New York School-Based Health Foundation

Using Data to Tackle Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Students’ Health and Health Care

In 2023, NYHealth issued a Request for Proposals (RFP), “Primary Care: Expanding Access and Advancing Racial Health Equity,” to test replicable models that improve the accessibility, quality, and equity of primary care in regions across New York State. NYHealth awarded the New York School-Based Health Foundation (NYSBHF) a grant to participate in this initiative. 

Grantee Name

New York School-Based Health Foundation

Funding Area

Primary Care

Publication Date

July 2025

Grant Amount

$172,500

Grant Date:

January 2024 – March 2025

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Under this grant, NYSBHF identified racial health disparities among the 250,000 public school students receiving primary care at school-based health centers (SBHCs) across New York State. It provided technical assistance to participating SBHCs to develop action plans to reduce these disparities. It used its newly developed Data Hub, a repository of demographic and clinical data from more than half of all SBHCs statewide, to identify the most common chronic and behavioral health conditions affecting students and the racial and ethnic disparities in their care. Based on these findings, NYSBHF worked with 130 SBHC sites managed by 10 hospitals and community health centers to develop tailored action plans. It then supported SBHCs to implement screening, outreach, education, and quality improvement initiatives. NYSBHF also convened SBHC members to share learnings, provided technical support to improve data quality, and expanded participation in the Data Hub to enhance the representativeness of the data. Information from the Data Hub was shared with health systems, educational organizations, local and State health departments, and other SBHC networks.

Outcomes and Lessons Learned

Uncovered disparities in and across SBHCs, including lower rates of behavioral health services for Black and Hispanic students, fewer comprehensive physical exams among Black students, and reduced obesity screening and counseling for Hispanic students.
Supported SBHCs in responding to disparity reports with targeted interventions, such as culturally and linguistically tailored outreach campaigns for behavioral health services and reforms to scheduling and intake processes to mitigate bias.
Produced a first-of-its-kind statewide report of disparities among students served by SBHCs and disseminated it to 500 SBHC clinicians, administrators, and policymakers.
Presented findings at the National School-Based Health Alliance conference and on an NYHealth-hosted webinar.
Worked with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to revise a data collection form that contributed to underreporting of student race and ethnicity data.
Added 19 SBHC sites representing 20,000 students in Central New York to the Data Hub, which enhanced diversity and rural representation.

Moving ahead, NYSBHF will build on this work by addressing racial and ethnic disparities related to insurance status. It plans to pilot a new reporting template for SBHCs to disaggregate care quality measures by students’ insurance status—uninsured, Medicaid-insured, and privately insured.

While NYSBHF has helped SBHCs make meaningful progress in identifying and narrowing racial and ethnic disparities, these efforts continue to face challenges. Data quality issues remain—particularly in small and rural sites—and school-based health centers continue to operate under chronic underinvestment. These pressures are likely to grow as SBHCs face potential Medicaid cuts and rising administrative costs if required to negotiate directly with managed care organizations under proposed policy changes in the upcoming legislative session.

Co-Funding and Additional Funds Leveraged: Mother Cabrini Health Foundation ($165,000), Ira W. DeCamp Foundation ($75,000).

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