BPHC Bulletin: Celebrating Six Decades of Health Center Program History

We are proud to announce the launch of a new website focused on the history of the Health Center Program and the people who made it happen. From the launch of the first health centers in the 1960s, through our recent response to COVID-19, this website provides an overview of the program’s rich and eventful history over the course of six decades. Learn about:

• Expansion into hundreds of rural communities in the 1970s;
• Efforts to maintain and strengthen the program in the 1980s;
• Supporting models that work and new community partnerships in the 1990s;
• Overseeing the program’s rapid growth in the 2000s;
• Developing new methods of collecting data, ensuring compliance with program requirements, and providing training and technical assistance;
• Changes to the bureau’s structure and operations;
• And so much more!

This work is the product of interviews with more than 50 current and former leaders at HRSA, Primary Care Associations, National Training and Technical Assistance Partners, health centers, and others. Our new history website shows us where we’ve been — and helps us to understand where we’re going.