Association of Clinicians for the Underserved (ACU)

05/19/2026

Balancing effective pain relief with patient safety is a challenge every clinician faces. Learn how to build your pain management and opioid prescribing skills while earning free CME/CE credit in a new, free course through our collaboration with NEJM Group.

➡️ Start learning: bit.ly/42G9pme

05/18/2026

📊 Want to better understand what your workforce needs and strengthen staff retention and engagement?

This infographic from ACU's STAR² Center on Implementing Staff Satisfaction Surveys outlines the key concepts that health centers should understand when surveying their staff: 🔗https://ow.ly/i5qQ50Z173j

05/15/2026

Health Professions Education and Training (HP-ET) programs provide health centers with the opportunity to recruit, develop, and retain their workforce by exposing health and allied health professions students, trainees, and residents to the health center model and its patient services.

Our STAR² Center's new toolkit is designed as a resource to help C-Suite leaders acquire knowledge about workforce strategies they can use to develop, support, and strengthen HP-ET initiatives as part of their overall workforce retention and recruitment planning.

✅Get started: https://ow.ly/cXxT50Z0i6A

05/14/2026

Difficult conversations are part of leadership, but handling them well is what sets strong leaders apart. 💬 Join ACU’s Workforce Leadership Lab on Wednesday, May 27, for a session with April Lewis, MBA, Director of ACU’s National Center for Workforce Development & Training, focused on navigating performance challenges, strengthening communication, and leading with confidence and compassion.

✅ Save your spot: https://ow.ly/Ym0150YYhRf

05/13/2026

Behavioral health leaders and clinicians, don’t miss this opportunity! ACU is now offering a limited number of scholarships for the 2026 Conference & Behavioral Health Leadership Forum.

📅 July 26–29, 2026
🎟️ Scholarship recipients receive FREE registration
⏰ Apply by May 29: first come, first serve!

Apply today for the chance to explore cutting-edge strategies to enhance behavioral health services for underserved communities at our Conference and Forum for free. ACU is grateful to The Pew Charitable Trusts for their support of this initiative.

➡️ Apply today: https://ow.ly/iUml50YZ9nj

05/12/2026

As a founding member of the Alliance to Strengthen America’s Health Workforce for the Underserved, ACU is proud to help build a growing coalition calling on the Senate HELP Committee to advance bipartisan reauthorization of HRSA Title VII and Title VIII workforce programs—critical programs for which authorization has already lapsed.

These longstanding investments support the education, training, and development of physicians, nurses, behavioral health providers, dentists, and other clinicians serving rural and medically underserved communities nationwide.

With workforce shortages continuing to strain access to care across the country, Congress must act to provide stability for these essential programs and strengthen the clinical workforce pathways that communities depend on.

Learn more about the Alliance at healthworkforcealliance.org.

05/12/2026

⏰ Last call for Fellowship applications! This is your chance to stand out as a leader in care for underserved communities by becoming a Fellow of ACU. This one-of-a-kind professional designation recognizes outstanding clinical and non-clinical professionals whose unique dedication, leadership, and impact in our field set them apart.

ACU will induct our 2026 Fellowship Cohort at our 2026 Conference. Apply by May 15 for a chance to be recognized for passion and knowledge you bring to underserved communities everyday! https://ow.ly/qBTL50YYgwn

05/11/2026

🚨 Early Bird Conference savings end today! 🚨Register now and save up to 35% on before prices increase! Join us at ACU's 2026 Annual Conference on July 26–29 in Washington, D.C., where the nation’s leading voices in community health will unite to share what’s working, and what’s next, for improving care in underserved communities.

Whether you’re a clinician, administrator, student, researcher, or advocate, ACU 2026 will provide you practical tools, fresh strategies, and outstanding connections that can elevate your work and spur your professional growth. Register today: https://ow.ly/ASA850YXGUK

05/08/2026

Community health centers' emphasis on whole-person care makes many of them "one-stop shops for people in need of care . . . But even that is not a full accounting of what CHCs mean to society. Many are also tackling the broader forces that too often limit their patients’ social and economic mobility . . . Inside each of Mary's Center's D.C. locations, you will also spot something exceptional even among FQHCs: a school for children and adults."

Thanks to the American Medical Association for highlighting ongoing CHC innovation at Mary's Center and beyond in this engaging piece.

Mary’s Center has something most people wouldn’t expect of a federally qualified health center: a school for kids and adults.

05/07/2026

As we celebrate National Nurses Week, we're grateful to these vital clinicians advancing access to care in communities across the U.S., including so many who are part of ACU's community.

In our Member Spotlight series, we were proud to recently spotlight Kandace Arlaud, APRN, Psychiatric NP at Meharry Medical College and a member of ACU's Membership Committee. Her work focuses on expanding access to behavioral health and substance use disorder services, driven, as she noted, by "wanting to understand how to build care systems that truly reach people.”

Her perspective highlights the in improving how care is delivered and accessed in underserved communities. 🔗 Read more: https://ow.ly/Ztwl50YVNI9

05/06/2026

Major 2026 update: we’re excited to welcome Israil Ali, Acting Deputy Associate Administrator at HRSA's Bureau of Health Workforce, as a keynote speaker in Washington, D.C.

A distinguished federal leader, Ali oversees national strategies to strengthen the healthcare workforce and expand access to care in underserved communities, including such flagship loan repayment and scholarship programs as the National Health Service Corps.

➡️ Don’t miss the chance to catch Ali’s keynote! Secure your spot with extended Early Bird savings by May 11: bit.ly/4neZAVB