Mission:
To develop programs that improve the accessibility of people to quality health care, based on real-life demonstrations of what does and can work.

Background:
Launched in 1998 by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation with thirteen sites nationwide, Community Voices: Healthcare for the Underserved is a group of community-based demonstration projects that are part of a national effort to sort out what works from what doesn't work in meeting the needs of people who are underserved, uninsured, or under-insured. Many receive inadequate or no health care, including oral and mental health care, and substance-abuse treatment. Today Community Voices consists of eight sites and is managed by the National Center for Primary Care at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. The organization believes that practical examples of service models better inform public and private policy decision makers than solutions that have not been tested in communities where people actually live, work, and seek health care.

Outstanding Web Feature:
Visitors to the Community Voices site may explore each of the demonstration projects: Albuquerque and host organization the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center; Baltimore and the Baltimore City Health Department; Miami and the Collins Center for Public Policy; Alameda, California, and La Clinica de La Raza/Asian Health Services; Denver and Denver Health; Pinehurst, North Carolina, and FirstHealth of the Carolinas; Lansing, Michigan, and the Ingham County Health Department; and New York City and Columbia University, School of Dental & Oral Surgery. Each section highlights the scope and activities of the project and the extent of community involvement, and provides links to related articles and policy briefs.