Getting the care that is centered and designed for you.
Who We Are?
Founded in Oakland, California, the mission of Roots Community Health Center is to uplift those impacted by systemic inequities and poverty. They accomplish this through medical and behavioral health care, health navigation, workforce enterprises, housing, outreach, and advocacy. Roots Community Health Center is the sponsor and host of the Cut Hypertension Program.
Our Vision
Our vision is that black barbershops and salons can be places of health promotion and outreach, community building, and treatment for the black community
Our Mission
Strengthening The Capacity
Strengthening the capacity of barbers and cosmetologists to be health educators, navigators, coaches, & community leaders.
Cultivating Health & Wellbeing
Cultivating health and wellbeing through the intrinsic power of community, health promotion and education, and access to treatment.
Building Trust
Building trust between health providers and black community in a sacred space, such as the barbershop, where dialogue and thought exchange occurs with a sense of safety.
Our History
The Cut Hypertension Program (CHP) is a program borne out of evidence that African American barbershops can be places of health prevention, community building, outreach, and treatment for African American men, a community affected by alarming health disparities in cardiovascular disease, cancer, HIV and mental illness. Dr. Kenji Taylor started CHP as a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania in 2010. He brought the program to Atlanta, GA through HealthStat as a fellow with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2014 in between his third and fourth year of medical school. After having moved to San Francisco for residency in Family Medicine at UCSF, he and Dr. Temesgen Woldeyesus have been working to develop CHP to disrupt the alarming health trends in African American men.
