End of a Healthcare Revolution: How San Francisco is Unraveling its Groundbreaking Program for Youth in Crisis

For nearly 60 years, San Francisco built a pioneering system to care for young people in crisis. What began during the Summer of Love with the nation's first runaway youth shelter and the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic evolved into a network of specialized clinics that combined medical care, mental health treatment, sexual health services and connections to housing and social support under one roof. Now, that model is being dismantled as San Francisco shifts young patients to larger primary care clinics and expands telehealth services. Supporters say the city risks losing more than two clinics, it may be abandoning a philosophy of care built around meeting vulnerable young people where they are. In this episode of Civic, we trace the history of San Francisco's groundbreaking approach to integrated youth healthcare and examine the city's plan to close two specialized youth clinics in the Tenderloin and Haight neighborhoods. Through archival recordings, former patients, frontline clinicians, nonprofit leaders, union representatives and city officials, we explore how a nationally influential model of integrated care collided with budget pressures driven by deep federal and state Medi-Cal funding cuts.