More than $5.7M in grants awarded to health centers in Salinas, Watsonville
SALINAS – Two health centers in Salinas and Watsonville will get a combined infusion of $5.7 million in federal funding to continue providing access to medical, dental, behavioral, and other health care services to the underserved.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-CA18, made the announcement of the funding on Tuesday that of the $5,712,770 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, $3,404,718 will go to Clinica de Salud de Valle de Salinas to continue offering healthcare services in the Salinas Valley, and $2,308,052 will go to Salud Para La Gente to continue offering healthcare services in Watsonville and surrounding areas in Santa Cruz County.
“Federally-qualified health centers, like Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas and Salud Para La Gente, provide vital services to some of the most vulnerable families in the Central Coast,” said Rep. Lofgren in a press release. “I applaud robust investments that advance public health and expand access to needed care. I will continue to support federal funding that helps keep our communities healthy.”
Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas has been serving the Salinas Valley since 1980 providing comprehensive health care to men, women and children with an emphasis on farmworker families and the agricultural community, and has grown to 13 clinics in Monterey County serving more than 50,000 patients.
Since 1978, Salud Para La Gente has provided healthcare services to primarily farmworker families and become a federally qualified health center, which has grown to five clinics and four school-based health centers providing health care to nearly 27,000 patients.
The funding the health centers will receive comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Center Program which is overseen by the Health Resources and Services Administration, to support community-based and patient-directed nonprofit organizations that provide primary and preventive health care services to underserved populations in the U.S., according to Rep. Lofgren’s office.
Health centers have played a key role in the nation’s health care system for nearly 60 years. The Bureau of Primary Health Care funds nearly 1,400 health centers which provide affordable, accessible, and high-quality primary health care to underserved communities at more than 15,000 sites, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration Health Center Program website. Those community-based health centers serve more than 30 million people, providing access to medical, dental, behavioral and other health care services with special initiatives for people experiencing homelessness, agricultural workers and residents of public housing.
The funding for the health centers was included in the Fiscal Year 2024 consolidated appropriations package which was voted in favor of by Rep. Lofgren.
President Biden signed two appropriations acts into law finalizing the federal budget process for fiscal year 2024, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The president signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 into law on March 9 representing $467.5 billion in government spending. The measure consists of six spending bills:
• Agriculture
• Commerce-Justice-Science
• Energy-Water
• Interior-Environment
• Military Construction-VA
• Transportation-HUD.
The Senate voted 75-22 and the House voted 339-85 to pass the measure.
In a second tranche of six bills, he signed into law the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 on March 23 representing $1.2 trillion in government spending. The second measure consists of six spending bills:
• Defense
• Financial Services
• Homeland Security
• Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
• Legislative Branch
• State and Foreign Operations.
The Senate voted 74-24 and the House voted 286-134.
