New York Health Foundation

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Region: NYC

Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. However, stark disparities persist by race and ethnicity, and communities of color experience disproportionately high rates of food insecurity and diet-related disease. The communities most affected by these disparities often have the best solutions to improving food equity. However, systemic barriers often exist, and historically, organizations led by people of color have not had equal access to or benefited from traditional philanthropy funds and resources. In 2024, NYHealth issued an inaugural Request for Proposals (RFP), “Healthy Food, Healthy Lives: Supporting a More Equitable Food System,” to advance racial health equity in the food system. NYHealth awarded the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation (Tzu Chi) a grant to participate in this initiative. 

Under this grant, Tzu Chi will implement a Food Is Medicine program to provide its senior clients, a majority of whom are Asian immigrants, with nutritious and culturally appropriate food and nutrition education. It will coordinate resources and services with community care providers and establish a referral program with the Coalition of Asian-American Independent Physicians Association (CAIPA), a professional association representing more than 1,800 New York physicians and serving more than half a million patients in the Asian community. Tzu Chi and CAIPA will work together to identify health care organizations focused on Food Is Medicine, holistic health, or nutrition and refer Tzu Chi clients to services while providing feedback and evaluation on client progress.  

See a full list of grantees working to advance racial health equity in the food system. 

 

The Campaign Against Hunger

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. However, stark disparities persist by race and ethnicity, and communities of color experience disproportionately high rates of food insecurity and diet-related disease. The communities most affected by these disparities often have the best solutions to improving food equity. However, systemic barriers often exist, and historically, organizations led by people of color have not had equal access to or benefited from traditional philanthropy funds and resources. In 2024, NYHealth issued an inaugural Request for Proposals (RFP), “Healthy Food, Healthy Lives: Supporting a More Equitable Food System,” to advance racial health equity in the food system. NYHealth awarded The Campaign Against Hunger (TCAH) a grant to participate in this initiative.

Under this grant, TCAH will partner with Brooklyn Plaza Medical Center (BPMC) to pilot a Food Is Medicine project in Brooklyn, New York. BPMC health care providers will identify eligible low-income patients and provide them with a prescription for produce. It will also provide vouchers that allow patients to order prescribed groceries from TCAH’s online market and pick them up from its market truck stationed at the health care facility. TCAH’s urban farms and its network of farm suppliers of color will source the available fresh fruits and vegetables at the market. Patients will also have the opportunity to purchase food using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP), and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) benefits. This project will increase access, regardless of patient mobility, to prescribed healthy foods that can support better health outcomes.  

See a full list of grantees working to advance racial health equity in the food system. 

 

SMART University

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. However, stark disparities persist by race and ethnicity, and communities of color experience disproportionately high rates of food insecurity and diet-related disease. The communities most affected by these disparities often have the best solutions to improving food equity. However, systemic barriers often exist, and historically, organizations led by people of color have not had equal access to or benefited from traditional philanthropy funds and resources. In 2024, NYHealth issued an inaugural Request for Proposals (RFP), “Healthy Food, Healthy Lives: Supporting a More Equitable Food System,” to advance racial health equity in the food system. NYHealth awarded SMART Food for Life a grant to participate in this initiative.

Under this grant, SMART will launch SMART Food for Life, a pilot project that will connect a cohort of clients with chronic health conditions, including HIV, diabetes, and heart disease, to nutritional counseling; a medically-tailored food plan; and the delivery of prescribed food. Through its partnership with Mount Sinai Hospital’s Medicine Residency Program, SMART will link each cohort participant to a partnered physician who will provide an individualized food prescription. It will also use its partnerships with food vendors including Shop Healthy supermarkets, GrowNYC, and local farmers markets to help fill food prescriptions. SMART aims to develop a replicable model that can be shared with other nonprofits and health clinics.

See a full list of grantees working to advance racial health equity in the food system.

New York University Grossman School of Medicine

A core strategy of NYHealth’s Primary Care priority area is to elevate the non-clinical workforce—specifically, Medical Assistants (MAs) and CHWs—and integrate them into primary care teams to improve patient health outcomes, reduce clinician strain, and support equitable career advancement.

Previously, NYHealth supported the New York Alliance for Careers in Healthcare to design a statewide scan of the current functions and desired roles of MAs on care teams. Similarly, an understanding of on-the-ground experience is needed to effectively scale models of CHWs’ integration. In 2024, NYHealth awarded New York University (NYU) a grant to conduct focus groups with primary care providers and community health workers regarding CHW integration into care teams across New York State.

Under this grant, NYU will conduct a series of focus groups both upstate and downstate to elicit experiences and information from both CHWs and the clinical and community-based providers that employ and partner with them (e.g., academic medical centers, community hospitals, community health centers, physician practices). NYU will distill the findings into a research brief that summarizes themes and offers recommendations, share related materials with researchers and CHWs in other states, and promote its work through webinars and publications.

 

Project Renewal, Inc.

In recent years, New York has invested significant resources in expanding mental health care access, but an acute mental health workforce shortage is stymying those efforts.

The shortage affects hospitals and outpatient settings across the State, at all levels of the mental health care workforce, including for entry-level positions like psychiatric social health technicians (psychiatric technicians). Psychiatric technicians play a role in caring for patients with mental illnesses and/or developmental disabilities. They alleviate the burden on nurses and other clinical staff and promote safety by assisting patients with activities of daily living, providing coverage for 24-hour monitoring of high-risk patients, and conducting wellness checks. While demand for this work is forecasted to grow, the employee pipeline is inadequate. The workforce development sector has long recognized the value of supporting individuals with lived experience (e.g., homelessness, mental health disorders) to fill frontline positions, but these workers often face discrimination in the employment process and lack the training and support to manage their personal challenges. In 2024, NYHealth awarded Project Renewal a grant to pilot a workforce development training program to help address mental health workforce shortages in New York City while also creating a career pathway for individuals who have lived experience with homelessness, substance use disorder, justice system involvement, and/or mental illness.

Under this grant, Project Renewal will partner with NYC Health + Hospitals (H+H) to launch a first-of-its-kind psychiatric technician work training program. Project Renewal will recruit participants for a training program focused on patient care, health care settings, and executive functioning. To ensure participants can complete the training program, Project Renewal will provide comprehensive wraparound services such as housing support and transportation. H+H will host an intensive internship program that will create a pipeline for employment; successful participants are expected to be hired for technician positions upon completing the internship. Project Renewal will use the training program as a proof of concept to advocate for a New York State-approved program model paving the way for Project Renewal and other health systems to expand the program.

 

Health Care for All New York (fiscal sponsor: Hispanic Federation)

Historically, primary care has not been a core focus for consumer advocates in New York, but the landscape is changing.

Consumer advocates’ priorities are gradually moving toward those that align with NYHealth’s strategies to expand access to primary care and advance racial health equity. In 2024, NYHealth awarded Health Care for All New York (HCFANY) a grant to develop and implement a new consumer advocacy agenda focused on primary care.

Under this grant, HCFANY will focus on three core policy areas: expanded coverage, enhanced affordability, and improved accessibility of primary care services. Advocates will also explore opportunities to advance policies focused on rebalancing health care spending toward primary care, transforming the health care payment and delivery system to prioritize primary care, and strengthening the primary care workforce. HCFANY will educate and activate consumer advocates on primary care issues and use policy research and analysis; communications; grasstops leader mobilization; and administrative policy advocacy to advance its efforts.

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