A year-old organization, the Sociocultural Community Coalition, has be gun working on two issues in a seven-part agenda—universal health care insurance and cultural competence among clinicians.

The coalition consists of representatives of five organizations—the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, American Association for Social Psychiatry, Radical Caucus of the American Psychiatric Association, Caucus of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Psychiatrists, and American Association of Community Psychiatrists.

Milwaukee psychiatrist H. Steven Moffic, M.D., president of the American Association for Social Psychiatry, chairs the coalition.

In addition to universal health coverage and cultural competence, the other issues on the coalition’s agenda are working toward a single-payer health care system, a health care system that has only one level of care, the not-for-profit management of care, integration of mental health and other types of health care, and the reduction of violence and trauma.

Additional information about the coalition is available by contacting Moffic by telephone at (414) 257-5070; fax: (414) 257-5241; or e-mail: rustevie@earthlink.net.