About:

Callen-Lorde Community Health Center is a NYC leader in providing dignified, quality medical care and health education to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, regardless of ability to pay. By focusing services on an underserved group that may face discrimination in traditional healthcare settings, Callen-Lorde has been a pioneer in reducing health disparities and improving access to care for tens of thousands of LGBT New Yorkers.

Callen-Lorde’s 15,000 annual patients are among the city’s highest-need and highest-risk: 41% have incomes at or below the Federal Poverty Level, 8% are homeless or unstably housed, and more than a third are uninsured. It also delivers culturally sensitive, comprehensive care to 3,700 people living with HIV/AIDS, including 200 vulnerable young people ages 13 to 24.

Its Health Outreach to Teens program (HOTT), which served 1,200 last year, is an innovative model for supporting disenfranchised LGBT homeless and runaway youth on the street using a mobile medical outreach van. With a focus on trust, relationship building and patient empowerment, HOTT is a lifeline for this hard-to-reach group that faces multiple health threats and enormous barriers to care.

Nominator David Sandman explained,

“A sense of family and belonging is an essential component of the program’s strategy to engaging homeless LGBT youth who have often felt cast out and who have very few places to turn or resources to draw upon. Callen-Lorde is there for these patients.”

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Beyond direct services, the Health Center also provides LGBT cultural competency and sensitivity training for many other community-based organizations, hospitals, schools and conferences.

Throughout its long history, Callen-Lorde has served a critical life-saving role in a most humane way, inspiring others by its example.