Planned Racine Community Health Center awarded $20 million in state funds

A planned 30,000-square-foot health care center designed to meet the needs of underserved patients in Racine was recently awarded $20 million in state funding. The new Racine Community Health Center, planned for a vacant block next to Julian Thomas Community School at 930 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, would replace a temporary clinic set up within the elementary school building. The federal qualified health center would be a neighborhood resource for gateway services, providing on-site assessment and primary care and using case managers to coordinate referrals to specialty care. The clinic would operate on a sliding-fee scale based on income. Gov. Tony Evers recently announced the project would receive funding through the state’s Department of Administration’s Healthcare Infrastructure Capital Investment Grant Program, which is funded through the American Rescue Plan Act. “… it is our goal to build a Federally Qualified Health Center that breaks down barriers for those who need access to high quality health care,” said Racine Mayor Cory Mason. “Racine is the biggest city in the Midwest without a federally qualified health center, and it’s imperative that we address the very real health disparities that exist in our community.” In 2020, Ascension Wisconsin pledged $1 million to the health center project. The clinic would be attached to a new 27,000-square-foot building that would house the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center. When built, the new community center would replace the current center located a half-mile to the north. The development is part of a larger revitalization plan for the Lincoln-King Neighborhood that also includes adding affordable housing That revitalization plan also recently received a $15 million grant through the state’s Neighborhood Investment Fund Grant Program. “Just as the current center served us and our parents well, the Lincoln-King Neighborhood deserves a center meant to serve our children and grandchildren,” Mason said. “As part of our planning process, we will gather broad community input about the design and types of uses that should be incorporated into a 21^st century community center.”