4 minute read
Crossover Health Services
We are committed to living out Christ’s compassion, dignity, and healing in our community through healthcare.
Crossover Health Services
by Justin Pickard
-Justin P.
Around 10 years ago, I was in grad school taking a class called “Strategic Management of Non-Profits,” and I was able to focus a large assignment on working out a strategic plan for Crossover Community Impact (which we had barely incorporated at the time). I merged the vision that Philp had of a churchbased nonprofit that took a comprehensive approach to meeting the needs of its community with a community development corporation approach that focuses on a specific neighborhood.
Fast forward to a year or two ago and we found ourselves applying to receive New Market Tax Credits for the Crossover Community Center with the one organization in Oklahoma that had received tax credits that year. This had the potential of bringing $4 million in equity to the project. The organization seemed to genuinely appreciate the work of Crossover and the intended goals of the community center, but what they really needed were health impacts. They asked if we could build a new clinic– we respectfully declined (although that helped lead to us opening a second site of Crossover Health Services in the beautiful and unused primary care wing of the 56th Street North Tulsa Health Department building).
Immediately afterwards, I remember feeling convicted from the Lord that although it seemed like we would not be able to get the tax credits, he had put us in a great position to impact the “social determinants of health.” We were, as some people had pointed out to us, a kind of perfect public health organization - and that had not been part of any planned strategy! The conviction that particularly hit me was that maybe the Lord wanted us to address these needs and just used the tax credit situation to open our eyes to what he had orchestrated.
Pictured above: Justin with his family during his graduate studies at Harvard specializing in Urban Planning.
Pictured above: Justin with his family during his graduate studies at Harvard specializing in Urban Planning.
Another thing he had orchestrated, was that the incredible Janet Hendricks had just shifted to working with Crossover Community Impact and Crossover Health Services (CHS) from Crossover Prep. Not only did she have an MBA and all kinds of great HR experience to bring to the table, but she had focused her undergrad studies on how to run a community center and is more passionate about using it to address the health needs of our community than anyone around! So, naturally we started working on our own Crossover Public Health Plan!
Pictured above: Crossover Health Services New Clinic at the Tulsa Health Department
We started with researching the particular public health problems that the Tulsa Health Department studies showed. We found that our two clinics’ zip codes were the complete worst for health outcomes respectively. And then we started interviewing our fantastic CHS team to get their insights on what programs their experience showed would bring the most impact.
And then God brought us the $22 million to construct the community center (including the new market tax credits after all!). So now we are focusing on being faithful to plan and prepare for what we have been dreaming of! We pray God will use this state-of-the-art workout facility, full-scale commercial kitchen, and classroom space to host lifestyle coaching, wellness activities, nutrition classes and cooking programs, support groups, adult fitness classes, and recreational sports leagues! And we pray that in doing all these things, God will get the glory for what he orchestrates and pulls together with and through his people!
Justin Pickard has been married to his wife, Leah, for 20 years, and 10 years ago, they moved their young family to Boston, so that Justin could be equipped and prepared to lead Crossover Community Impact. It’s been incredible to witness the ways they have loved on their community, and it’s inspiring to watch even their kids Ellie (19), Ian (17), Augie (14), and Isaiah (12), serve alongside them.
To learn more about Justin’s labor of love as the Executive Director of the public health organization Crossover Community Impact, and the ways that Crossover Health Services is working to eradicate health disparities, go to www.crossoverhealthservices.org.
