New York Health Foundation

Enter your search

Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in excerpt

Top searches

Year: 2019

National Academy of Sciences

Provisions in the Affordable Care Act were intended to support preventive primary care, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality have devoted more than 1 billion dollars to research and demonstration projects largely aimed at transforming primary care.

However, it is unclear if or how these efforts will be sustained or expanded upon if they demonstrate benefit to primary care practice. Although significant focus has been placed on improving access to and delivery of high-quality, comprehensive primary health care, progress has been too slow. In 2019, NYHealth awarded the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) a grant in support of a consensus study that will recommend ways to effectively scale and implement innovations in primary care.

Under this grant, a committee was formed and charged with building on the recommendations of the 1996 Institute of Medicine report, “Primary Care: America’s Health in a New Era.” Committee members’ areas of expertise included primary care delivery; clinician training and education; implementation science; health care administration; health disparities; health care technology; federal, state, and local health care and public health programs and policies; and health care finance. The committee held workshops and other information-gathering activities, as well as analyzed current scientific evidence on a range of topics, including the expanding scope of primary care; changes in training and workforce; care delivery and payment models; and behavioral and social determinants of health. The committee used findings and conclusions to produce a final report on actionable recommendations for addressing the barriers to implementing high-quality primary care.

SCAN-New York Volunteer Parent-Aides Association

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

Although all the communities are working toward the common goal of improving the health of their residents, each community may face particular challenges. By offering responsive and time-sensitive technical assistance funding to grantees and their partners, NYHealth can help them meet their goals. In 2019, NYHealth awarded the SCAN-New York Volunteer Parent-Aides Association (SCAN-Harbor) a grant to expand its youth-focused, resident-driven program for creating a healthier food environment, Get Healthy, East Harlem (GHEH).

Under this grant, SCAN–Harbor provided technical assistance to expand the GHEH program at five New York City Housing Authority community centers and two schools in East Harlem. GHEH taught youth and other community members skills to make healthy lifestyle changes and improve access to healthy foods. It offered a youth training and leadership program for participants to learn about food systems, practice healthy eating behaviors, and acquire workplace skills related to the food industry. Other GHEH activities included hands-on cooking labs for families, pop-up healthy food cafés, and other community-wide food justice events for residents. Through the GHEH program, youth and other community members learned new knowledge and skills to build a healthier food environment and culture in East Harlem.

LSNY – Bronx Corporation

In a state as large as New York, a steady stream of smart, innovative work is coming from NYHealth grantees and non-grantees alike that is relevant to NYHealth’s priority areas of Building Healthy Communities and Empowering Health Care Consumers and its focus area on Veterans’ Health.

These organizations should be elevating their work and informing key stakeholders at regional, statewide, and national conferences, meetings, and other convenings. Yet, because of a lack of resources, they are often unable to do so. To address this issue, NYHealth is awarding grants through its Sponsoring Conference Participation in Support of Healthy Communities, Consumer Empowerment, and Veterans’ Health Request for Proposals (RFP). Through this RFP, NYHealth is sponsoring low-resource organizations to attend and present at local, State, and national conferences related to these areas. In 2019, NYHealth awarded Bronx Legal Services a grant to participate in this initiative as part of its efforts to support veterans’ health.

Under this grant, Bronx Legal Services sent two staff members to National Health Law Program’s 2019 Health Advocates Conference. This conference brought together health advocates, attorneys, and policymakers from across the country to discuss health policy issues and challenges facing low-income individuals and families, including veterans. It provided an opportunity for attendees to share information, ideas, and best practices for working successfully with consumers and health care access. The staff members learned more about Medicaid enrollment and renewal issues; changes to the Affordable Care Act, veteran’s health insurance, and Medicare; techniques to navigate managed care; and cuts to long-term care. Bronx Legal Services used knowledge gained from the conference to improve its outreach methods to veterans and their families.

View a complete list of conference participating grantees. 

Legal Aid Society

In a state as large as New York, a steady stream of smart, innovative work is coming from NYHealth grantees and non-grantees alike that is relevant to NYHealth’s priority areas of Building Healthy Communities and Empowering Health Care Consumers and its focus area on Veterans’ Health.

These organizations should be elevating their work and informing key stakeholders at regional, statewide, and national conferences, meetings, and other convenings. Yet, because of a lack of resources, they are often unable to do so. To address this issue, NYHealth is awarding grants through its Sponsoring Conference Participation in Support of Healthy Communities, Consumer Empowerment, and Veterans’ Health Request for Proposals (RFP). Through this RFP, NYHealth is sponsoring low-resource organizations to attend and present at local, State, and national conferences related to these areas. In 2019, NYHealth awarded the Legal Aid Society a grant to participate in this initiative as part of its efforts to empower health care consumers.

Under this grant, Legal Aid Society sent two attorneys to the National Health Law Program’s 2019 Health Advocates Conference. This conference was tailored to the unique role attorneys can play in empowering health care consumers. By attending this conference, the attorneys broadened their expertise, expanded their professional networks, and gained further skills in using effective and emerging consumer advocacy strategies. The conference included sessions and workshops directly pertinent to Legal Aid Society’s work to assist clients in navigating managed care and mitigating concerns in immigrant health care, threats to long-term care, and delivery system reform. The conference also allowed the Legal Aid Society to showcase its work in advancing transparency, ease of access, and client-centered health care in New York State.

View a complete list of conference participating grantees. 

Green City Force

Green City Force (GCF) works with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) to engage public housing residents ages 18–24 in the AmeriCorps national service program.

Through the Farms at NYCHA program, corps members build and maintain farms on public housing properties across New York City to serve their fellow residents and improve their communities. To date, Farms at NYCHA has brought six large-scale farms to City public housing properties, expanding healthy food access and offering youth workforce and leadership training. These farms provide residents with fresh vegetables, cooking demonstrations, and community events. In 2019, NYHealth awarded GCF a grant to expand the Farms at NYCHA program at developments in East Harlem and Brownsville and pilot a training program to more fully engage the local residents that these farms serve.

Under this grant, GCF supported two service coordinators at the urban farms in East Harlem and Brownsville. The service coordinators lead teams of 15 corps members at each farm, growing more than 2,000 pounds of food per site over the year. As part of the resident engagement pilot, 30 corps members were trained on techniques to increase resident participation; these included volunteering at the farms, bringing compostable food scraps in exchange for fresh produce, and attending cooking demonstrations and other community events at their complex’s farm. These activities built a strong cohort of residents and neighbors who are deeply invested in shaping the future of the neighborhoods, as well as positioned Brownsville and East Harlem as models that can be replicated at other Farms at NYCHA locations.

Brotherhood/Sister Sol, Inc.

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

Although all the communities are working toward the common goal of improving the health of their residents, each community may face particular challenges. By offering responsive and time-sensitive technical assistance funding to grantees and their partners, NYHealth can help them meet their goals. In 2019, NYHealth awarded Brotherhood/Sister Sol (Bro/Sis) a grant to engage youth in East Harlem in a health and environmental leadership program.

Under this grant, Bro/Sis helped young people in East Harlem develop food justice leadership and job skills through its Gaia Food Empowerment Project. The project trained youth leaders to support healthy food access and sustainability in their communities. Bro/Sis began a YouthMarket farm stand in the community to engage young people in its operations and increase healthy food access for residents. It ran culinary skills and nutrition workshops for community members to learn how to prepare healthy food and increase their knowledge base. To build leadership and job skills among young people, it also offered educational training, workshops, and conferences on food advocacy, environmental justice, and business operations.

 

caret-down