Why and How a Health Center Created a Social Enterprise

This episode features a conversation between Damon Francis, MD, Medical Director of the Homeless Health Center in the Alameda Health System as well as Chief Clinical Officer of Health Leads, and Noha Aboelata, MD, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of the Roots Community Health Center in Oakland, California. This is the last in a series of six Coffee & Science events on topics related to Alignment and Advocacy, which are both about what health care can do at the community level to address social conditions. This conversation takes a deep dive into Clean 360, an innovative social enterprise launched by Roots to provide employment and skill-building opportunities to formerly incarcerated community members in order to improve their health and well-being. In this thought-provoking conversation, Drs. Francis and Aboelata discuss how Roots came to develop a soap and bath products factory; Dr. Aboelata’s inspiring vision for how community health centers can help address community needs; and ideas for how other types of health care organizations can use their procurement dollars to help improve economic and health outcomes in their communities.

Recommended references:

• Clean 360 online store
• Gottlieb L, Razon N, Aboelata N. How do Community Health Centers Pay for Social Care Programs? SIREN. 2019.
• Roots Community Health Center. Emancipators Initiative (webpage).
• Drummond T. “Out of prison, soapmaking offers a clean start”. Crosscurrents, KALW 91.7 FM. 2016.
• Metzl JM, Roberts DE. Structural Competency Meets Structural Racism: Race, Politics, and the Structure of Medical Knowledge. AMA J Ethics. 2014.