Colleen Grogan Moderates Aspen Ideas Panel on Community Health Resilience
Panelists discuss climate mitigation, capital investment, and preventive care in Chicago's West Garfield Park
By Crown Family School
Aspen Ideas: Climate, a flagship event of the Aspen Institute, where global leaders, policymakers, and innovators explore solutions to shape the environmental future, convened in Chicago on July 20-22, 2026.
Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice faculty member, Colleen Grogan, PhD, the Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Professor and the Director of the Center for Climate, Health, and Society (CHAS) moderated the mainstage panel discussion, "Community Approaches to Real Resilience" during the fifth annual event, which drew 1,350 attendees over the three days of programming.
Joining Professor Grogan were Kareeshma Ali, Director of Community Investment, Pritzker Traubert Foundation, Marshall Hatch, Jr., AM'17, MDiv'17, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Maafa Redemption Project, and Erik Mikaitis, M.D., Chief Executive Officer, Cook County Health.
Photo Credit: Aspen Ideas Conference
(Left to Right) Colleen Grogan, PhD, Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Professor and the Director of the Center for Climate, Health, and Society (CHAS), Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice; Erik Mikaitis, M.D., Chief Executive Officer, Cook County Health; Kareeshma Ali, Director of Community Investment, Pritzker Traubert Foundation; and Marshall Hatch, Jr., AM'17, MDiv'17, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Maafa Redemption Project.
A central topic was the strategic partnership between Crown Family School's CHAS, Cook County Health, and the Maafa Redemption Project, creating micro-grants to support neighborhood-led climate and health interventions in Chicago's West Garfield Park.
According to data from Erie Family Health Care Centers, West Garfield Park residents on average live to be 67 years old, 13 years less than their neighbors to the east in Chicago's Loop neighborhood that live to the average age of 80. While their neighbors to the west in suburban Oak Park on average live to be 82 years old. Chronic disease is cited as the leading cause of premature death for West Garfield Park residents.
"Despite some of the assumptions about West Garfield Park, gun violence is actually not the driver of the disparity in health outcomes," said Marshall Hatch, Jr., Co-Founder and Executive Director, Maafa Redemption Project. "More than 40 percent of the gap, the epidemic, has to do with chronic disease: cardiovascular disease, asthma, and the like."
Marshall Hatch, Jr., AM'17, MDiv'17, speaks during the panelist discussion, "Community Approaches to Real Resilience."
Through its newest strategic initiative, CHAS will focus on the impact of climate on health. Rising temperatures, pollution, and food insecurity all exacerbate chronic diseases. CHAS will invest in mitigation strategies on the ground to prevent serious health impacts on residents, Professor Grogan said.
"On high heat days, people rightly think about heatstroke, heat exhaustion…there's a lot more going on. Chronic kidney disease, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, asthma, COPD - for a lot of these conditions we put people on medications that affect their ability to compensate for environmental stressors," said Dr. Erik Mikaitis, Chief Executive Officer, Cook County Health.
Dr. Mikaitis also pointed to the medical sector's payment models as part of the problem, since providers are incentivized to treat illness after it occurs rather than prevent it. He described the partnership as an effort to redirect that focus toward preventive intervention.
The expert panel discussed recent capital and social investment in the Sankofa Wellness Village, an area along the Madison-Pulaski corridor offering wellness, financial, and food resources for residents.
The Sankofa Wellness Village is supported by the $10 million "Chicago Prize" from the Pritzker Traubert Foundation, awarded to a single, community-led real estate development proposal in West and South Side neighborhoods.
"If you go to the Sankofa Wellness Center, you'll see Rush, Erie Health Services, the YMCA, West Side United, all working together toward this long-term vision of reducing health disparities in the neighborhood," said Kareeshma Ali, Director of Community Investment at the Pritzker Traubert Foundation. "That gave confidence there was longevity here...partners invested in the long-term future of West Garfield Park," she said.
Erik Mikaitis, M.D. and Marshall Hatch, Jr., AM'17, MDiv'17 look on as Kareeshma Ali speaks during a panel discussion at the Aspen Ideas Conference.
Professor Grogan noted that academic centers often struggle building partnerships from scratch, since trust takes years to establish, a lesson underscoring the value of CHAS entering existing ones.
"What I've learned is the infrastructure and trust are already there, through organizations like Maafa and Sankofa. The partnership is crucial, you don't have to reinvent that," Professor Grogan said.
The panel marked the first public description of a partnership the three organizations are preparing to formally launch, with details on design, timeline, and the first cohort expected October 28, 2026.