Healthy Places by Design (fiscal sponsor: Third Sector New England)

Through its Healthy Neighborhoods Fund initiative, NYHealth is supporting six communities across New York State in their efforts to become healthier, more active places.

In 2015, NYHealth awarded a grant to Third Sector New England, as fiscal sponsor to Healthy Places by Design (formerly Active Living by Design), to provide technical assistance (TA) to and create a learning collaborative for Healthy Neighborhoods Fund grantees. The TA and learning collaborative have enabled grantees to share their experiences and knowledge; engage in peer-to-peer learning; identify best practices; find new funding opportunities; and guide future policymaking both locally and statewide. In 2016, NYHealth awarded a second grant in support of this initiative. In 2018, NYHealth awarded Healthy Places by Design a follow-up grant to provide TA and guidance to Healthy Neighborhoods Fund grantees and their partners.

Under this grant, Healthy Places by Design built on previous work to support the learning collaborative. It continued to provide TA, coaching sessions, and online resources to further sustain the work and partnerships of Healthy Neighborhoods Fund grantees. Healthy Places by Design has a successful track record of helping to build capacity of organizations to leverage and sustain opportunities for active living, healthy eating, and resident engagement. It continued to plan and organize in-person, Web-based, and telephone meetings with NYHealth, grantees, and other partners, but also tailored its TA to address the emerging and evolving needs of grantees. At this stage of their funding, grantees had established processes for the smooth running of their programmatic work, leaving them with time to focus on other topics, like sustainability planning and community, resident, and youth engagement to advance health. Healthy Places by Design supported grantees on developing these additional strategies.