Community Vision Finances Expansion of Tribal Healthcare Infrastructure in Hoopa Valley
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Community Vision has provided $4.5 million in financing to support the expansion of K’ima:w Medical Center, an independent, Tribally-governed nonprofit healthcare provider serving the Hoopa Valley Reservation and surrounding communities. The loan supports $10 million in financing led by the Arcata-based CDFI North Edge, with additional support from Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC), and will help strengthen critical healthcare infrastructure in one of California’s rural Tribal communities.
The project will expand K’ima:w Medical Center’s existing 26,000-square-foot facility by approximately 10,000 square feet, allowing the organization to meet growing demand for healthcare services after outgrowing its current space. Planned improvements include additional exam rooms, expanded pharmacy and laboratory facilities, redesigned patient flow areas, conference and break rooms, and additional office and storage space. The expansion is expected to create up to 20 new full-time jobs while improving operational efficiency, patient experience, and care delivery.
For more than 50 years, K’ima:w Medical Center has served residents of the Hoopa Valley Reservation and the broader Klamath-Trinity region, providing medical, dental, behavioral health, imaging, pharmacy, telemedicine, substance use treatment, diabetes prevention and management, and other essential services.
“As a California-based CDFI, we’ve spent decades financing healthcare facilities in communities across our state that are often overlooked by traditional capital markets, including rural, Tribal, and low-income communities,” said Catherine Howard, president of Community Vision. “Healthcare providers like K’ima:w Medical Center are essential community institutions. They make it possible for people to access affordable, community-centered care, and we’re proud to help finance an expansion that will serve the Hoopa Valley community for generations to come.”
The financing marks Community Vision’s second investment in Hoopa Valley in partnership with North Edge and RCAC. In 2019, Community Vision helped finance the Hoopa Shopping Center, a tribally operated grocery store that restored local food access after the closure of the community’s only grocery store.
The Hoopa Shopping Center helped eliminate a rural food desert while creating local jobs and restoring an essential community resource. Together, the grocery store and healthcare center represent investments in two of the most fundamental building blocks of healthy communities: access to food and access to healthcare.
“These investments are connected by a shared goal: strengthening community-owned infrastructure that improves quality of life and expands opportunity,” said Howard. “The Hoopa Valley community identified what it needed most, and local leadership has driven these projects forward. Our role is helping provide the capital that makes these community priorities possible.”
With investments in both the Hoopa Shopping Center and K’ima:w Medical Center, Community Vision has financed community-serving facilities just a few miles apart from each other, demonstrating the importance of place-based investment in community infrastructure.
The K’ima:w Medical Center expansion also reflects Community Vision’s broader commitment to preserving and expanding healthcare access across the state, particularly in communities where residents face geographic, economic, or systemic barriers to care.
Community Vision has provided more than $77 million in financing for healthcare and health-related projects throughout California, and the organization continues to invest in healthcare infrastructure at a time when many providers face growing uncertainty around federal healthcare funding.
“Healthcare providers are navigating an increasingly complex and uncertain environment, but the need for accessible, community-based care hasn’t changed,” Howard said. “Healthcare is essential community infrastructure. Just like housing, food access, and childcare, access to quality healthcare shapes whether people and communities can thrive. Community Vision remains committed to financing the facilities and infrastructure our communities need most.”
Media Contact:
Matias Bernal
Vice President of Development
415-392-8215
mbernal@communityvisionca.org
About Community Vision:
Founded in 1987 as the Northern California Community Loan Fund, Community Vision advances community ownership of community assets across California. Through lending, advising, and partnership, we support nonprofits and community-rooted organizations in securing the spaces that help communities thrive and build long-term stability. To date, we’ve invested more than $635 million in financing, leveraged over $3.3 billion, and distributed more than $39 million in grants. Community Vision is a nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) and an Equal Opportunity Provider.
