 In addition to providing medical services, the center offers a GED program; high school and college tutoring; assistance in applying for health insurance, food stamps, shelter and jobs; food, clothes and laundry services; refuge and other care to LGBTQ youth.Brown Elephant is a resale shop whose profits go towards helping to cover healthcare for patients at Howard Brown who can’t afford it.In 1974, a group of medical students from the Chicago Gay Medical Students Association founded Howard Brown Health Center in response to the rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases among gay men.