Ramsey County History – Spring 2012: “Community Health with a Heart: The History of Open Cities Health Center”

Community Health with a Heart: The History of Open Cities Health Center
Author: Katie Jaeger

The Open Cities Health Center (OCHC) in St. Paul got its start in 1967 when a group of the city’s residents opened one of Minnesota’s first medical clinics dedicated to helping people of color. Initial funding for the clinic came from the City of Saint Paul and Ramsey Action Programs, and the health center was located in the heart of the Summit-University neighborhood (the old Rondo neighborhood). A federal program of that time, the Model Cities Program, supplied much of the money that supported the clinic by funneling it to the city. The first leaders of Health Center were not only African American, they were also women. Mary L. Stokes Clark is generally credited with being one of the clinic’s founders and the first project coordinator at the clinic. She was succeeded as director in 1971 by Mrs. Timothy O. Vann, who served in that capacity until 1983, a period of considerable growth in the numbers of clients served and the range of services the clinic offered. The OCHC moved several times in its first thirty years but then settled into a newly constructed building in 1986. Its service area today encompasses Ramsey, Hennepin, Washington, and Dakota counties. As was the case at its founding, OCHC sees every patient who comes through its doors, regardless of their ability to pay.
PDF of Jaeger article