This year, the 50th anniversary of the year community health centers began, is a time to gather and celebrate. Community Health Centers (CHCs) have gone far beyond what anyone imagined back in 1965 when the first two centers were established in an impoverished area of rural Mississippi and a section of Boston that sat amid urban blight. I think it’s fair to say no one involved in starting CHCs had any idea that the centers would not only be around 50 years later, but would have expanded to about 1,300 centers in all 50 states. No one could have predicted that the centers would one day serve 28 million patients.
Together, we’ve made a difference – a huge difference – in this nation’s health-care system. Now, I’m excited about continuing to make a difference on new challenges.
Toward this end, we have created this organization, the Community Health Center Alumni Association. I am privileged to be the chairman of the organization’s Board of Directors.
Anyone who has had a role in creating, supporting, sustaining and expanding community health centers is eligible for membership. We would love for you to join – and there are a number of other ways to become involved beyond membership.
There is no fee to join. This organization is not a fund-raising effort. Rather, it is an opportunity to celebrate, reconnect, mobilize and help educate and inform. More information click here to visit our membership page.
Brian Toomey
Chairman, Community Health Center Alumni Association Board of Directors