Health care should be a right, not a privilege.
Since 1971, Fenway Health has been working to make life healthier for the people in our neighborhood, the LGBTQIA+ community, people living with HIV/AIDS and the broader population. Fenway was founded in 1971 as part of the free clinic movement by students who believed that “health care should be a right, not a privilege.”
In its early days, Fenway was a drop-in clinic providing free blood pressure checks and STD screenings. Over the years, Fenway obtained permanent space and incorporated as a freestanding health center with a staff of one volunteer doctor, one nurse and one intake worker. Today, Fenway Health has a budget of more than $131 million, a staff of more than 700 and a patient population of nearly 40,000.
Fenway Health is a Federally Qualified Community Health Center.
We provide high quality, comprehensive health care, research, education and advocacy.
Fenway Health advocates for and delivers innovative, equitable, accessible health care, supportive services, and transformative research and education. We center LGBTQIA+ people, BIPOC individuals, and other underserved communities to enable our local, national, and global neighbors to flourish.
In 2001, Fenway launched The Fenway Institute, an interdisciplinary center for research, training, education and policy development focusing on national and international health issues, especially related to LGBTQIA+ communities.
In 2009, Fenway moved into the Ansin Building, the largest LGBTQIA+ health care, research and education facility in the world, and an anchor institution in Boston’s thriving Fenway neighborhood.
In 2010, Fenway welcomed the Sidney Borum, Jr. Health Program into the Fenway family. The Borum serves teens and young adults ages 12-29, and is a safe place for at-risk youth, including LGBTQIA+ young people, homeless teens and young adults, those struggling with substance abuse, involved with gangs or doing sex work.
In 2013, the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts also became a part of Fenway Health. AIDS Action serves people living with HIV/AIDS and populations at risk of infection, and leads the state’s Getting To Zero Coalition, which seeks to reduce the number of HIV infections to zero. It also operates a needle exchange that serves as an entry point to healthcare services for active substance users.
