Founded in 1999 as a “Community Clinics Initiative,” CCI started as a unique collaboration between Tides and the California Endowment. At first, we focused on providing grants, evidence-based programming, and training to community health centers.
In 2012, the initiative expanded to what is now the Center for Care Innovations. We evolved into a catalyst for the broader “health care safety net” — a patchwork of programs and providers serving low-income people — to explore creative solutions to complex problems. Rooted in innovation, CCI develops cutting-edge best practices that are then translated across the field, raising the quality of care and improving well-being throughout communities in ways that no single organization could ever achieve.
CCI has always been a place to partner and collaborate, and we’ve created innovative programs with funding partners like the Blue Shield of California Foundation, California Health Care Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, Genentech, and The Colorado Health Foundation.
Today we work primarily in California, but have also run our programs in Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, and New Jersey. We’re currently expanding our digital footprint, so safety net systems throughout the country can virtually access our vast library of resources.
Transformations in health care — particularly the growing recognition that social, behavioral, and environmental factors play a significant role in health outcomes — have also necessitated that we enlist new partners. In the past, our network has encompassed community health centers, public hospitals and health systems, Indian health centers, and state and county health departments. Today, we’re begun engaging social service nonprofits, as well as organizations that deliver mental health and addictions services.
We continue this work because we believe the safety net gets stronger with each connection made and each innovation shared. The challenges facing underserved communities — and those who seek to strengthen them — are enormous. But so is our shared knowledge and ingenuity when we choose to seek solutions together. After two decades, we remain steadfast in our founding belief that when the right people and ideas come together, resilient systems of care and treatment will be built.
