Supporting trauma recovery programs

Grants awarded to organizations that aid youths, families

Southland RISE (Resilience Initiative to Strengthen and Empower), a collaboration between the trauma recovery programs of the University of Chicago Medicine and Advocate Health Care, awarded 19 South Side community organizations with a total of $150,000 for their summer youth programs. These programs will provide more than 5,000 community members with opportunities to participate in a variety of activities that include dance, gardening, video production and sports, while also building their skills around leadership, resiliency and conflict resolution, among others.

Over the past five years, Southland RISE has awarded $650,000 to support more than 50 community-based programs focused on violence prevention and trauma resiliency for youth and families on Chicago’s South Side. The Southland RISE grant awardees are all 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations within the service areas of Advocate Health Care and UChicago Medicine.

“Young people in every community deserve access to spaces where they are not only safe, but where they can learn, laugh and become leaders,” said Brenda Battle, RN, BSN, MBA, and UChicago Medicine’s Senior Vice President for Community Health Transformation and Chief Equity Officer. “Through Southland RISE, UChicago Medicine can partner with more community-based organizations and engage youth and families in creative and diverse programming that emphasizes violence prevention, resiliency from trauma and mental health.”

The 2023 grant recipients will serve community members across 29 neighborhoods and 17 ZIP codes, primarily on Chicago’s South Side. This year, three Southland RISE grantees are in the south suburbs. One of the three, Disruptive INC,

Community investment increases

The University of Chicago Medicine provided $686.2 million in benefits and services to communities on Chicago’s South Side and in the south suburbs in fiscal year 2022, according to the annual Community Benefit Report. This includes $586.7 million through the University of Chicago Medical Center and $99.5 million through UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial. Total investment increased by 13.1% over fiscal 2021. Read the report online:

Community.UChicagoMedicine.org/2022 is serving residents in Harvey, providing STEM-related educational and career development resources to justice-impacted single mothers who participate in their “Mother’s Day Isn’t Just in May” program.

“Because of belief in our program, we’re able to fully sponsor many deserving women who are moving into the next phase of their life post-incarceration,” said Disruptive INC founder Catherine McNeil, MA.

Southland RISE was launched in 2019 by UChicago Medicine and Advocate Health Care to strengthen and integrate the two health systems’ violence recovery and trauma programs. Southland RISE was inspired by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s Chicago HEAL (Hospital Engagement, Action and Leadership) Initiative, which encourages the Chicago area’s healthcare providers to help reduce community violence and address healthcare needs associated with violence recovery.

Building trauma resiliency is one of the top three health priorities for the South Side service area, according to UChicago Medicine’s 2021-22 Community Health Needs Assessment.