Freedom Community Clinic was founded in 2019 in Oakland through the Youth Impact Hub on Telegraph Ave.

The clinic was founded by Dr. Bernadette (Bernie) Lim, who was 24 years old at the time, in medical school, and the first in her family to become a physician. Inspired by her own family experiences of ancestral healing after trauma in the medical system and building on the rich history of healing justice activism in the Bay (namely the Black Panther Party, Asian Health Services, La Clinica, and Healing Clinic Collective), Bernie sought to build upon the legacies of reimagining new future of healing that drew upon new possibilities rooted in community and in response to the medical industrial complex.

The organizing team came together through serendipitous divine alignment through 2019-2020. Together, they began to organize monthly street healing clinics at local neighborhood parks, festivals, and under freeway underpasses in collaboration with friends and local organizations serving Black and Brown people. Many of these clinics were organized spur of the moment, with organizers storing equipment and supplies in their car trunks and garages and holding organizing meetings at local taco shops.

FCC became a community healing pillar for Black, Brown, and immigrant communities, especially in 2020 when they held impromptu Healing for Black Lives clinics in response to racial injustice and street protests. Through the incredible support of community, FCC was able to establish its first brick-and-mortar Community Healing Sanctuary in September 2021 and began collaborations with many institutions, hospitals, colleges, and universities.

From its grassroots origins with pop-up healing clinics in systemically disinvested areas of Oakland…

FCC now has daily community healing services at two of its recently opened Community Healing Sanctuaries in downtown Oakland and Fruitvale East Oakland, multiple community healing clinics/events throughout the week, community-led healing groups, healing apprenticeship programs, and consultations with BIPOC-serving non-profits/mission-driven institutions on creating healing cultures for staff. All services and programs are provided for free/at a community sliding scale and held in English and Spanish.

SINCE ITS FOUNDING...

FCC has impacted 9,500+ people, with 95% of the people served identifying as a Person of Color and 85% of services received by Black and/or Latinx communities.

— Moreover, 75% of the people served have never tried a holistic healing modality before due to financial/access barriers, racism, and/or lack of trust.

Celebrating 7 Years: The Evolution of Freedom Community Clinic

Bringing Whole-Person Healing to the People Since 2019