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Funding Area: Building Healthy Communities

Betty&Smith

Through its Building Healthy Communities priority area, NYHealth has supported neighborhood-level approaches to improve access to healthy, affordable food and to activate spaces to encourage more physical activity.

To sustain the progress that has been made in these communities, it is important that neighborhood grantees have the tools and capacity they need to maintain and expand their initiatives and goals. Grantees have expressed a particular need for support in advocating for local policy change and solutions and effectively communicating their wins, goals, needs, and value. Strengthening these efforts will help ensure the long-term sustainability of the achievements and place-based work in each neighborhood. In 2022, NYHealth awarded Betty&Smith a grant to help engage residents in the neighborhoods of Brownsville, Brooklyn, and Belmont in the Bronx in a community network that advances civic issues and builds neighborhood resiliency.

Under this grant, Betty&Smith will partner with Project EATS to engage residents to create a community network that elevates civic issues important to them and builds residents’ self-determination and resiliency. It will facilitate a process for residents to brainstorm and share their vision of the content they hope to receive, create, and contribute to their networks. It will create a toolkit of resources to raise awareness of the network and educate the communities and their partners. Social media posts, testimonials, and contests will be used to engage the community in the project. Once underway, Betty&Smith will provide strategic advice to residents on how to create, tailor, and refine their contributions to the network. It will also assist with additional community workshops and sessions to ensure a sustainable and active community network.

Third Sector New England, Inc. (fiscal sponsor for Healthy Places by Design)

Through its Building Healthy Communities priority area, NYHealth has supported neighborhood-level approaches to improve access to healthy, affordable food and to activate spaces to encourage more physical activity.

To sustain the progress that has been made in these communities, it is important that neighborhood grantees—known as community conveners—have the tools and capacity they need to maintain and expand their initiatives and goals. Grantees have expressed a particular need for support in advocating for local policy change and solutions and effectively communicating their wins, goals, needs, and value. Strengthening these efforts will help ensure the long-term sustainability of the achievements and place-based work in each neighborhood. In 2021, NYHealth awarded Healthy Places by Design a grant to continue providing support and coaching for community conveners and to identify key lessons learned from the Healthy Neighborhoods Fund initiative.

Under this grant, Healthy Places by Design identified and highlighted recommendations from the community conveners’ work during the Healthy Neighborhoods Fund initiative that informed future efforts to improve food access and activate safe spaces for physical activity. It continued to provide one-on-one support to the Healthy Neighborhoods Fund’s community conveners. It collected lessons learned from grantee coordinators and shared its findings online through blog posts and social media to inform the work of funders and community leaders that were interested in NYHealth’s approach to building healthy communities.

University Settlement Society of New York

Through its Building Healthy Communities priority area, NYHealth has supported six communities across the State in implementing neighborhood-level approaches to increase access to healthy, affordable food and to improve the built environment to make physical activity easier.

In each neighborhood, community convener organizations have spearheaded and acted as the main coordinators for the work, assembling and mobilizing partner coalitions to achieve shared goals. As a result of these efforts, nearly half a million New Yorkers in these neighborhoods have better opportunities to lead healthier lives. As this initiative winds up its final year of programming, it is vital that community convener grantees and their partners are prepared to grow and sustain their work at the end of the grant cycle. In 2021, NYHealth awarded a grant to University Settlement Society of New York to sustain opportunities for a healthy lifestyle and physical activity for residents on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Under this grant, University Settlement built upon its existing work of making healthy lifestyles accessible for residents, including older adults, on the Lower East Side. It implemented the “Stay Healthy at Home” campaign to support the health and wellness of older adults. It worked with partners to gather input and ideas from residents to design a culturally competent campaign that met the needs of the community. The campaign included health information and resources to promote physical, social, and mental health and wellness for older adults who remained at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. University Settlement also completed a walking map project to promote physical activity by connecting residents to exercise circuits and walking trails in their neighborhood. The map was accessible on a website with an easy-to-use interface, and included points of interest and activities for older adults. The campaign and the walking map created a set of lasting materials and resources that residents can use for methods and ideas to stay healthy.

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Inc.

NYHealth’s Building Healthy Communities priority area used a place-based approach to improve the health of six communities across the State.

Over the course of six years and with almost $20 million in grant support, NYHealth partnered with each community to increase access to healthy, affordable food and to improve the built environment to make physical activity easier for residents. In each neighborhood, community convener organizations acted as the main coordinators for the work, assembling and mobilizing partnerships to achieve shared goals. Additional public and private investments at the city, State, and national levels have also emerged to support place-based efforts to improve health. It is important for the Foundation to critically evaluate the philanthropic strategies that it used, glean lessons for itself and the broader field, and help inform future efforts. In 2021, NYHealth awarded Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors a grant to assess NYHealth’s philanthropic and grantmaking strategies for the Building Healthy Communities priority area, which came to a close at the end of 2020.

Under this grant, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors performed a comprehensive assessment to evaluate grantee work and the Foundation’s impact on communities. It reviewed a range of documents and materials generated during the Building Healthy Communities program, including requests for proposals; grantee reports; evaluation reports; publications and presentations; meeting agendas and materials; and community-facing outreach and other materials. It also conducted individual or group interviews with a range of stakeholders, including grantees, local residents, leaders in healthy food and active living, government stakeholders, other funders, capacity-building partners, and NYHealth staff and Board members. Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors synthesized findings and lessons learned into a report that provides an overall assessment of NYHealth’s approach to place-based grantmaking and offers broad learnings and implications for other foundations.

Project EATS

Through its Building Healthy Communities priority area, NYHealth has supported neighborhood-level approaches to improve access to healthy, affordable food and to activate spaces to encourage more physical activity.

To sustain the progress that has been made in these communities, it is important that neighborhood grantees have the tools and capacity they need to maintain and expand their initiatives and goals. Grantees have expressed a particular need for support in advocating for local policy change and solutions and effectively communicating their wins, goals, needs, and value. Strengthening these efforts will help ensure the long-term sustainability of the achievements and place-based work in each neighborhood. In 2021, NYHealth awarded Project EATS a grant to increase the efficiency and sustainability of its community farming program in Brownville, Brooklyn.

Under this grant, Project EATS implemented strategies to strengthen its community-based farm and food programs that make it easier for residents to afford and consume healthy food. Project EATS upgraded and implemented data systems that make it easier to identify and capture metrics about its finances, farm outputs, customer base, and sales. This information helped Project EATS develop and adopt strategies that improve its productivity and speak to the health needs of Brownsville residents. It also developed a business plan for a line of healthy, affordable prepared foods that are culturally appropriate and sold locally in the community.

Betty&Smith

Through its Building Healthy Communities priority area, NYHealth has supported neighborhood-level approaches to improve access to healthy, affordable food and to activate spaces to encourage more physical activity.

To sustain the progress that has been made in these communities, it is important that neighborhood grantees have the tools and capacity they need to maintain and expand their initiatives and goals. Grantees have expressed a particular need for support in advocating for local policy change and solutions and effectively communicating their wins, goals, needs, and value. Strengthening these efforts will help ensure the long-term sustainability of the achievements and place-based work in each neighborhood. In 2021, NYHealth awarded Betty&Smith a grant to provide University Settlement with communications support for a campaign to improve the health of older adults on the Lower East Side.

Under this grant, Betty&Smith partnered with University Settlement to develop the “Stay Healthy at Home” campaign, focusing on the physical and mental health of older adults in the community. It created culturally tailored communication materials, informed by conversations with and insights from residents, community leaders, and other stakeholders. Betty&Smith helped University Settlement and community organizations customize messaging that resonated with older adult communities, including exercise and healthy eating tips, COVID-19 vaccination information, ideas for virtual connection, and mental health resources. Posters, postcards, and flyers were developed for both English and non-English speakers about these resources. Following the campaign’s launch, Betty&Smith set up check-ins and metric-gathering opportunities to see which materials were most effective and valuable for older adult communities and helped University Settlement adjust them as needed.

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