Day 2: Celebrating National Health Center Week 2026
Celebrating National Health Center Week 2026: Day 2
August 2- 8, 2026 is National Health Center Week! Throughout this week, we’ll showcase stories from a nearly 175-year history of community health services. These stories show how our past informs our present, and celebrate how we’ve evolved to meet everyone’s needs.
Day 2: Pivot to Health Center System
In 1977, Multnomah County received its first federal Health Center funding a grant of $300,000 that along with $600,000 in state and local funds was used to build the first clinic, which aimed to provide health, dental, adult, child and adolescent care to 5,500 Multnomah County residents for North/Northeast Portland its first year.
While we were receiving federal funds, the term “Federally Qualified Health Center” wouldn’t be coined until 1989 under new legislation. The Health Center Program grew out of the Civil Rights movement and the War on Poverty under President Lyndon Johnson in the mid 1960s.
As part of maintaining federal health center funding, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners established the Community Health Council, now known as the Community Health Center Board, or CHCB. The first Community Health Council convened in October of 1980, consisting of 21 members, 11 of which were public health care consumers.
Tomorrow
Day 3: School Based Clinics
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