Our History
The OCHC Mission
Promotion health and wellness to all individuals that we serve.
Our Vision
Striving to be your trusted community health center by offering quality, integrated care and services that address social determinants of health.
Outreach Community Health Centers (OCHC) serves a patient population that primarily reside on Milwaukee’s Northwest side. The agency provides medical, behavioral health, and community services to a population largely originating from 11 critical zip codes of socioeconomic (SES) regions.
Most OCHC patients are either publicly insured or uninsured. Through the diversified services offered at OCHC, and our initial charter as a Healthcare for the Homeless site since 1979, OCHC serves a significant homeless population accounting for 14% of our total patient population. In addition, OCHC has a Mobile Health Unit (MHU), allowing our health care professionals to meet our homeless clients where they are in the community, providing primary care services on-site at area homeless shelters, West Milwaukee Comprehensive Treatment Centers (a local methadone clinic) and Pathfinders for Youth (youth aging out of foster care); as well as, a host of other outreach programs.
OCHC also provides School-based health services to include behavioral health and primary care for community schools. Two sites serviced in 2023 included Carmen Schools of Science & Technology and Hmong-American Peace Academy. Since mental health is a primary concern for our adolescent population, providing these services is imperative to improving access for our community’s children to mental health services.
1982 – Healthcare for the Homeless is granted 501(c) 3 statuses by the Internal Revenue Service, having started as a volunteer-driven effort known as “Coalition for Community Health Center in 1979.
1984 – The organization becomes one of 23 homeless demonstration projects in the country with funding from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and Pew Charitable Trust.
1985 – Healthcare for the Homeless provides start-up funding for four different area clinics, two of which (St. Ben’s Clinic and Salvation Army’s Emergency Lodge Clinic) continue operating to this day. By the fourth month of operations, over 800 patients have been served.
1986 – With seed funding provided by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, the organization launches a mobile Street Outreach effort, delivering direct services to people experiencing homelessness in the community, many of which live with chronic mental illness.
1989 – Milwaukee County moves to stabilize, strengthen and focus that effort, and offers the company funding to expand services from a new federal program called PATH (Projects for Assistance in the Transition from Homelessness). PATH continues to serve homeless persons with chronic and disabling behavioral health disorders to this day.
1993 – Healthcare for the Homeless receives certification as a Federally-Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and purchases the building at 711 West Capitol Drive, but is still contracting with other health system providers for the delivery of primary care.
1997 – The organization launches the first program targeted to homeless women with children under the name “A Street”, with funding from Milwaukee County.
1999 – During this year, Health Care for the Homeless begins delivery of direct primary healthcare services at a clinic co-located with Hope House.
2004 – Health Care for the Homeless leases space at 210 West Capitol Drive to open a dually-certified outpatient behavioral health clinic.
2006 & 2007 – The organization opens an adult primary care clinic adjacent to the Behavioral Health Clinic.
2008 – As Columbia St. Mary’s closes a clinic it was operating on the second floor of the 210 building, Healthcare for the Homeless moves to develop the resources and infrastructure needed to expand its services beyond the homeless population.
2011 – Healthcare for Homeless becomes Outreach Community Health Centers, Inc. offering a full range of primary and behavioral health services to all persons in need of care, homeless and housed, insured and uninsured.
2021 – OCHC builds a new four-story facility from the ground up at 220 West Capitol Drive.
2023 – OCHC joins the Northside consortium of four Health Centers (Progressive, Milwaukee Health Services, OCHC, and Sixteenth Street) to provide medical school training to MCW residents.
2024 – OCHC embarks on a new chapter of Healthcare to the Homeless, at risk, underprivileged/underserved masses in our communities through targeted programs, professional service, and complete wraparound services.