Heartland Alliance Health, once an arm of one of Chicago’s leading social service organizations, is shutting down.
The nonprofit’s Englewood and Uptown health clinics and three food pantries will be closed by April 7, said Michael Brieschke, the chair of the Heartland Alliance Union. Roughly 8,000 Chicagoans who depend on the organization’s services will be impacted.
“It’s just devastating,” Brieschke told the Sun-Times.
The closure, first reported by Block Club Chicago, comes less than a year after Heartland Alliance split up into four separate entities: Heartland Human Care Services, Heartland Alliance Health, Heartland Alliance International and the National Immigrant Justice Center.
The three food pantries will be closed on Feb. 22, Brieschke said. Heartland Alliance Health will gradually cease the remaining operations by April 7.
Brieschke said the union got the news during a meeting last Wednesday with Heartland Alliance Health leadership. The organization employs 113 people, 50 of whom are union. The employees have not been told when their last day will be, Brieschke said.
“They’re heartbroken and angry,” he said. “Not only are they losing their jobs, but they’re also devastated for the 8,000 people who are served by Heartland Health Alliance each year. This will have a big impact on them.”
Representatives for Heartland Health Alliance did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The organization’s website displayed a message announcing the closure. The clinics, at 4009 N. Broadway and 5501 S. Halsted St., are no longer taking patients, according to the website.
“It is with great sadness that Heartland Alliance Health (HAH) will be closing its doors,” the message reads. “HAH will continue to work closely with funders, community providers, and government partners while winding down its operations with a focus on lessening the impact on its vulnerable population and staff.”
This is the latest setback in a series of financial struggles for the organization. Last April’s decision to divide up Heartland Alliance was a cost-saving move intended to “protect the long-term viability” of the organization’s services, the Sun-Times reported at the time.
In 2023, Heartland Alliance cut 65 jobs and shut down its affordable housing division that operated in Chicago and Wisconsin.
“There’s not a lot of surprise among employees,” Brieschke said. “Financial issues have been percolating for the last year and half.”
Heartland Alliance Health’s three food pantries are a part of Vital Bridges Food Program. Lori Cannon co-founded OpenHand Chicago in 1988 to serve the city’s LGBTQ community affected by HIV/AIDS. The organization was renamed Vital Bridges in 2011 when it went under the umbrella of Heartland Alliance.
The pantry has served HIV-positive people for over 35 years and supports 400 clients, Cannon told the Sun-Times.
“We’ve been tossed to the wind,” said Cannon, who spent Tuesday consoling Vital Bridges’ longtime clients and volunteers.
“We have a very powerful community history that’s not been ended, but temporarily suspended through no fault of our own,” she added. “This is a disaster, but we will be here to the bitter end.”
Heartland Alliance’s origins trace to 1888 when it was founded by progressive reformer Jane Addams. Addams, one of Chicago’s early leaders in the movement to end poverty, also founded Hull House and was a co-recipient of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize.
The closure of the nonprofit’s health clinics and food pantries is also happening as social service organizations in Chicago and throughout the country fret about their future as the Trump administration attempts to cut their federal funding.
“There is a lot of concern over how the federal government keeps threatening funding for organizations that serve low-income communities,” Brieschke said. “People might be able to get another job serving low-income people, but what happens down the road with the federal government?”