New York State Association for Rural Health

A key goal of NYHealth’s Building Healthy Communities priority area is to create healthy communities that lead to more New Yorkers of all ages eating healthy foods, being physically active, and having access to a range of programs that encourage healthy life choices.

Many organizations across the State are doing smart, innovative work that is relevant to NYHealth’s work to improve health in New York neighborhoods. These organizations should be elevating their work and informing key stakeholders at conferences and other convenings in New York and nationally. Yet, because of a lack of resources, they are often unable to do so. To address this issue, NYHealth awarded grants through its Sponsoring Conference Participation in Support of Healthy Communities Request for Proposals (RFP). Through this RFP, NYHealth sponsored community-based organizations, health departments, and other low-resource organizations to attend and present at local, State, and national conferences related to building healthy communities. In 2017, NYHealth awarded New York State Association for Rural Health (NYSARH) a grant to participate in this initiative.

With NYHealth funding, NYSARH sent one staff member to attend the New York State Association for Public Health Conference, “Advocating and Activating for Change.” The staff member attended sessions on social determinants of health with an emphasis on rural issues and on behavioral health issues that lead to high rates of opioid use in rural parts of New York State. Attendance at the conference facilitated information and resource sharing between New York State Association for Public Health and NYSARH, which have overlapping missions. NYSARH was also be able to recruit new members to its network and promote attendance at its own upcoming conference. Information learned from the conference was shared with NYSARH members.

View a complete list of conference participation grantees.