Our Story

Rising from the Bronx

MHHC opened its doors in March 1981, serving just 3,500 patients in a small storefront in the West Bronx — a borough struggling to recover from decades of disinvestment, high poverty, housing insecurity, and a growing HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Amid the challenges of urban decay and systemic inequities, MHHC emerged as a beacon of hope with one powerful belief:

Health care is a human right.

With only a $25,000 planning grant, we began building more than a clinic — we built a sanctuary. A place where underserved Black and Brown families could access care delivered with dignity, respect, and cultural understanding.

​We were among the first to break barriers:

• Opened the first midwifery-led birthing center in a low-income urban community.
• Led pioneering HIV/AIDS programs that shaped national health policy.
• Expanded mental health services in communities where stigma once silenced so many.​

MHHC grew from one storefront to a network of health centers across the Bronx — and now Brooklyn — serving tens of thousands of patients every year.

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