16 Mar La Clínica CEO Jane Garcia Honored by Contra Costa Board of Supervisors for 44 Years of Service

La Clínica CEO Jane Garcia was honored at the March 3 Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors meeting ahead of her upcoming retirement. (Screenshot captured by Arianna Caramagno / The CC Pulse)

By Arianna Caramagno

Jane Garcia, the soon-to-retire CEO of La Clínica, was honored March 3 by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors for her decades of work expanding access to health care in the Bay Area.

La Clínica, formally known as La Clínica de La Raza, was first established in 1971 by a group of UC Berkeley students who sought to provide culturally appropriate and affordable health care access to low-income communities. Over the past five decades, La Clínica has grown from a small community clinic to an organization that has become one of the largest community-based health care providers in the Bay Area.

Garcia has served as the organization’s CEO for 44 years. During that time, she helped expand La Clínica from a $2 million startup into a $170 million health care network serving thousands of patients across the region.

District 1 Supervisor John Gioia and District 4 Supervisor Ken Carlson led the presentation honoring Garcia. Both supervisors commended Garcia for her efforts to bring affordable health care to East Bay residents.

Gioia also noted that Garcia’s interest in health care access was shaped, in part, by her experiences growing up without access to affordable health care.

“We’re truly honoring a health care giant,” said Gioia. “I think for those who don’t have health care when they grow up, they understand even more importance of why everybody should have health care.”

La Clínica serves about 85,000 patients across nearly 35 different sites around the Bay Area, offering a variety of health and dental services to those in need regardless of their ability to pay, Carlson said at the meeting.

District 2 Supervisor Candace Andersen also praised the organization’s impact particularly on residents in Contra Costa County who historically lacked access to health care that was both affordable and culturally responsive.

Andersen said that, in the past, residents within the county have not always had access to medical care where they could simultaneously feel seen, heard and represented.

“It’s so impressive the void that La Clínica filled, particularly when health care was not available to all of our residents in Contra Costa County,” said Andersen.

Both Gioia and Carlson said that Garcia’s work at La Clínica will remain important as the region navigates ongoing changes to health care funding and policy.

County officials say Contra Costa has been projected to lose over $300 million in health care funding through 2029, with an estimated 93,000 residents to be affected by new eligibility rules put in place by the Trump administration under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that could disrupt Medi-Cal access for roughly half of the enrollees.

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“With what has happened with the Affordable Care Act, immigration reforms and enforcement, she has truly been a partner with all of us and our county’s CBOs [community-based organizations] to really be a driving force,” said Carlson.

After the presentation, Garcia spoke. She acknowledged the difficulties providing health care across counties but remained optimistic about the future of health care in the Bay Area. Garcia also said that the current problems facing the health care system are not something that the county hasn’t dealt with before in the past and that community health centers such as La Clínica will continue to fight back against such difficulties.

“We’re in difficult situations right now. But this is what makes us stronger,” said Garcia.

Though Garcia is retiring from her role as CEO, she said her commitment to serving the Bay Area is far from over.

“You know, this has been a life commitment for me. It’s in my DNA,” said Garcia. “So I may be retiring, but I ain’t going nowhere.”

La Clínica has yet to announce who will replace Garcia as CEO once she officially steps down.