In February 1999 San Francisco faced a crisis when the Women’s Needs Center, an organization that provided free health care services to over 4,000 women annually, was forced to shut its doors as the result of financial cutbacks at its parent organization, Haight-Ashbury Free Clinics, Inc. Out of concern for the impact the Women’s Needs Center’s closing would have on the local health care landscape, a group of volunteers and clinicians came together and, with the support of community members, colleagues, family and friends, decided to re-open the clinic as an independent entity. On June 28, 1999, just four months after the Women’s Needs Center closed, the Women’s Community Clinic opened its doors to the community.