What We Do
The New York Health Foundation seeks to improve the health of all New Yorkers, especially people of color and others who have been historically marginalized. We are committed not only to making grants, but also to making a difference beyond our grant dollars: informing health care policy and practice, spreading effective programs that work to improve the health system and make it more equitable, serving as a convener of health leaders across the State, and providing technical assistance to our grantees and partners.
Making Grants
Because New York State’s health system is so vast and the public health issues facing New Yorkers are so complex, our grantmaking is targeted to areas where we can use our resources effectively to address the most pressing health and health care issues facing New Yorkers today.
NYHealth grantees reflect the geographic, economic, social, cultural, and racial and ethnic diversity of the Empire State.
Informing Policy
To make a difference beyond our grant dollars and achieve greater impact, we seek to inform changes in policy and practice that will lead to a transformed, more equitable health system and better health for all New Yorkers, especially people of color and others who have been historically marginalized.
We support timely, unbiased, credible analyses and research on important health policy issues facing New York State and develop practical solutions along with our partners and grantees.
Sharing What Works
As a statewide organization committed to improving the health of all New Yorkers, especially people of color and others who have been historically marginalized, we are interested in supporting efforts that can have wide-scale impact. When we see a promising or proven idea, we endeavor to collaborate with our grantees, partners, and other funders in testing, replicating, and spreading that model.
Though our financial resources are relatively modest for a statewide foundation, we make concerted efforts to leverage our limited dollars to achieve the most impact.
Pursuing Racial Health Equity
For NYHealth, health equity means that everyone has the opportunities and resources they need to be as healthy as possible and that no one is disadvantaged. We strive to approach our grantmaking with a lens on racial equity, paying particular attention to the health needs of New Yorkers of color and historically marginalized communities. We know that addressing racial health equity is an ongoing process—we endeavor to keep ourselves accountable through internal and external feedback.
Priority Areas
Healthy Food, Healthy Lives
Food insecurity is widespread and serious across New York State. To connect New Yorkers with the food they need to thrive, NYHealth seeks to enable policies that promote healthy and affordable food and test and scale programs that connect people to healthy and affordable food.
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Primary Care
Primary care improves individual and community health, enhances health equity, and lowers health care costs. To ensure that New Yorkers can get care when they need it, the Foundation is focused on we focus on three intersecting strategies: (1) expanding primary care access and capacity; (2) advancing racial health equity; and (3) strengthening the primary care workforce.
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Special Projects Fund
Grants through our Special Projects Fund allow us to support projects that address an important health care or public health issue in the State, but are outside of our targeted priority areas. Eligible projects are coordinated interventions that take place over a specified period of time to achieve quantifiable results.
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Veterans' Health
The NYHealth Initiative for Returning Veterans and Their Families seeks to underscore that the health care, mental health, and social services issues returning veterans and their families face are not solely military issues, but public and community health issues that should be addressed by local and national government agencies, community-based organizations, and health funders.
Learn MoreOur History
NYHealth was established as a private foundation to receive the charitable funds resulting from the conversion of Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield from a nonprofit organization to a for-profit corporation. Since beginning operations in 2006, NYHealth has made more than 1,550 grants totaling more than $193 million to nearly 750 organizations to improve the health of all New Yorkers, especially people of color and others who have been historically marginalized.
