• Grace Keegan, Amani Allen, Jordan Millhollin, Santiago Avila, Teresa Xiao, James N Woodruff, and Wei Wei Lee.
• University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
• J Gen Intern Med. 2024 Apr 1; 39 (5): 873877873-877.

BackgroundWhile student-run free clinics (SRFCs) play an important role in care for underserved populations, few mechanisms exist to promote collaboration among regional SRFCs.AimsTo address this gap, the Chicagoland Free Clinics Consortium (CFCC) was formed to (1) facilitate collaboration between Chicagoland SRFCs, (2) provide innovation grant funding, and (3) host an annual conference.Setting And ParticipantsIn 2018, students from the Pritzker School of Medicine founded the CFCC and partnered with peers from area schools to implement programming.Program DescriptionBetween 2018 and 2022, CFCC engaged 23 SRFCs representing all 6 Chicagoland schools, held 4 annual conferences, and distributed $15,423 in grants to 19 projects at 14 SRFC sites.Program EvaluationA total of 176 students from 5 schools attended the 4 conferences. In 2022, 82 unique participants were surveyed, and 66% (54/82) responded. Eighty percent (43/54) reported they were "more likely to collaborate with other Chicagoland free clinics." In 2022, all grant sites were surveyed and 84% (16/19) responded. Most (87%,14/16) agreed the grant "allowed them to implement a project that would not have otherwise been accomplished" and 21% (4/19) were inter-institutional collaborations.DiscussionTo our knowledge, CFCC is the first student-led organization to promote sustained collaboration across SRFCs in a metropolitan area.© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Society of General Internal Medicine.

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