Leadership

The Community-Rooted Provider Coalition is spearheaded by Roots Community Health Center, an East Oakland-based nonprofit dedicated to eliminating health disparities through comprehensive, culturally competent primary care integrated with navigation and empowerment initiatives. Roots founded the Coalition following the release of the 2013 report, Realities of Medical Practices Serving African Americans in East Oakland. The findings of this report indicated a clear need for a formal infrastructure that would connect community-rooted providers, build their capacity to scale-up care provision for low-income patients, and ensure sustainability—both financially as these providers endeavor to meet the needs of their communities by offering significant amounts of uncompensated or undercompensated care, as well as generationally as community-rooted providers with long-standing practices seek out new physicians for succession planning. The Coalition aims to provide this formal infrastructure, and is currently comprised of 18 community-rooted providers who operate primary care and specialty practices spanning Oakland, Richmond, Berkeley and Livermore. Coalition members, many of whom have practiced for decades—some over 30 years—have extensive experience and knowledge serving their communities, especially low-income individuals and families.