The new Marsalis Avenue Urgent Care Clinic will be located in the Glendale Shopping Center in an area with significant disparities in access to health care.
A 2019 report from Parkland Health & Hospital System and the Dallas County Health Department found that residents living in a cluster of five ZIP codes in South Dallas experience higher rates of disease and morbidity and have inadequate access to medical care compared to the rest of the city. That includes the 75216 ZIP code where the new clinic will open.
In a press release, city council member Carolyn King Arnold applauded the effort to expand access to care in the area.
“The addition...is a tremendous investment in the health and welfare of our community — especially in the 75216 ZIP code,” Arnold said. “This center will begin to close the gap for medical care that has plagued the community for years. This is a giant step towards healthcare equity.”
Construction of the new facility will be funded through a grant from the city of Dallas and a loan from the Advance Community Fund, an emerging Community Development Financial Institution that helps with economic development projects in low to moderate-income areas.
Michael Yorba is chairman and CEO of the nonprofit.
“Our goal is to bring community assets that are not available at this time to southern Dallas,” he said.
That includes affordable housing, medical facilities, education and grocery stores. Yorba also noted that they are working directly with the community to meet those needs through their community advisory board.
“In order to be on that board, you have to have a ZIP code, that you live at, that's in the area we deploy our resources to,” he said. “So we are communicating not just with the city, but also with the needs of the community.”
Yorba said the Advance Community Fund is working on a number of other projects in South Dallas, including five new medical centers, five grocery stores, an educational center and an apartment complex with 300 affordable housing units.
The Marsalis Avenue Urgent Care Clinic is expected to open by the beginning of 2022.
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