During the late 1960's and early 1970's, Detroit was a city in transition. The population landscape began to change. Communities were faced with the loss of residents and later, the loss of housing. Job opportunities were moving to other parts of the region, creating employment vacuums for city residents. Community hospitals, once a staple of neighborhoods throughout Detroit, no longer found it feasible to operate. Closing their doors, their absence left entire communities without access to health care.
In the Hispanic community, located on the city's southwest side, community leaders were not only concerned with the lack of access to medical care and social service programs, but they were faced with the barrier of language as well. Much of the population then as today, spoke Spanish as their primary language. To overcome these concerns, the community mounted an aggressive effort to bring much needed services, including health care, to the neighborhood.
In 1970, with support from
the Governor's office, organizers successfully negotiated a joint venture
between the Michigan Department of Public Health, the Michigan Department of
Social Services, the Detroit Health Department and the Hispanic community, the
first of its kind in the
city. In July of that year, CHASS began providing
limited medical services from a renovated house on West Vernor Highway, the main
artery of the neighborhood.
As the Hispanic community grew and Detroit continued to be plagued by loss and poverty, the need for low cost or no cost medical care increased. CHASS responded by expanding services and became one of the primary sources of health care for many residents-especially women of child bearing age, families with young children, and the elderly. By 1975, just five years later, CHASS had outgrown its facility on West Vernor and the Center moved to its current location on West Fort Street.