Chicagoans are living longer — at least nearly as long as they did pre-pandemic, according to new data from the Chicago Department of Public Health. Meanwhile, the life expectancy gap between Black and non-Black Chicagoans is narrowing, but according to CDPH, there’s still a long way to go.

In the Loop finds out more about how far the city has come in improving the health and longevity of residents and what challenges may lie ahead.

We check in with Ayesha Jaco, executive director of West Side United; The Rev. Marshall Hatch, senior pastor, New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church; and Dr. David Ansell, professor of medicine at Rush University Medical Center and author of The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills.

For a full archive of In the Loop interviews, head over to wbez.org/intheloop.