People's Community Clinic asks for $2M to expand
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Austin's only independent medical clinic for uninsured patients wants to expand, but it'll need the help of Austin taxpayers to pay for a bigger facility.
The People's Community Clinic is asking Austin’s City Council to add $2 million to this November's bond package. The money would be used to pay for a new location in East Austin.
Recently, the clinic was awarded Federally Qualified Health Center status. The new designation enables the staff to provide more services to more patients, but they don't have the space.
Clinic officials say the time is right to get started on the new clinic.
"The need definitely exists. Our current building, our current clinic is at capacity, so it just seemed like the opportunity was ripe for us to be part of the bond proposal,” Regina Rogoff, CEO of People’s Community Clinic, said. “We've been offered donated land and we could leverage private donations towards a capital campaign so that this would be a public-private partnership."
If approved, the $2 million would make up just part of the new clinic's $12 million price tag. The remaining $10 million would come from donations and tax credits.
The clinic gets about 60 percent of its $8 million annual budget from private sources.