Health centers have long been on the forefront of social determinants of health work, identifying innovative ways to provide person-centered, holistic care. Part of this has been understanding health centers alone cannot address the needs of their community and ensuring community health and improving quality of life for the people we serve. Partnerships are essential to making the systems level changes needed to achieve this goal. As we reflect on the last 18+ months and look towards the future, there are opportunities to formalize and sustain partnerships developed to address COVID-19, notably using a community centered health home (CCHH) model to address the needs of your community.

AHS CEO Julia Liou, MPH, presented how AHS has worked with the local community to identify health needs and used the CCHH model to respond. Liou states, “When we think about how we address and look broadly at issues, it’s about addressing health equity—making sure every individual has a fair opportunity to achieve their full health potential.”

Both initiatives that Liou presented—AHS’ Revive Chinatown campaign and establishment of the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative—to address issues on local, state, and national levels were guided by AHS’ core mission of services and advocacy to empower the community so their voices are heard and necessary changes are made at the systemic level.