Become an Advocate

About Our Advocacy

Venice Family Clinic’s Public Policy Committee and advocacy team work to help L.A.’s diverse patient population access quality health care. We work alongside our patients to promote health policies that improve the lives of our patients and our community.

Learn about the issues our community cares about and join us in taking action to protect health care as a human right.

Why Advocacy is Important to Us

We are committed to building an equitable and just city, state, country and world that recognizes that being in good health is key to people and communities reaching and sustaining their greatest potential. We strive to create systems and policies that acknowledge the inherent dignity of each person by affirming and working towards equity regardless of identity or background. Our advocacy focuses on three key areas: health equity, social justice and civic engagement.

Key Issues

Health Equity

Goal

Building a sustainable health system that provides access to all.

Problem

Millions of people in the United States still lack reliable access to health care due to gaps in the current system of Medicaid, exchange programs, private insurance and health providers who refuse to provide a full range of care to people due to a variety of social demographics including, but not limited to: race, income, gender, sexual orientation and geography. Further, the ability of community health centers to best serve their communities is strained by unpredictable resource allocation and inflexible government policies. Policies often change rapidly causing difficulty in sustaining successful efforts.

Our Focus
  • Greater equity in public health insurance programs including parity with commercial plans.
  • Operational and infrastructure policies that ensure access to care for the people we serve and sustainability for community health centers.
  • Funding/payment policies that align with the needs of the people and promote better outcomes.

Social Justice

Goal

Ensuring that all people can live their best healthy life by having access to enough food, stable housing and freedom from discrimination.

Problem

Unjust systems have created wide inequities that are detrimental to our health. For example, In Los Angeles County, millions of people are not sure where their next meal will come from; the number of individuals and families experiencing homelessness continues to rise; and too many of our neighbors suffer from discrimination.

Our Focus
  • Housing as an integral part of health care.
  • Policies that aim to eliminate food insecurity.
  • Protection of women’s access to reproductive health care.
  • Health policies that seek to end discrimination.

Civic Engagement

Goal

Supporting our patients and community to positively impact our world by engaging in government systems and public policy.

Problem

Public policy affects the full spectrum of health. And yet lower income communities are often ignored by the political system, thus receiving fewer of the resources needed to thrive. Increasing the rate of civic participation in these communities is the remedy to fixing this.

Our Focus
  • Voter engagement to improve knowledge on policy issues and improve voter turnout rates.
  • Civic education to empower people to engage with their elected officials and shape their community’s future.
  • Civic engagement training and opportunities that aim to build people’s collective power.

Advocate Voices

Carolina Monge

Carolina joined the Clinic’s community when she enrolled her son Derek in Children First Early Head Start. In 2018, they traveled with Clinic leadership to Washington, D.C., to emphasize the importance of Head Start and the Affordable Care Act to members of Congress. Carolina passionately spoke about the impact of the Clinic’s comprehensive early childhood program, while 18-month-old Derek charmed every D.C. staffer he saw by giving high fives all around.

“Government support for community health care is vital for me and my child, and it’s important for politicians to see our faces and know how we are impacted. Going to D.C. and advocating showed me just how important this advocacy is and even inspired me to change my college major to work in public service.”

Ken Bascom

Ken Bascom is alive today thanks to the expansion of Medicaid (Medi-Cal) made possible by the Affordable Care Act.

Patricia Sanchez

Patricia Sanchez emigrated from Oaxaca, Mexico, to Los Angeles in 1990 and has been a patient at the Clinic since 1993. This year, she helped the Clinic rally other community members to stand up against proposed changes to “public charge” rules that could harm immigrant families that use programs like Medi-Cal to support their basic needs.

“With so many laws changing, it’s very important to know how these policies could affect us,” Sanchez says. “We need to participate because these changes affect us directly.”