UP 504 Health & Wellbeing Podcast Final- Chicago Health Disparity across city neighborhoods

Changes to demographics in the city meant changes to where money was being spent on. The Southside of Chicago consists of a huge area of the city, while the Northside, who’s attained most new developments, is very limited. This causes more waves of displacement, when we should be empowering the residents who have already spent generations here. How do we solve this problem of big differences in health outcomes and opportunities? One solution comes from the addition of new investments like better local transit that can provide for more opportunities for new developments of health centers and food markets specifically in these disadvantaged neighborhoods. 

The Chicago Transit Authority’s proposed project of the Red Line South Extension would do just that by integrating new opportunities from residents of the Far Southside, specifically the Roseland and Altgeld Gardens neighborhoods. The option for potential Transit Oriented Development is what entices more development to branch from here. Thanks to current campaigns from the city’s initiative of Invest South-West, these ideas are beginning to come to fruition but are well-overdue. Many grassroots organizations have been pushing this for years down in the Far South Side but have yet to see changes arrive. Creating for the future wellbeing of the residents and youth of the Far South side is important to steer them in a successful direction to improve these disparities.  

References: 

http://publish.illinois.edu/rle-communityengagement/ 

https://www.transit.dot.gov/TOD

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/cdph/provdrs/healthy_living/news/2021/june/chicago-department-...

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-chicago-has-largest-life-expectancy-gap-between-neighborhoods-20190605-story.html 

https://twitter.com/reduiuc 

Visibility on the planning of the CTA’s Red Line Extension