More than Three Decades of Service to Our Community
San Francisco Community Health Center has had a long journey since its founding in 1987. We grew out of the response to the 1980s AIDS crisis, specifically supporting the impact of the epidemic on the Asian and Pacific Islander community. In 1996 we launched as Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center and since then we have worked hard to remain rooted in API communities while welcoming anyone who needs our services. In 2015 we became recognized as a federally qualified health center (FQHC) which allowed us to increase our clinical capacity and serve more of our community. We became San Francisco Community Health Center in 2018 to fully encompass all of programs and services we offer and reflect the diverse community that we serve.
Our Tenderloin Neighborhood
Our initial focus on API LGBT community has evolved with the needs of the Tenderloin. We are a safety-net for the transgender community, our unhoused community, people who use substances, and those with mental health needs. We are witness to what is happening in the Tenderloin. Over the past year, we have been responding and are working to expand our well-established programs that help uplift and heal our neighborhood by providing vital services for our most marginalized neighbors. Our programs are humanizing and a bridge to helping people get off the streets, housed, and well.
Timeline & History
1981
The CDC reports a cluster of Pneumocystis pneumonia in five gay men in Los Angeles.
1987
Asian American Recovery Services establishes Asian AIDS Project, a founding program for API Wellness.
1988
Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA) forms a support group for HIV+ gay men, which late evolved to support all APls living with HIV. The Living Well Network's Joy Luck Club is a program at API Wellness to this day.
1993
First Transgender program at Asian AIDS Project established
1994
Tenderloin Area Resource Center (TARC) established, & their HIV programs later become part of API Wellness
1996
Asian AIDS Project & Living Well Project merge to form API Wellness
1998
API Wellness provides on-site primary care, psychiatric services & housing assistance to people living with HIV
2000
API Wellness pioneers HIV testing at LGBTQ pride events, becoming the first organization in the nation to do so..
2002
API Wellness collaborates with partners to organize the inaugural national conference focusing on HIV/AIDS research in API communities.
2005
API Wellness spearheads National API HIV/ AIDS Awareness Day.
2006
Tenderloin Health later integrates its HIV programs into API Wellness.
2007
API Wellness is appointed to lead trans community center, TRANS: THRIVE.
2011
API Wellness opens an allvolunteer, free clinic.
2012
Tenderloin Health closes & SFDPH appoints API Wellness to take over HIV medical services for Tenderloin Area Center of Excellence.
2015
API Wellness designated a federally qualified health center by HRSA.
2017
API Wellness launches SF's first LGBTQ-centered health home at the LGBT Center in the Castro district.
API Wellness becomes a Title X Family Planning Clinic.
2018
API Wellness unveils new brand, San Francisco Community Health Center.
2020
SFCHC leads Covid-19 response in the Tenderloin
2023
Trans: Thrive's new home opens at 1460 Pine Street
2024
San Francisco Community Health Center appointed to lead Taimon Booton Navigation Center (TBNC), a shelter and service center for transgender, gender non-conforming & intersex people, as well as cisgender women.