Health Center Blasts CDC Notice Re: Trans Health Grant Termination 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, February 3 2025
Contact: Cabot Petoia, clpetoia@gmail.com, 828-899-9239

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Los Angeles – On Friday, St. John’s Community Health – a network of federally qualified health centers providing free and low cost health care in Southern California – received a notice from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that a federal grant supporting their transgender health program was terminated.

St. John’s Community Health believes the CDC’s notice is a direct violation of both the law at large, and of the court order which restored federal funding after the temporary freeze. The organization intends to sue in response to the notice from the CDC, and will seek a far-reaching injunction against the termination of the grant.

St. John’s Community Health started a pioneering transgender health program in 2013, in response to direct advocacy from the transgender community for such. Their program was the first of its kind in South Los Angeles, and remains by far the most comprehensive.

“We will not succumb to fear mongering and threats – Trump’s attacks on immigrant and transgender communities won’t stop us from delivering the care our patients need,” said Jim Mangia, president and CEO of St. John’s Community Health. “We will fight back through every avenue available to us – from lawsuits and other legal avenues; to seeking additional local, state, and private funding; to organizing our patients and staff to take direct action. We will work to ensure every patient, regardless of identity, continues to receive the health care they deserve regardless of the federal government’s agenda.”

St. John’s Community Health has been at the forefront of protecting and expanding affordable, inclusive, and proactive health care for marginalized communities for decades. During the first Trump administration, their Right to Health Committee mobilized communities in Los Angeles to defend the Affordable Care Act many times.

The health care network, which has added 8 additional health center sites and expanded services for over 200,000 patient visits since 2016, has been preparing to be at the forefront of resistance against health care attacks for the next four years through training around interacting to protect patients from ICE and gearing up for other federal attempts to deny healthcare to communities to Southern California communities.