March 27, 2024

Champaign County Health Care Consumers would you like to invite you to attend an event this week, on Thursday, Feb. 29 at 7 p.m., at the Urbana Free Library on the topic of Hope Village.
 
The UIUC Humanities Research Institute is hosting a Community Speakers Series with the topic for Thursday focusing on Hope Village.
 
The event is free and open to the public. The information for the event is at the link immediately below, as well as in the text below:
https://calendars.illinois.edu/detail/6807/33472274
 
Event: Community Speaker Series – Hope Village Project
 
Featuring:
 
Dr. Wanda E. Ward, Executive Associate Chancellor for Public Engagement, UIUC
 
Claudia Lennhoff, Executive Director, CCHCC
 
Moderated by Antoinette Burton, HRI Director and Professor of History
 
Date and Time: Thursday, February 29, 2024 at 7 p.m.
 
Location:  Urbana Free Library, Lewis Auditorium
 
About Hope Village: Hope Village is a unique small homes community that will offer housing solutions for adult community members experiencing chronic homelessness and who are medically fragile.
 
To learn more about the UIUC Humanities Research Institute, you can visit the link below:
https://hri.illinois.edu/
 
We hope to see you there!

January 3, 2024

It is with deep gratitude that I write again on behalf of Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) to thank you for your support for Hope Village!
 
We issued a call to action on December 28, in anticipation of last night’s Urbana City Council meeting, when City Council members would be voting to approve the Hope Village application for a Planned Unit Development.
 
Many of you responded to the call to action and took time to contact the Urbana City Council via email to express your support for Hope Village.
 
CCHCC staff, along with our partners from Carle Health, and the UIUC, and Hope Village supporters sat in the audience for the 2-hour meeting. We listened as your comments were read into the record. We were humbled and gratified by your support.
 
We needed five City Council members to vote YES to the Hope Village application in order for it to pass.
 
The Urbana City Council voted 5 to 1 to approve the Hope Village application for the Permanent Planned Unit Development!
 
There is a great deal of work ahead of us to bring Hope Village to life and to build the homes and house the people who need it most. We are not waiting a single moment to start this work! In fact, today started with a meeting among the partners and various city officials for us to plan the next steps for Hope Village.
 
Please stay tuned – CCHCC will keep you informed along the way!

Thank you for your support! You made a difference!

Sincerely,

Claudia Lennhoff
Executive Director
Champaign County Health Care Consumers

Published in the News-Gazette
January 2, 2024

At 7 tonight, the Urbana City Council will have the opportunity to help advance a desperately needed housing solution for our community’s most vulnerable and medically fragile individuals who are experiencing chronic homelessness.

The project is called Hope Village. It is not a shelter, and it is not transitional housing.

Hope Village is a development of 30 “tiny homes” and a community center that will provide permanent supportive housing to individuals who are medically fragile and experiencing chronic homelessness. Hope Village will fill a gap in Champaign County’s continuum of housing for individuals experiencing homelessness.

Individuals in this population typically have lifespans that are significantly shorter than the general population, by 20 or 30 years. They get sick and often die much sooner from preventable and treatable conditions. Hope Village is an innovative model developed from the perspective that “housing is health care”.

Hope Village will provide an array of intensive services to its residents, on site. These will include intensive case management; legal and financial counseling; assistance in applying for and accessing public benefits such as Medicaid/Medicare, SNAP and disability benefits; health care case management; access to health services via the Carle Mobile Clinic; and access to fresh produce via the Carle Mobile Grocery.

Some of these services will also be available to the residents of the surrounding neighborhoods, as well.

READ ON!

December 28, 2023

Thank you to each and every one of you who responded to CCHCC’s call to action earlier this month to support Hope Village! Your efforts made a difference!
 
We are now at the final hurdle, and, with your support, we can clear it!
 
Where things stand:
 
We are seeking the Urbana City Council’s final approval of a permanent “Planned Unit Development” for Hope Village. Earlier this month, on Monday, December 18, the Urbana City Council’s Committee of the Whole (COW) met and considered the Hope Village Planned Unit Development application. Thanks to an outpouring of support, the City Council voted 6 to 1 at its COW meeting to recommend the approval of the Hope Village application to the City Council at its upcoming meeting on Tuesday, January 2, 2024.
 
Your support is needed to help make Hope Village a reality!
 
Right now, we are seeking final approval of a permanent “Planned Unit Development” from the Urbana City Council so that we can proceed with building the Hope Village homes and development.
 
The Urbana City Council meets on Tuesday, January 2, 2024 at 7 p.m. and will be voting on the Hope Village permanent Planned Unit Development.

TO LEARN MORE AND TO HELP, READ ON!

December 19, 2023

Read coverage of December 18, 2023’s Urbana City Council meeting.

Check out the architects’ design for Hope Village.

Watch December 18, 2023’s Urbana City Council/Committee of the Whole meeting.

More coverage from The News-Gazette on December 20, 2023.

Stay tuned for more information.