Progress continues at an exciting pace with our plans for The Inn of Tomorrow. We are excited to report several notable milestones from the past year.

In December 2023, we held a groundbreaking event for the Young Adult Residence across the street from the Inn. The Young Adult Residence is an extension of The Children’s Inn and part of our vision for The Inn of Tomorrow. The facility will provide six additional guest rooms as well as living, dining, and kitchen facilities for young adults. This project is fully funded and is projected to open in early 2026. 

Additionally, The Inn and its architectural partners Perkins&Will have engaged the design agency Local Projects to work specifically on the new Merck Tower of Hope, a beacon with two interior spaces that will serve as the centerpiece of the newly renovated Inn of Tomorrow. Local Projects is responsible for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City and Planet Word, the world’s first voice-activated museum in Washington, DC. Their design for the Merck Tower of Hope promises to be an awe-inspiring, multi-sensory, inclusive space for all families at The Inn. It will be a flexible information hub and an invitation for creative exploration, allowing families to immerse in unexpected, imaginative worlds. 

Throughout this project, The Inn will remain fully operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as we have successfully done during previous construction projects. Our primary focus is minimizing disruption to families and staff during construction, with their safety and comfort as our highest priority; we are carefully phasing construction to maximize room availability and preserve community spaces.

Over the past year, we have continued to strengthen our partnership with NIH leadership and researchers, who are performing groundbreaking work. As The Inn of Tomorrow becomes a reality, that partnership has never been more critical. It has led to valuable new support programs that better integrate discovery and care for our families now and in the future such as the Pediatric Support Program.

Inn Teams connected with five new studies actively recruiting pediatric patients. Through our communications with these five groups, we learned how to better anticipate families’ needs even before their arrival at The Inn. It’s one more way that we continuously work to ensure that we are doing everything we can—now and in the future—to ensure both their access to clinical trials and comfort at The Inn. 

We were able to support two nine-year-old, first-time patients with visual and psychomotor issues (balance and coordination, difficulty walking, involuntary movements, slow reaction time) by:

This past year, Inn staff participated in NIH’s Rare Disease Day, joining representatives from across the NIH campus to highlight the resources we provide at The Inn to support families battling rare diseases. 

In May, The Inn was excited to launch a new partnership with Hope for Henry. This pediatric patient incentive program improves coping skills and medical outcomes for children whose chronic, serious illness requires lengthy hospitalizations and invasive treatment.

Our Board Task Force on Health Equity continues to provide pioneering leadership and momentum in advancing health equity by cultivating a diverse group of leaders and ensuring a continued focus on health equity in all aspects of our strategic planning.

Last spring, we hosted a webinar, Leadership and Momentum in Advancing Health Equity, which featured an insightful conversation on health equity in clinical research with a spotlight on youth mental health. Featuring representatives of The Inn and several NIH institutes, the conversation gave participants a greater understanding of how diversity contributes to improved health outcomes and how the NIH and The Inn address inclusivity within their research and programs. 

We were honored to be recognized for our work in this area when the National Association of Corporate Directors named The Inn a finalist for their prestigious Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award. Additionally, The Inn was recognized as Kennedy Krieger’s 2024 Business of the Year. At the ceremony in June, Kennedy Krieger recognized The Inn as a business partner that supports workplace volunteer experiences for its community members. Through Kennedy Krieger’s CORE Foundations, volunteers have come to The Inn for more than five years to help with tasks such as managing kitchen supplies, organizing the playrooms, helping with administrative duties, and walking Zilly. 

At The Inn, our programming team works tirelessly to develop educational, therapeutic, and recreational programming that promotes a diverse and vibrant community. This year, such programming included various field trips around the Washington and Baltimore areas. They gave Inn families opportunities to experience cultural activities they would never have done—such as a sailing trip on the Chesapeake Bay that allowed them to explore Maryland’s natural beauty while getting some much-needed relaxation away from the medical environment. At The Inn, the programming team also regularly organizes International Nights and cultural activities, allowing residents to share their cultural backgrounds with the wider Inn community.