Celebrating 45 Years
Kids First Health Care (Kids First) was founded in September 1978 as School Health Corporation with a five‐year grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The goals of the organization were to provide primary health care to school‐age children in Commerce City at a reasonable cost and to develop a cost‐sharing model between educational, medical, and community sectors to make the program cost‐effective and practical.
Services to children began in November 1978 with a physician and nurse practitioners providing the care. In fall of 1982, School Health Corporation was awarded 501(c)(3) status by , the Internal Revenue Services.
In 1984, the name Commerce City Community Health Services was chosen to reflect the role of this community‐based organization. Subsequently, the organization chose to do business as Community Health Services because the agency established a pediatric health center in another community and the agency does not have geographical residency requirements in order to access services in two health centers.
In 2014, the name was changed to Kids First Health Care as our new name better reflects the agency’s mission and the scope of health care services that we provide to low‐income and underserved children.
Our vision has remained consistent throughout our history – that all children have health coverage and access to quality health care they need, regardless of the family’s insurance status or ability to pay, to help enable them to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.