Clínica Romero Receives $5 Million State Grant to Advance New Behavioral Health Center in Los Angeles

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 16, 2026

Contact: Veronica Alvarado 626-476-6181
valvarado@clinicaromero.com

Clínica Romero Receives $5 Million State Grant to Advance New Behavioral Health Center in Los Angeles The future center will expand trauma-informed behavioral health care for communities facing barriers to mental health services in the Korea Town, Pico-Union/Westlake, and MacArthur Park areas.

Los Angeles, CA — Clínica Monseñor Oscar A. Romero announced it has been awarded a $5 million grant through the California’s Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program (BHCIP) to support development of the future Clínica Romero Behavioral Health Center in Los Angeles. The funding will allow Clínica Romero to expand behavioral health treatment capacity for individuals and families experiencing trauma and other mental health challenges, including the lasting effects of war in their countries of origin and the trauma of family separation experienced by many immigrant families navigating the immigration system.

Los Angeles is home to one of the largest immigrant populations in the United States, with many families concentrated in neighborhoods such as MacArthur Park and Pico-Union/Westlake. In these communities, families often face housing instability, generational hardship, and significant barriers to accessing mental health care.

Expanding culturally responsive behavioral health services for immigrant families, unhoused individuals, and communities facing persistent barriers to care has long been at the heart of Clínica Romero’s mission.

“For too long, our communities have been suffering in silence, carrying the weight of trauma without a place to turn for support,” said Carlos Vaquerano, President and CEO of Clínica Monseñor Oscar A. Romero. “I believe that we must focus on the mental health and healing of our youth and families, and that should never be a privilege—it is a fundamental human right. This center represents hope to those families who have been waiting for that opportunity, a place where people can begin to heal and where entire families and future generations can move forward with strength and dignity.”

We are deeply grateful to Governor Gavin Newsom for his support and approving this grant and the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS).

The future center will bring culturally competent behavioral health services directly into the community, helping close longstanding gaps in care while strengthening the region’s behavioral health infrastructure. More than a healthcare facility, the center is envisioned as a place for healing, connection, and support via a variety of wellness services, music, art and community engagement. Once completed, the center will provide more than 38,000 behavioral health visits annually for residents in surrounding communities.

“Clínica Romero has long been a trusted partner in delivering compassionate, culturally responsive care to communities across Los Angeles,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. “This $5 million investment from the State will help expand access to critical behavioral health services at a time when so many Angelenos need support. The future Clínica Romero Behavioral Health Center will play an important role in ensuring that families in historically underserved communities can receive the care they deserve, close to home.”

As a community health center that has served Los Angeles for more than four decades, Clínica Romero sees the future Behavioral Health Center as an important step in deepening its commitment to the communities that have long called this city home. The center represents an investment not only in care, but in the long-term strength, resilience, and well-being of families across Los Angeles.

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About Clinica Romero Clínica Romero is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) founded in LA County in 1983 by by a coalition of refugees from El Salvador’s civil war—an alliance led by the Santa Chirino Amaya Refugee Committee and volunteer physicians—united in their commitment to address and improve the availability, accessibility, and coordination of healthcare services for the Salvadoran and Central American diaspora, as well as low-to-moderate income residents of the area.

Our mission is to provide quality, affordable, community-sensitive health care and other services to the underserved communities of greater Los Angeles, regardless of their ability to pay, by upholding the legacy and teachings of Monseñor Oscar A. Romero. We are driven to educate and empower all community members through community organizing, health education, social justice, and exchange programs in El Salvador.