Growing up on the Southeast Side, opening windows on warm days often meant petcoke blowing in, a thick black dust from local oil refining. It wasn’t until I was in my late 20s that I learned the Southeast Side was once one of the Midwest’s largest steel producers. But by the 1990s, following major plant closures, the community had been ravaged, economically by the loss of jobs and environmentally by industrial pollution. Metal scrapyards and landfills released more waste, chemicals, and toxic emissions as years went on, while countless studies found that community members suffered increased asthma attacks, respiratory illnesses, and high cancer rates as a result.
Over the intervening years, several mayoral administrations have tried to make the area the city’s dumping ground, approving industrial permits with little to no community input and showing an ongoing disregard for community health, like in 2020 when the city initially approved permits for Reserve Management Group, a metal-shredding facility, to relocate from Lincoln Park to the Southeast Side. But grassroots organizations like the Southeast Environmental Task Force (SETF), Alliance of the Southeast (ASE), Chicago South East Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke, People for Community Recovery (PCR), and Southside Together have been mobilizing for decades to fight against environmental injustice.
It was their persistent organizing that resulted in petcoke storage piles shutting down, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency revamping its permitting process in residential areas, and most recently, efforts to stop a planned data center at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park. The $9 billion, 440-acre quantum computing campus broke ground last year near the Calumet River on the former U.S. Steel South Works site. While the data center is currently excluded from the development, activists have noted there’s no guarantee one won’t be included in the future as the Quantum Shore campus expands.
However small the wins, they’re still wins, and a testament to the collective power of rallying for your community. As environmental justice activism remains steadfast, run clubs, gyms, and other spaces prioritizing health and wellness are emerging as the next phase of the movement to build a healthier East Side.
A flag with the words “No Fear. No Rules. Stay Vaquero. Run Wild.” waves at a social run kicking off at Colibrí Coffee, 3639 East 106th Street. It shows a horse running through fire, the Vaqueros Run Club logo. Music blasts as founder Aurelio Hernandez guides a large group of participants of all ages through a warm-up, including mobility exercises, stretches, and words of encouragement for making it out on a rainy, weekday evening.
“‘Vaqueros’ is a strong word that represents roots, family, and coming together to move our bodies and support one another,” said Hernandez. “Everybody will have different backgrounds, different races. [But] everybody’s welcome. They like the vibe and they stay.”
What began with only Hernandez and one other participant has grown into regular weekly community run sessions, now supported by a team of four cofounders, saving folks from traditional long commutes across the city to get to other run clubs. Vaqueros Run Club welcomes all fitness levels and encourages folks to run two, three, or five miles, or walk if they prefer that pace, even with strollers in tow, living up to their motto: “No Runner Left Behind.” The club has seen folks join as walkers, building up to jogging and then to then running. One member who lives with asthma issues said she no longer depends on her inhaler as much as she had prior to joining the club. Runs take place across the Southeast Side with pre-run meetups held at various locations such as 83rd and Commercial, Eggers Grove Forest Preserve, and small businesses like coffee and nutrition shops.
“I don’t think I would be running without the Vaqueros,” said Debbie Faria, who ran for the first time this past spring. “The founders and the community that they’ve built is absolutely beautiful … I know a lot of other people in the group share the same sentiments.”
Vaqueros Run Club cofounder Luis Muñoz, a special education teacher and former collegiate cross-country runner, also appreciates the club for countering the stereotype that the neighborhood is unsafe. “You’ve seen us as a group. You see us represent. We’re improving ourselves and our neighborhood,” said Muñoz.
Owner Jesse Diaz at Hegewisch Nutrition on August 8, 2026, 13320 S. Baltimore Ave.
One neighborhood over, Hegewisch Nutrition is a health food store that has been operating since 2021. It serves fruit smoothies, protein-backed drinks and snacks, fruit bowls, and teas; offers nutrition coaching; and is making exercise modalities like pilates, yoga, and barre more affordable and accessible in a neighborhood that didn’t have many studios before. The 3,000-square-foot studio partners with local instructors and includes specialized programming such as Silver Sneakers, a free fitness class for senior citizens to encourage body movement and help combat loneliness, and mental health workshops.
The health shop’s ultimate goal is ensuring that every customer leaves feeling better than when they arrived. “It gives me a lot of purpose,” said shop owner Jesse Diaz, reflecting on the nutrition and mental health resources now available. “This didn’t exist. So it’s been gratifying to see both the nutrition part and the mental health part.”
Vaqueros Run Club at Colibrí Coffee on August 13, 2026, 3639 E. 106th St.
Hegewisch Nutrition and Vaqueros Run Club aren’t buying into weight loss gimmicks or encouraging quick fixes for physical appearance. They were birthed to invest in their community, particularly a community resisting environmental injustice. On the Southeast Side, activists have had to assert their community’s right to clean air through long marches, hunger strikes, and other tactics that can take a grueling toll on the body. Wellness spaces can help people strengthen their physical stamina and support mental and emotional endurance. As writer and civil rights activist Audre Lorde once said, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” So, rather than considering wellness a luxury or a vanity pursuit, the Southeast Side community is embracing the principle and growing healthier and stronger together.
Vaqueros Run Club, various locations in East Side, Hegewisch, and Hammond, IN. @vaqueros.rc
Hegewisch Nutrition, 13320 S. Baltimore Ave. hegewischnutrition.com
Ermina Veljačić is a Bosnian-born writer, improviser, and actor raised on Chicago’s South Side. As a first-generation-everything person, she has a degree in marketing. She is usually very busy collecting copious amounts of snuggles from her doodle.