(WTTW News)
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A coalition of health care institutions and professionals working together as West Side United are providing relief to businesses and individuals affected by the COVID-19 pandemic through small business grants and emergency rental assistance. 

Poster boards about each of the 10 West Side United communities are set up Thursday, March 5, 2020 at Malcom X College. (Kristen Thometz / WTTW News)

A coalition of health care institutions and professionals awarded dozens of businesses on the city’s West Side $500,000 in small business grants last year, doubling the goal it had set to achieve by 2021.

(Kristen Thometz / WTTW News)

An analysis of 500 U.S. cities by NYU School of Medicine offers a startling view of Chicago, but a local physician says the city’s health inequities have been known for years. What’s causing that gap, and how can it be addressed? 

(Kristen Thometz / Chicago Tonight)

Over the past two years, a newly formed coalition of health care institutions and professionals has raised $10.5 million to fund initiatives it deems vital to improving the life expectancy of West Side residents.

On Chicago’s West Side, the average life expectancy is just 69 years. What one coalition of health care institutions and professionals is doing to change that.

West Garfield Park residents have a life expectancy of 69 years, compared to an average life expectancy of 85 years in the Loop. By 2030, West Side United hopes to cut that life expectancy gap in half.