Mission & Brief History:

The Baltimore Community Health Consortium, Baltimore REACH, began in 2000 as an initiative of the Open Society Institute of New York (OSI-NY). Recently Baltimore REACH became an independent corporation dedicated to Baltimore and services to the vulnerable populations that reside in the city. REACH represents community-based safety net organizations that provide medical and social service assistance to low income Baltimore residents. Baltimore REACH gauges access to care among Baltimore's low-income and indigent residents, identifies barriers to needed medical care and social services, and provides a foundation to bring future professionals into the realm of indigent care services.

Baltimore REACH founding membership is: Beans and Bread Outreach Center, Chase Brexton Health Services, Franciscan Center, Health Care for the Homeless, Health Education and Resource Organization, Paul's Place, St. Michael Outreach Center and The Shepherd's Clinic. Baltimore REACH works to provide for the health care needs of the underserved urban poor by building a network of service providers, sponsoring health care professional students to work at the above providers, and conducting research on the needs of the most vulnerable.

Baltimore REACH's Role in the Community

For our nation's medically underserved populations, the urban safety net and community based organizations (CBO) play a critical role in keeping people healthy. These organizations and the people who work in them are at the forefront in trying to address and impact the social determinant of health and disease, advocating for their patients, soften the impact of poverty, racism, and For the past four years Baltimore REACH has been in the Baltimore community documenting the needs of the most vulnerable segment of our city: the poor. The program is three-fold:

Developing a community based solution to poverty:

Baltimore REACH is a consortium of safety net community based health and social service organizations brought together because each is dedicated to a similar socio-economic population. Each CBO realizes the strength of partnership and speaking with one voice for this population.

Education:

A nation-wide search opens up the opportunity for students--after their first year of medical school--to come to Baltimore and work in an intensive pre-clinical internship at one or more of our CBOs. This initiative consists of eight weeks of direct service; specialized curricula on vulnerable populations including the working poor and those with HIV/AIDS; a collective research project; and mentoring by health professionals including physicians, nurses, and social workers.

This opportunity provides a foundation for a life-long recognition and sensitivity to vulnerable populations.

A voice for the poor and needy:

During the eight-week internship, each student conducts face-to-face, one-on-one interviews with at least fifty people who depend on Baltimore's safety net for their health and welfare. It is, for many interviewed, the only time anyone has sat down and asked them to speak about how they manage to live below the poverty level. For the student it is an intimate look at a world far removed from their own and from what they will learn in medical school. It is encouraging a critical conscience that past students report stays with them long after the internship.

The impact on Baltimore is an important one. Through this opportunity, Baltimore REACH is building an infrastructure of professionals, who either come to Baltimore for the first time, some stay in Baltimore to study, or who choose to return to Baltimore after medical school to practic .