Union Community Care, a Lancaster County-based nonprofit community health center, is expanding into Berks County.
The center announced today its board has approved a merger with Berks Community Health Center, which has three locations in Berks County.
The merger will extend Union Community Care’s reach into a fourth county, as it also serves Chester and Lebanon counties. There will be no immediate change to services at any location.
“Berks Community Health Center has been around since 2012, and they exist to serve vulnerable populations who have medical needs,” said Alisa Jones, president and CEO of Union Community Care. “And just like Union Community Care, they offer services regardless of ability to pay. Everyone is welcome. They serve a very high percentage of individuals of racial ethic minority background and a significant number of those (for whom) English is not their first language. So, in many ways, both the populations we serve and how we serve them is essentially the same.”
Union Community Care’s budget is $75 million, and in 2025, it served 182,123 patients. Berks Community Health Center’s budget is $21 million. Last year, it served 78,153 patients.
Union, which has 400 employees and 14 locations, will gain 125 employees in Berks County, as well as the three Berks health center facilities in Reading, two of which are leased and one of which is owned. The Berks center’s mobile clinic, which offers both medical and dental care, will become part of Union Community Care’s mobile healthcare fleet. The Lancaster-based health center currently has one mobile medical clinic and one mobile dental clinic that travel to senior centers, homeless shelters, churches or wherever there is a need.
“There isn’t a location that we wouldn’t be willing to take the mobile vehicle to because it’s really our way of reducing the barrier of getting to a health center, which can be transportation barriers, geographic barriers,” Jones said.
The merger between the two nonprofit organizations came about after the Berks Community Health Center’s board contacted Union in the spring. The boards created a task force and completed a due diligence process, looking at factors including mission alignment, organizational culture, operations and governance, and financial performance.
“Across Pennsylvania and throughout the country, community health centers are facing unique challenges in this healthcare environment because there is more demand for affordable, high-quality care than there is supply,” Jones said. “So, these conditions are creating new opportunities for mission-aligned organizations to work together to strengthen community health for the future.”
A representative for Berks Community Health Center said Union’s mission was a great fit when the center was looking for a partner.
“There had to be a shared sense of mission and purpose, and what that means is … that the quality of care could not be diminished; it needed to be enhanced and that we could help even more people from a services perspective,” said Missy Orlando, vice chair of the Berks Community Health Center board. “The second piece was that from a financial standpoint, what we recognized … was that there’s a real strength in us coming together as partners.”
The date for the merger has not yet been determined, as it is subject to regulatory review and approval, but Jones said she is hopeful it will take place before the end of 2026.
The Berks center will continue to operate under the name Berks Community Health Center – powered by Union Community Care.
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