La Clínica's Mission: The mission of La Clínica is to improve the quality of life of the diverse communities we serve by providing culturally appropriate, high quality, and accessible health care for all. La Clínica has come a long way in its goals of providing health care services to its community. Forty-eight years ago, La Clínica was a mere vision, set into motion by three UC Berkeley students, Joel-Jose Garcia, David Hayes-Bautista, and Alec Velasquez. Launched in 1971, these three students started what was called the La Clínica de La Raza- Fruitvale Health Project, Inc. The project emerged from the student movement occurring at the time, a movement against racism and minority inequality. The idea of the project was to provide greater access to health care in the Latino community of East Bay, California. In its first year, La Clínica was run at a store front and its medical staff was all volunteers who provided free medical, dental, and optical services to the community.
Since that time, La Clínica has expanded in a multitude of ways. Although it is no longer a "free" clinic, it continues to achieve its goal of making health care services more accessible to everyone, but at an even greater capacity than originally envisioned. In 2017, La Clínica served 86,844 patients and provided 360,570 patients visits at its various locations that include service sites, support sites, and administrative sites. Its services include adolescent services, behavioral health, case management, dental, health and nutrition education, laboratory, medical, pediatric services, pharmacy, prenatal and postnatal care, preventative medicine, radiology, referral services, vision and eye care, women's health, and WIC. La Clínica's vision is to be "a premier community health center, rooted in the concepts of wellness, prevention and patient-centered care."
The success of the organization can be attributed to its staff, patients, supporters, and strong leadership team headed by CEO, Jane García. Jane's charisma and leadership is what has allowed the organization to take such strides in its expansion and development. Awarded the Health Care Heroes Award in 2011, Jane is recognized for her ability to be resourceful and influential in accomplishing the organization's mission to provide culturally competent health care services to the community. La Clínica's mission is furthered through creating partnerships with hospitals, inspiring the support of donors and volunteers, and advocating for health services in poorer communities. Jane has been leading La Clínica for more than thirty years and her leadership has given both heart and strength to the organization.
