In 2012, the Lindau Lab received a CMS Health Care Innovation Award (HCIA) to develop and test CommunityRx. The award required our group to detail a sustainable business model for CommunityRx and then deliver on sustainability after funding ended. To this end, Dr. Lindau founded NowPow, LLC, a Health IT company, to scale the CommunityRx intervention to clinics and community settings nationwide. In 2011, NowPow was acquired by Unite Us, LLC, making personalized social support referrals available in every state. Dr. Lindau decided to redirect 100% of the proceeds she would have personally received from the University of Chicago’s license agreement with NowPow back to the laboratory to further support the team’s research.

MAPSCorps began in the Lindau Lab as part of the CommunityRx intervention. It is now a 501c3, youth-driven community asset mapping technology company headquartered on Chicago’s South Side that has employed more than 2300 youth in Chicago and several other urban and rural regions nationally.