DEAR FRIENDS

When we talk about health at La Clinica del Pueblo, we know that it means a lot more than what happens between four clinic walls. Since our origin as a one-room clinic in 1983, we’ve held health to be a human right, and we’ve understood that in order to have a healthy community, we must address the whole person, their environment, and the social systems that create inequity. We know this from the countless voices and perspectives of patients, clients, and community members who’ve been part of the fundamental fabric of La Clinica, as promotores de salud , Board members, advisory committee members, and staff. This is why at La Clinica we focus on care and prevention, clinical and community health, and social change and justice to achieve health equity.

Undoubtedly, 2019 was a year of increasing inequity for Latino immigrants in our region. The District of Columbia ranked first in a report of intensely gentrifying cities in the United States for the first 13 years of this decade, and it is evident in the ongoing displacement of low-income families to more affordable locations outside of the District. However, place matters for health access. Low-income immigrants in DC have almost universal access to health insurance in the District; low-income immigrants in Prince George’s County have far fewer options. In 2019 this untenable choice between housing and health care continued to plague Latino families in our region, while federal efforts to further restrict immigrant access to safety net programs through the “public charge” rule cast a chill on our patients and community.

La Clinica exists in response to our community’s evolving needs. In 2019 this meant that we made our services more accessible by continuing to grow our clinical and community services in Prince George’s County, while maintaining our core services and longstanding presence in the District of Columbia. Through our two clinics at 15th Street and Hyattsville, we provided more than 25,000 medical, mental health, care coordination and health education services, and our mental health program at Northwestern High School, Mi Refugio, continued to support 180 young newcomers to our area all the way through graduation. Our outpatient substance abuse program Volviendo a Vivir, currently the only Spanish-language program in the District, continued to grow with nearly 12,000 counseling services provided, while our language access program provided more than 17,000 medical interpretations in hospitals and specialist offices to low-income immigrants in the DC.

Our community health programs recorded more than 50,000 touchpoints, training 96 promotores to promote health in the settings where our community lives, works, and plays, while signature programs Entre Amigas and Empoderate continued to provide services, leadership development, and advocacy in the areas of gender-based violence and LGBTQ health in both the District and Prince George’s County. Our La Casa Community Health Action Center continues to grow as a site for community convening and dialogue. In the past year, our health equity voice continued to be raised around health and mental health access, immigration justice, and healthy community spaces; we also spoke out with our partners around Census 2020, food security, affordable housing, racial equity, and the effect of climate change on our communities here and in our countries of origin.

In all, 2019 was a year of public recognition for La Clinica from various corners: for excellence, for innovation, and for leadership. We are so proud to share our stories, our challenges, and our achievements through this annual report with you, our friends and supporters. Thank you so very much for the many ways in which you have made our work possible.