Yet even as welders and electricians prepare the building for its fall 2013 opening, funding conversations are beginning in Congress that WILL directly affect health services for Indy and other communities across Indiana next year. The U.S. House of Representatives has already started work on the FY2014 annual appropriations process, which helps provide much of the funding for community health centers.

Here’s how you can help, Indy.

Last week, the bipartisan sign-on letter led by Congressman Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), indicating support for the Health Centers program to House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Jack Kingston (R-GA) and Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), has begun circulating, the National Association of Community Health Centers reports. The deadline for signatures is set for April 10th. You can view the letter here. The letter is a great way for Representatives to publicly convey their support for the Health Centers program in the FY2014 Appropriations process.

Take Action: Request your U.S. Representative support Health Centers by 1) Signing on to the Bilirakis-Pallone letter, and 2) Submitting an individual programmatic request in support of full funding for Health Centers.

The Bilirakis-Pallone letter conveys general support for the Health Centers program and does not include a specific funding level. Individual House Members can include Health Centers among the programs they deem priorities in their individual programmatic requests to the House Appropriations Labor-HHS Subcommittee. The Subcommittee is now accepting these requests and the deadline to submit individual programmatic requests is April 15th. However, many individual House offices may set internal deadlines prior to that date, so the time to reach out to Hill offices about supporting Health Centers via programmatic request is NOW!

Click here to send your U.S. Representative an email now!

The event will take place at the Challenge Foundation Academy, 3980 Meadows Drive, Indianapolis.

The future $20 million, 70,000-square-foot facility will sit on the 100-acre Avondale Meadows redevelopment site near 39th Street and Keystone Avenue on Indianapolis’ near east side. Construction should take a year to complete.

The center, expected to open in 2013, will offer expanded hours for primary care visits, personal physicians, multi-age recreational programming for 5,000 underserved residents, social and recreational programming for 1,000 youths and teens, meeting space for community organizations and family programs. Partners to be located in the center include HealthNet, YMCA, United Northeast Development Corporation and the Meadows Community Foundation, Inc.

It’s hard to believe that it was a little over a year and a half ago that HealthNet was invited by IU Health to become a part of this unique collaboration. Thanks to the support of IU Health and the Methodist Health Foundation, this new HealthNet community health center is becoming a reality!

We look forward to working with residents in the coming months to tailor the health center’s services to the specific needs of this community.

Give a care about expanding access to care for kids and families in Indy? If so, stop by this afternoon for a sneak peek!