Institute for Leadership, Inc.

Diabetes prevalence in New York State has doubled since 1994 and is expected to grow; 1.8 million New Yorkers suffer from diabetes and 4.2 million have prediabetes.

To address this crisis, the New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) invested in a $35 million Diabetes Campaign with the goal of reversing the epidemic. The Campaign focuses on improving clinical care and patient outcomes; mobilizing communities to prevent diabetes and support diabetes self-management; and promoting policies that sustain comprehensive and effective care for people with diabetes. NYHealth funded the Institute for Leadership (IFL) to further the Campaign’s goal of mobilizing communities to spread programs that help prevent, identify, and manage diabetes in places where people live, work, and worship.

Targeting the regions hardest hit by diabetes in New York State (Albany, Rochester, Buffalo, and New York City), IFL focused its efforts to accomplish the following:

• Recruited and trained 60 additional places of worship throughout the State to participate in its Defy Diabetes initiative and raised funds from other organizations to support 40 start-ups;
• Conducted 12 trainings for 200 new community health worker (CHW) volunteers to implement the program at their place of worship; and
• Provided technical assistance to CHWs, assisted congregations with collecting data from participants, and organized and sent data to NYHealth for input and analysis.

IFL continued to develop capacity of the Defy Diabetes programs by implementing a train-the-trainer model to help CHWs replicate the program; training a Campaign Ambassador to oversee replication in each region of the State; providing financial counseling to help congregations find self-sustaining funding for the program; and supporting CHWs by providing them with small stipends and access to health and social service information and educational resources.

Grant Update

NYHealth has awarded IFL an additional $10,000 in grant funding, bringing the new grant amount for year three to $523,244. Read more about the additional funding.