14 | Purpose, Fall/Winter 2023
A Call for Sustainable & Modern Funding in Community Health By Marisol Euceda Director of Marketing and Communications
September 30 each year marks an important date for community health centers (CHCs) like CCI, closing the federal fiscal year and charting a path for the next. Unfortunately, it’s also a date rife with anxiety and uncertainty from not knowing where we stand. CHCs rely on federal funding for much of our work. In 2022, more than 30% of CCI’s budget encompassed funding from the government. That’s always been the case for us. In fact, that’s been the case for every CHC dating to our early years as a movement in the 1960s. Community health and federal funding go hand in hand, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s an investment in health equity. Even more, it’s a show of confidence in this movement, encouraging CHCs to accept anyone in need of care and worry less about the capacity or resources to do so.
But there are a couple of problems that we have to address. First, funding has never been guaranteed. It’s dependent on reauthorization, which itself depends on consensus within an increasingly divided Congress. Second, the amount earmarked is not keeping up with the times. Although the number of dollars has increased over the years, there’s no accounting for inflation, causing headaches for CHCs already balancing a tight budget amid rising costs. These two obstacles, coupled with an increasing demand for our services, put CHCs everywhere in a precarious position that requires evaluating and reimagining funding.
WIC participant at CCI’s WIC Back to Work Shower
MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS Passionate CHC advocates work publicly and behind the scenes to ensure funding is a mainstay in the annual federal budget. So far, so good. CHC funding is a uniquely bipartisan issue that has long enjoyed support from across the aisle. However, it’s at the mercy of a larger budgetary discussion that can quickly become politicized, as witnessed this year. We all heard that dreaded “s” word: shutdown. Talk of a shutdown may make great political drama and riveting headlines, but it can upend plans for many, especially those who visit a CHC. Take WIC, for example. More than 30,000 neighbors counted on CCI’s WIC program for breastfeeding counseling and nutrition support in 2022. Research proves that WIC is remarkably effective in keeping families healthy and nourished.
