Malcolm X College, one of Chicago’s City College’s, is working to complete its $19.5 million investment in renovating and expanding its satellite campus in Garfield Park. Previously known as the West Side Learning Center, it is now dubbed the Malcolm X West Campus. That development is set to be completed by the end of summer in preparation to welcome students on campus in the fall.
New expansions will include an additional 7,000 square feet with meeting spaces for students and capacity to host credit courses and career certificate programs in community-involved healthcare careers like nursing, patient care technicians, medical assistants and community health workers.
Malcolm X’s main campus is conveniently located in the Illinois Medical District on the Near West Side and offers health sciences degrees. However, President David A. Sanders said he recognized a heavy concentration of incoming students from the Garfield Park area, so he wanted to reduce one of the largest barriers in education: transportation.
Sanders said the new campus will ensure both prospective and current students are provided with the opportunity to home in on what they love to do to create a livelihood for themselves.
“It is our hope that we, in some way, contribute to lowering that unemployment rate and giving opportunities to students we know have the ability to do great things,” Sanders said. “At least that’s what data has shown us.”
After graduation, students put their talents towards becoming practitioners and professionals within their communities, he said.
By the end of construction, there will be a new community center with a lobby, circulation spaces, two new restaurants, an assembly hall, movable partitions and an outdoor patio space.
The project was phased, the first being the new roof and new air handling units, completed as of December 2025, said Ray Giderof, executive director of the Public Building Commission of Chicago, which is overseeing construction of the new campus.
This next phase, predicted to conclude by the end of the summer, addresses selective interior renovation work and site improvements such as a new parking lot and landscaping.
“The project is tracking on schedule to be 100% complete by the end of August to allow for the September academic year to start,” Giderof said.
Malcolm X College and PBC worked together to avoid or mitigate any delays in construction by addressing discovered discrepancies in the project and resolving issues as they arose, Giderof said.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better situation,” Giderof said. “Because of this team, we were able to, and we will continue to, overcome those challenges, so that we can deliver this investment.”
At this year’s Community Day on Aug. 14, there will be a ceremony for the naming of the community center after retiring Cong. Danny K. Davis, with food and drinks provided.
“I can’t tell you the amount of joy and support that we have had in having him as our congressman and supporting the work that we’re doing at Malcolm X,” Sanders said.
Emma Bradford is an intern for NEWSWELL CHICAGO through Report for America’s Local News Internship Program.