Block Club Chicago: South Side Birth Center ‘Able To Dream Bigger’ With $3.3M City Grant

Photo by: Maxwell Evans/Block Club Chicago

With widespread support, the South Side’s first birthing center is a year ahead of schedule on its fundraising. That gives its leaders more breathing room to plan and expand its birthing, maternity, reproductive and other health services, they said.

A project led by local women of color to bring sorely needed maternal services to the South Side just received millions in city funding to cover construction costs, which is expected to free up time and money to expand the birth center’s reach.

The Chicago South Side Birth Center, 8301 S. South Shore Drive, was awarded a $3.3 million Community Development Grant by the city on May 29.

The $7.7 million project will renovate the former Morning Star Bible Baptist Church into three birthing suites and a reproductive health clinic with culturally relevant midwifery care. It’s expected to be completed by next summer.

The city grant covers “literally all the [remaining] construction needs that we have,” according to founder and lead steward Jeanine Logan. It will be used on everything from plumbing and electrical repairs to environmental, concrete and landscape work, she told Block Club this week.

The birth center expected to finish fundraising for renovations by June 2026 and project leaders said the recent city grant puts the project a year ahead of its financial schedule.

“Because of the divine timing, we’re able to dream bigger [and] dream longer,” Lesley Kennedy, the center’s director of strategy and organizational development, said Tuesday. “Because this level of the fundraising feels more complete, it allows us to think longer-term on strategy, implementation and actually opening, which is really cool.”

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