| UMMA COMMUNITY CLINIC | |
| Founded Date: | 1996 |
| Location: | Los Angeles, California |
| Origins: | US |
| Area Served: | South Los Angeles (SPA 6) |
| Focus: | Healthcare, community |
University Muslim Medical Association, Inc. (UMMA) Community Clinic is the first Muslim American founded community-based health organization in the United States. Located in South Los Angeles, UMMA has a culturally and religiously diverse staff serving an equally diverse community.
Founded by UCLA graduate students in the wake of the 1992 South Los Angeles civil unrest, UMMA initially operated as a free clinic staffed by volunteers. After an extensive fundraising campaign, UMMA officially opened its doors in 1996. Today, UMMA is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) with medical home (PCMH) recognition, and a staff of 70+ employees who provide an array of integrated healthcare services through 27,500+ annual patient visits.
UMMA is a recipient of the following Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Community Health Equality Recognition badges: Health Center Quality Leader, Advancing Health Information Technology (HIT) for Quality, COVID-19 Vaccinations, and COVID-19 Data Reporter. These designations reflect UMMA's success in increasing access to care for the South Los Angeles community.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the Los Angeles City Council, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the White House have honored UMMA for their work in South Los Angeles. The clinic was recognized by Assembly member Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr. as the 2020 California Nonprofit of the Year for the 59th Assembly District for their commitment to increasing access to high-quality healthcare and addressing critical social needs in South Los Angeles.
The South Los Angeles service area that UMMA serves has been designated by the federal government as both a Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) and a Medically Underserved Area (MUA), meaning that the region is lacking in primary, dental, and mental health care providers and has a significant shortage of primary care services. South Los Angeles also has the highest number of uninsured adults in Los Angeles County.[1]
UMMA currently operates two clinics in South Los Angeles, their Flagship Clinic (Florence Ave.) and a school-based Fremont Wellness Center (S. Avalon Blvd.). The Fremont Wellness Center is open in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) on the John C. Fremont High School campus. The clinic serves an under resourced but culturally rich community composed of mostly Latinos (68%) and African Americans (27%).[1] In UMMA's low-income South Los Angeles community, 34% of households have incomes less than 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).[1]
UMMA's services include family and internal medicine, pediatrics/childhood immunizations, on-site mammography services, on-site laboratory services, Hepatitis C testing, HIV/STI testing, family/contraceptive planning, adolescent medicine, prenatal care, women's health, behavioral health services, direct referrals to local county facilities, and health education. In-house specialties include gynecology, dermatology, geriatrics, ophthalmology, renal, and nephrology.
UMMA functions as an innovative health center working to achieve health equity not only through integrated primary care and behavioral health services, but also through unique health education programming and groundbreaking community engagement initiatives, including the following: