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CARING FOR OUR COMMUNITY
Building Better Neighborhoods
In order to improve the low rate of home ownership in a six-block area south of our hospital campus, SwedishAmerican initiated a massive Neighborhood Revitalization Program. Working with the City of Rockford and local Habitat for Humanity officials, we have replaced substandard dwellings with more than 23 new Habitat homes. Additionally, we partnered with the William Charles Charitable Trust and Kids Around the World to build a new playground that allows neighborhood children the opportunity for play, without having to cross major thoroughfares and traffic hazards. Other elements of our neighborhood revitalization effort have included:
- A paint-up/fix-up campaign to help nearby homeowners upgrade their homes
- A driveway/garage renovation project to increase home values and reduce on-street parking, theft, and vandalism
- A reverse home gift annuity program to help struggling elderly residents remain in their homes
- A homeowner grants program to help SwedishAmerican employees purchase primary residences within a six-block radius of our hospital campus
- A home restoration initiative to rehab area houses and make them available to employees
Encouraged by our commitment to renovate our campus and revitalize the surrounding area, a number of commercial developments occurred during the early 2000s. Among them is a Walgreen's drug store, which returned retail pharmacy services to the area for the first time in years. A three-story office building south of the new Walgreen's also was completed, followed by a 60,000-square-foot medical office building just south of the hospital.
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