Federal Grant Award Summary

Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital received a $492,860 Project Grant award effective July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2031, from the Health Resources and Services Administration Bureau of Health Professionals under the Primary Care Training and Enhancement (PCTE) program (CFDA 93.884). The award supports residency training in street medicine for twenty-five internal medicine residents through a combination of didactic and experiential training conducted in partnership with the hospital's Street Medicine Department. All clinical training occurs within Los Angeles County Service Planning Area 6, a federally designated medically underserved area and Health Professional Shortage Area serving an estimated 13,886 unsheltered individuals experiencing homelessness.

The program delivers direct healthcare services to unhoused patients through on-the-ground street medicine teams operating in encampments, alleyways, motels, shelters, and parks. Residents work under physician supervision alongside an interprofessional team including outreach coordinators, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and other licensed clinicians to address the complex medical and social needs of the target population, including substance use disorders (22% of unhoused patients served) and serious mental illness (25% of unhoused patients served). The curriculum prepares primary care practitioners to serve underserved populations and addresses critical gaps in resident experience and expertise for treating vulnerable, unhoused patients within safety net healthcare systems.