LOGAN SQUARE — Plans to open a community-funded intellectual fitness clinic on the Northwest Side have taken a step forward as assignment leaders secured a location for the facility after years of planning and advocacy.
The organization leading the effort signed a lease last month at a store at 3557 W. Armitage Ave. en Logan Square. Officials said they plan to open the intellectual fitness center, the third such facility in the city, in about six months after the area was built.
The facility is funded through a wealth tax passed in 2018. It will offer a full range of additional individual therapy, couples and family therapy, organizational therapy, psychiatry, and case management.
An organization of government officials, intellectual fitness advocates, and professionals involved in the cumulative assignment at En Las Tablas Performing Arts in Hermosa in December to sign the lease, the culmination of years of plan-making and organizing.
“We all loved that moment because it’s so surreal,” said Melissa Texcahua Reyes, commissioner of the organization that worked to create the clinic.
Community leaders have been pushing for an intellectual fitness clinic in the domain since 2018. But the effort dates back to 2012, when the only intellectual fitness clinic in the city of Logan Square at 2354 N. Milwaukee Ave. closed, along with 11 other clinics in the city.
The closure of Logan Square sparked protests and a hearing at City Hall. Many citizens were furious when the facility was replaced by a gourmet macaroni and cheese spot and a bar at four a. m. , moves that have explained the fight against gentrification in Logan Square for several years.
A group of community volunteers took action in 2018 and collected thousands of signatures to open a community-funded intellectual fitness clinic in Logan Square, Hermosa or Avondale.
Their efforts, guided through the Chicago Coalition to Save Our Mental Health Services, led to a binding referendum to open a clinic in the 2018 municipal elections.
The referendum, which proposed an increase in the asset tax to pay for the clinic, won overwhelmingly among the electorate on the northwest side, cementing the measure into law.
RELATED: Northwest Side Gets Community-Funded Mental Health Clinic Through Overwhelming Voter Support
A nine-member commission of local citizens (five through the governor, 4 through the mayor) was appointed to oversee the status quo of the clinic. $1,000 that owners pay in taxes on assets: Went into effect in 2020.
Commissioners conducted network surveys in partnership with other intellectual fitness advocates and then decided to have Chicago Nfp Expanded Mental Health Services be the clinic’s physical care provider in the summer of 2021 through a request for proposals process. The provider also operates the Kedzie Center in Irving Park. , the city’s first network-funded intellectual fitness clinic.
The supplier’s diversity triggered a search for the right show that took more than a year, commissioners said.
“We were looking for an area that was available to all 3 neighborhoods, close to public transportation, with street parking, preferably no meter,” said Angela Sedeño, executive director and executive director of Expanded Mental Health Services of Chicago. Find a Difficult Area; Difficult.
The 5,000-square-foot warehouse on Armitage Avenue checks many of the group’s boxes. It is located on the edge of Logan Square and Hermosa and has street parking and is straightforward for bus No. 73 Armitage CTAs, commissioners said.
The clinic occupies the central suite of the gigantic industrial-style building, which was renovated a few years ago and includes the former home of the Bismark Theater of the early twentieth century, later renamed Armitage Theater.
Commissioners said they were hiring a contractor for their vision of a bright and attractive network IQ clinic.
Once opened, the clinic will have up to 8 doctors on staff, plus two licensed physicians. Sedeño said about 60 percent will be provided within the clinic walls, while about 40 percent will be done on-site, in schools, church basements and other network spaces.
The clinic will focus in particular on immigrant families who have been separated and participants in the Avondale restorative justice court, wishes that have been known in the community, Sedeño said.
In the coming weeks, assignment leaders will ask neighbors to call the clinic. There will also be a concentrated network group, where neighbors can weigh in on the fitness facilities that will be provided, the commissioners said. More data will be provided on the group’s website.
“Knowing how long it’s been going on and knowing that we’re so close to having it physically, specifically in the community. . . it’s exciting and there’s a lot of hope in what results,” said Commissioner Charlotte Flynn. .
Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent 501(c)(3) newsroom run by journalists. Every penny we earn we bring to Chicago’s neighborhoods.
Click here for Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.
Thank you for subscribing to Block Club Chicago, an independent 501(c)(3) newsroom run through journalists. Every penny we earn bringing cash into Chicago’s neighborhoods. Click here for Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.
Listen to “Tout Goes Well: A Block Club Chicago Podcast”: