STRIDE Community Health Center

STRIDE began in 1989 as a response to limited access to quality healthcare for underserved and uninsured families by offering primary care with one clinic and one physician. Almost 35 years later, STRIDE remains passionate about health equity in the communities it serves. For STRIDE, health is more than the absence of disease – it is complete physical, emotional, social, and spiritual wholeness; and equity is not the same as equality – it is first understanding individual circumstances, needs, and barriers and then designing services so people can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. STRIDE’s passion to expand its capacity to meet community needs of refugees is grounded in its core principles:

• Healthcare is a fundamental human right.
• There are historically rooted and institutional realities that are obstacles to health equity, such as racism and social and economic inequalities that result in health disparities, and STRIDE is open and committed to learning about and responding to those obstacles and disparities.
• STRIDE has a responsibility to identify and address implicit bias that could hinder patient and care team interactions, as well as to listen to the lived experience of others humbly and openly.
• STRIDE providers should reflect the demographics of STRIDE patients and provide services that are culturally appropriate and responsive.
• Equitable healthcare services must be high quality, affordable, and accessible.
• To influence external systems and structures, STRIDE must ensure its internal systems and structures promote health equity.