San Francisco, California

The San Francisco Peninsula Children’s Health Project (SFPCHP) provides comprehensive medical care to homeless and uninsured adolescents ages 10-25. Although there are many affluent communities in Santa Clara and San Francisco counties, the number of homeless youth is high: an estimated 1,274 in San Francisco and 2,530 in Santa Clara County in 2017. Many of these young people are in crisis and their numbers only grow as the cost of hous- ing soars in this area and jobs for young people with minimal skills are harder to find.

Serving Communities in Need: Of the patients served by the SFPCHP, 40% are homeless, displaced, or unstably housed. The patient population are: 78% Hispanic/Latino, 11% Asian, 7% Black/African American, and 4% other race/ethnicity. Because SFPCHP targets uninsured adolescents, 50% of patients seen by the SFPCHP are uninsured. These young people have multiple and complex medical, and psychosocial issues, including malnutrition, missed immunizations, poly-substance abuse, high-risk sexual activity leading to STI’s and unplanned pregnancies, depression and anxiety disorders, untreated illnesses that have become more difficult and expensive to treat due to lack of prevention and early intervention, acute and chronic illnesses exacerbated by lack of medications, and an inability to access comprehensive health care services.