Our Grantees

New York State has more than 250 colleges and universities that enroll more than 1.1 million students. Mental health issues are prevalent on campuses and the onset of many mental health disorders occurs during the college years. According to a recent survey by the American College Health Association, 15% of college students were formally diagnosed with depression last year, up from 10% four years ago.

The previous work conducted by Professor Billings with NYSHealth support was instrumental in developing and implementing New York State’s Chronic Illness Demonstration program (CIDP). CIDP is a $20 million investment by the State that seeks to improve care management and coordination for high-cost, fee-for-service Medicaid patients.

Costly health care services for predominantly low-income residents of the Bronx are largely paid for by public health insurance programs, and costs could be reduced by improving post-hospital care to prevent hospital readmissions. The Care Management Company (CMO) successfully completed a 2009 NYSHealth cost-containment planning grant that established the Bronx Collaborative and developed a care transitions intervention. The Collaborative currently includes three major hospital systems (Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, and St. Barnabas Medical Center) and two insurers (HealthFirst and EmblemHealth). The Collaborative is also working with the major home care agencies serving the Bronx.

The New York State Chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians represents more than 4,300 family physicians and medical students throughout the State. As one of the New York State Health Foundation’s Diabetes Campaign clinical nodes, the Academy will continue to serve as a vehicle to disseminate resources and tools to family physicians to help them improve the care and outcomes of their patients with diabetes.

According to the American Diabetes Association, pre-diabetes puts people at a higher risk for developing diabetes, but with timely interventions diabetes can be significantly delayed, and in some cases, prevented. A healthy lifestyle change can lower the risks of developing diabetes. This grant will support the start-up phase of a YMCA Diabetes Prevention Program. The goal of the initiative is to create and sustain a statewide infrastructure for addressing pre-diabetes, a condition where blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes.

This grant will provide core support to two coalitions working to improve access to, and the quality of, mental health and substance use services for veterans and their families. The two coalitions—the Veterans Mental Health Coalition of New York City, which has more than 150 members, and the Veterans Health Alliance of Long Island, which has more than 80 members—have been diligently working with State policymakers to ensure that resources meet the needs of veterans living in New York State. Each group consists of a cross-section of veterans service and advocacy organizations; behavioral health, health, and social services providers; and local, State, and Federal government officials.

With the economic downturn, NYSHealth recognizes that its grantees could benefit from financial management technical assistance (TA) in addition to direct grant support for their projects. Grantees from smaller organizations often lack experience developing and implementing long-term strategic fiscal plans that are critical to effectively sustaining their organizations and projects.

New York City has significantly higher death rates from cardiovascular disease and diabetes—both of which have been linked with diet—than the United States as a whole. Within the City, low-income neighborhoods are disproportionately affected by preventable diet-related diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

On January 12, 2010, hundreds of thousands of people were killed, injured, and displaced from their homes as a result of the earthquake that devastated Port au Prince, Haiti. The impact of this catastrophe extends beyond the shores of Haiti, affecting one of New York City’s growing, yet under-resourced, communities. New York City is home to one of the largest Haitian communities outside of Haiti—more than 140,000 individuals—the vast majority of whom live in Brooklyn and Queens.

It is estimated that one in four adults suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year, which translates to more than 2 million New York City residents. The New York State Office of Mental Health-licensed behavioral health clinics (Article 31 clinics) are frequently the first intervention in the lives of New Yorkers with mental illness; however, the viability of Article 31 clinics is in jeopardy.