocers and access to healthy food to West Garfield Park.  

Expected Impact

  • Improve health and well-being for more than 17,000 residents through the provision of culturally informed, comprehensive, integrated wellness services within a walkable “wellness village.”  

  • Stimulate greater investments and economic development into the 
    Madison-Pulaski corridor and beyond. 

  • Enhance community engagement and wealth-building opportunities for legacy 
    and new residents.  

  • Improve community wealth equity through land and building ownership.  

  • Reinvest profits from annual operating income into West Garfield Park enterprises. 

  • Increase self and collective efficacy throughout the entire community.