Grantee Name
Queens Library Foundation, Inc.
Funding Area
Primary Care
Publication Date
August 2015
Grant Amount
$250,000
Grant Date:
May 2011–August 2014
The Rockaway Peninsula is a community of 116,000 that is considered the poorest in Queens, with more than 7,700 households living in poverty.
Residents are also in isolation: two toll bridges and a narrow roadway to Nassau County are their only connections to the mainland. The neighborhood has been designated a primary care shortage area; many residents are uninsured or have gone without insurance; and access to health care was further limited by the closing of three local hospitals. To help increase access to primary care for the community, NYHealth awarded a grant to Queens Library Foundation to develop a consistent, coordinated, large-scale health education and referral program throughout its local library network.