Our History

We opened our doors in May 2007 but the concept of developing a community health center in Loudoun County began years before. Evolving out of the Partnership for Healthcare Options, a joint venture formed in 2004 between the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce and Loudoun Hospital, this group identified solutions to providing health care for small businesses in Loudoun County.  To address health care disparities in Loudoun County, a group of concerned residents, stakeholders, health care professionals and community leaders identified the need to provide access to comprehensive primary and preventive health care services to uninsured and underinsured residents in a medical home setting.           

The history of federal involvement with today’s community health centers is integrally tied to the Johnson Administration’s War on Poverty and the civil rights movement. Initially named neighborhood health centers, these clinics were created in 1965 as part of the Office of Economic Opportunity to provide health and social services access points in poor and medically underserved communities and to promote community empowerment. Federal funds for neighborhood health centers flowed directly to nonprofit, community-level organizations, bypassing state governments.

The original centers were designed and administered with significant community involvement to ensure they remained responsive to each community’s needs. Funding was approved in 1965 for the first two neighborhood health center projects, in Boston in 1965 and in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, in 1967.