Founded on a commitment to social justice and health equity, community health centers in the United States provide high-quality primary care to underserved populations and address social drivers of health disparities. Through an examination of two books on the history of community health centers, Peace & Health: How a Group of Small-Town Activists and College Students Set Out to Change Healthcare, by Charles Barber, and Community Health Centers: A Movement and the People Who Made It Happen, by Bonnie Lefkowitz, this essay provides insight into what it takes to center social justice in community-based health care organizations. As bioethics reorganizes itself around an emphasis on justice, scholars in bioethics have much to learn from colleagues in community health.
Keywords: bioethics; community health centers; federally qualified health centers; health equity; history of medicine; justice.
© 2023 The Hastings Center.