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Framing the Future: The Urban League Breaks Ground on an $8 Million Center for Well-Being

On a long-vacant corner in West Philadelphia, the Urban League of Greater Philadelphia put shovels in the ground on something this city has been waiting for. At 5616 Chestnut Street, a building that sat empty for years is about to become a lifeline, a new $8 million Center for Well-Being and headquarters designed to bring health, opportunity, and stability together under one roof.


We called the groundbreaking ceremony "Framing the Future," and that is exactly what it was. The event drew federal, state, and city leaders, including U.S. Representative Dwight Evans and Pennsylvania State Representative Amen Brown, alongside community partners such as HopePHL and the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority. It was a room full of people who understand that a building is never just a building. It is a statement about what a community deserves.


"This center will bring those resources together under one roof and create a permanent home for opportunity, support, and community advancement," said Dr. Darrin Anderson, President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Philadelphia.


What's coming to Chestnut Street


The planned 10,000-square-foot facility is built around a simple but radical idea: a person's health, finances, and future are not separate problems to be solved in separate places. They are connected, and the help should be too. When it opens, the Center for Well-Being is designed to include:


  • A free primary-care clinic for uninsured residents

  • A nutrition center with a demonstration kitchen

  • Free wellness classes open to the community

  • Community classrooms for workforce and entrepreneurship programming

  • Reentry services for returning citizens

  • Internships that build career pathways for local youth


It will also serve as the Urban League's permanent organizational headquarters, a single, transit-accessible address where the full range of our services lives together.


Why West Philadelphia, and why now


The need is real, and the numbers tell the story. Officials at the groundbreaking said the center is expected to serve more than 20,000 people and families every year, in neighborhoods where life expectancy and access to care trail regional averages. Too often, the barrier to good health is not a lack of willingness. It is distance, cost, time, and the everyday friction of having to travel to five different places to get five different kinds of help. Putting primary care, nutrition, job training, reentry support, and youth programming in one place is meant to cut that friction down to nearly nothing.


This is what we mean by a "whole person" approach. Health is not only what happens in an exam room. It is whether you have a job, whether you can eat well, whether you have a path forward after a conviction, whether your kids have somewhere to grow. The Center for Well-Being is built to treat all of it.


A home for the work


For an organization that has spent decades convening partners and delivering services across the region, a permanent home changes what is possible. It means we can welcome more partners to the table, serve more neighbors in a single visit, and anchor opportunity in a neighborhood that has waited too long for investment to stay.


Construction is underway, with the center listed as coming in 2026. Fundraising and program partnerships continue to come together, and there are many ways for the community to be part of what's next, from programming to volunteering. To follow the project, learn about programming and timelines, or get involved, visit urbanleaguephila.org/wellnesscenter.


Read the coverage


The groundbreaking drew citywide and national attention. Read more about the Center for Well-Being:



Freedom includes the freedom to be well. With the Center for Well-Being, we are building a place where that freedom has an address.



Momentum Newsletter: June 2026 | Issue 6 | Freedom & Pride

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