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Secretary Thompson, who visited the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center in Milwaukee, said community centers serve as a vital component in the Bush administration's efforts to increase access to quality health care nationwide.

"We must strengthen the health care safety net, and we must build a healthier America," Secretary Thompson said. "Community health care centers provide access to health care for millions of Americans who have been locked out of the traditional health care system, and this administration will do everything it can to break down those barriers."

Since 1965, community health centers have delivered comprehensive health and social support services to people who otherwise would face major financial, social, cultural and language barriers to obtaining quality, affordable health care. There are more than 1,000 community-based health centers in operation today. Collectively, these centers serve as a health care safety net for more than 11 million people, 4.4 million of whom are uninsured, through 3,200 delivery sites in urban and rural underserved communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

President Bush's budget calls for $124 million to increase the number of community health center sites by 1,200 nationwide. The administration's long-term goal is to double the number of people who receive quality primary health care services regardless of their ability to pay.

"For over 30 years, health centers have been providing innovative, cost-effective and quality health care to an economically and culturally diverse community," said Dr. John Bartkowski, the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center's chief executive officer. "We applaud President Bush for his commitment and foresight to increase funding to community health centers. It's a solution that opens the door to better health access and a chance to ensure quality health care to all Americans. We appreciate Secretary Thompson's visit to our center and appreciate the chance to show how President Bush's vision can be put into practice."

Since 1969, the Sixteenth Street Community Health Center has provided quality health care, health education and social services to residents of the multicultural community on Milwaukee's near South Side.

In 1999, Sixteenth Street served more than 15,000 people with nearly 120,000 visits. The ethnically and culturally diverse client population includes patients who are Hispanic (75 percent), white (14 percent), African-American (7 percent) and Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern (4 percent).

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