A Bold Gamble for Building Community Wealth and Assets: A Q&A with Unity Council on the Successes and Lessons Learned from Fruitvale Transit Village
Oakland, Ca. is a vibrant place, a reflection of the multicultural communities within its borders. However, Oakland also experiences poverty, limited social services, and crime, which hold its communities back – particularly communities of color – from achieving their full potential.
Over the past several years, Oakland has seen an influx of residents as the demand for housing in the San Francisco Bay area has driven many people there, on top of the residents who already called the city home.
Partner Q&A: Supporting California Community Health Centers Pivoting in the Face of COVID-19
With the COVID-19 pandemic still impacting communities across the country, particularly communities of color, the work of community health centers and clinics (CHCs) is more urgent than ever.
How the Civil Rights Movement Gave Rise to Community Health Centers
By Michelle Betton, Writer
With thousands in communities across the country, community health centers (CHCs) seem like a long-standing part of the national health care system. However, the origins of CHCs are relatively recent, born out of civil rights struggles that started 10,000 miles away. They owe their start to Dr. Jack Geiger, who applied an idea that he had seen used to address the stark health care disparities in apartheid South Africa to the structural racism that African Americans experienced in accessing quality health care.
Innovative Financing Expands Care for California’s Underserved Communities
By Nicole Boone, Business Development Officer
Boyle Heights is a bustling Latino neighborhood just east of downtown Los Angeles with a history dating back before the Mexican-American War. However, it’s the pressures of the present day that weigh heavily here. Approximately 66 percent of the population lives below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, 22 percent are uninsured, and few primary care doctors remain. The systemic poverty the residents grapple with creates ripple effects throughout their lives.
When Disaster Strikes, Health Clinics Come to the Rescue
By Will Robison, Senior Loan Officer
As wildfires burned through California’s Napa and Sonoma Counties in late 2017, Sandy Cesario was forced to evacuate her home and all she knew. Like many of the 5,000 residents of her small Calistoga town, she took refuge at one of the county’s evacuation centers filled with uncertainty.
That was the last place she expected to see her personal doctor.
Pivoting to Create Opportunity Amidst National Change
Ellis Carr, President and CEO
2016 was marked by change—both for the U.S. and for Capital Impact. Our country witnessed a transition in leadership and with it words and actions that have divided our country. Part of this division included the voices of many who felt the American Dream had passed them by.
Age-Friendly Health Centers and California: A Proving Ground for Change
By Candace Baldwin, Director of Strategy, Aging in Community
Wouldn’t we all like to age in our homes and communities, surrounded by what is familiar, supported by a health care team that really understands who we are and how to serve us as individuals with unique needs? This kind of age-friendly health system has generally been an anomaly in the United States, particularly for low-income, older patients. Coupled with the fact that 90 percent of older adults want to age in their own homes, integrated care models are best supported at the community level.
Tri-City Health Center: Financing New Health Care Access for Low-Income Residents
By Katherine Groves & Daniel Ramirez, Loan Originations Team
When Tri-City Health Center (TCHC) opened in Fremont, CA in 1970, it was one of just a handful of clinics serving low-income, minority women from Fremont and the neighboring Alameda county cities of Union City and Hayward.
California Health Clinics and Financing to Meet ACA Implementation
By Scott Sporte, Chief Lending Officer
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) sets out to provide access to health care for all. The ACA will only be fully implemented in California when all people, including low-income residents in underserved communities, have local access to quality, affordable care.
Community health centers and clinics (CHCs) play a vital role in this effort by providing preventive and primary care to patients in California – and across the nation – regardless of their ability to pay. Since 2009, health centers have increased the number of patients served from 17 million to 23 million annually. With the ACA’s implementation, however, it is estimated that CHCs will need to serve 35 million patients in the coming years.