NYHealth’s 2023 Progress Report

Progress

• NYHealth grantees played key roles in educating policymakers and advocating for and achieving policy wins to improve health care protections and food access for New Yorkers.
  • New York State enacted additional medical debt protections for consumers. One new law prohibits agencies from including medical debt of any amount on credit reports, making New York the second state in the nation to do so.
  • Foundation-supported work resulted in a major statewide expansion of free school meals regardless of income. Approximately 83% of students statewide will now have the food they need to be healthy and learn well.
• NYHealth testified and provided public comments to local, State, and federal policymakers on various issues:
  • New York City veterans’ health needs
  • Expanding and strengthening primary care
  • Healthy school meals for all students
  • Protections against medical debt
  • Health insurance coverage for immigrants
  • Medicaid reimbursement for Community Health Workers

Progress

• Completed engagement with a racial equity consultant who worked with staff across the organization to implement discrete changes and initiatives to advance equity.
• Released an equity-focused RFP in the Healthy Food, Healthy Lives program area to support organizations led by and serving people of color.
• Established a permanent staff committee focused on equity.
• Updated and refreshed organizational values statement to include equity.
• Completed additional equity-related trainings and coaching for senior leadership and staff.

Progress

• Conducted new research related to program priorities, including:
  • Food insufficiency
  • New York State food systems
  • Veteran suicide
  • Mental health
  • Primary care workforce (Medical Assistants and Community Health Workers)
• Provided expert testimony and public comments on a broad range of topics, including:
  • Supportive services for student veterans at CUNY
  • WIC program benefits
  • National school meal quality
  • Child nutrition programs
  • Health Equity Impact Assessments
  • A federal action plan for primary care
  • Needed services for New York City veterans

Progress

• Eight regional/local planning groups are developing food systems plans with expert capacity-building support. Groups in the Finger Lakes, Buffalo, and the North Country are now ready to turn plans into action by:
  • Implementing regional outreach and enrollment plans for nutrition incentive programs (e.g., Double Up Food Bucks, Fresh Connect);
  • Launching a healthy food grant and loan program in partnership with city agencies and leveraging federal funds;
  • Advocating for and securing changes to city zoning codes to support the expansion of public gardens; and
  • Supporting a youth-led advocacy campaign for healthier food options at recreation centers and the formal adoption of those healthier options.

Progress

• Field & Fork Network secured a $2 million annual appropriation from the State for a second year in a row to leverage the Double Up Food Bucks Program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) also awarded Field & Fork Network $8 million. Double Up Food Bucks provides financial incentives to low-income consumers to increase fruit and vegetable purchases. Field & Fork is now operating in 32 counties and serving more than 42,000 SNAP recipients.
• The Hub on the Hill and its partner AdkAction became the first food hub in the nation to accept SNAP payments online. Field & Fork Network is now partnering with the Hub to offer Double Up Food Bucks online for Hub customers. This is the first time Double Up Food Bucks has been used online.

Progress

• The NYHealth-supported Healthy School Meals for All Coalition advocated for policies to make school meals free for all students. The 2023–2024 New York State budget includes $134 million for free school meals; an additional 1,100 New York schools serving 300,000 students are expected to adopt free breakfast and lunch this school year.
• The Good Food New York Coalition, comprising more than 40 food system experts, crafted a policy that would enable municipalities to use their purchasing power to promote healthier food. In 2023, legislation supporting the Good Food Purchasing Program was introduced to the New York State Legislature, where it passed the Senate and key committees in the Assembly.

Progress

• The Food Pantries for the Capital District’s Food is Medicine (FIM) Coalition played a lead role in advocating for the integration of FIM services into the State’s 1115 Medicaid waiver, as well as for registered dietitian services to be covered by Medicaid. In 2023, the coalition published a set of FIM recommendations for New York State to take when the waiver is implemented.

Progress

• Provided expert testimony focused on strengthening resources for student veterans and preventing veteran suicide.
• Participated in a working group funded by the U.S. Department of Justice aimed at expanding and increasing the quality of Veterans Treatment Courts throughout New York State.
• Co-hosted a summit focused on expanding peer mentor programs for military veterans and held an event focused on the contributions of and discrimination experienced by Black World War II veterans.
• Cultivated and strengthened relationships with media outlets and positioned the Foundation as a source of expertise on veterans’ health in New York. Media coverage included stories about expanding access to care, housing insecurity, firearm access, and suicide prevention. NYHealth analyses continue to inform the field on topics such as veteran suicide and peer mentor services.

Progress

• Leveraged nearly $3 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to expand best-in-class suicide prevention services to veterans throughout New York State.
• Invested in and partnered with New York Cares, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the Veterans Outreach Center, and the University of Rochester Medical Center to expand access to evidence-based approaches to prevent veteran suicide and increase firearm safety for veterans, their families, and community members.

Progress

• Launched NYHealth’s Primary Care priority area in 2023. Efforts in our inaugural year included:
  • Issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to advance two of our core program strategies to expand access and advance racial health equity through primary care. This RFP elicited more than 100 letters of interest.
  • Conducted site visits and attended conferences in Central New York, the Mid-Hudson Valley, the North Country, Long Island, and Western New York to learn from health care providers, community-based organizations, and local foundations about regional health needs and opportunities.

Progress

• The Primary Care Development Corporation re-animated its campaign to increase investment and rebalance health care spending toward primary care.
• NYHealth testified on behalf of increased primary care investment. We joined several other independent foundations in calling on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to release its Action Plan for Primary Health Care and in supporting the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to convene an expert panel to inform federal policymaking.
• The Foundation supported the equitable development of telehealth:
  • The University of Rochester Medical Center is connecting rural Finger Lakes residents to virtual primary care services through local banks.
  • Manatt Health is examining evolving telehealth policies after the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency and recommending changes that will preserve and expand equitable access.

Progress

• Produced fact sheets on the characteristics and varied roles of MAs and CHWs in New York State.
• Commissioned the New York Alliance for Careers in Healthcare to understand the landscape and identify opportunities to elevate MAs on primary care teams.
• Supported the Community Health Care Association of New York State (CHCANYS) to grow and maximize the MA workforce through a statewide apprenticeship program and policy advocacy to expand the scope of practice.
• Submitted comments to support proposed Medicare reimbursement for CHWs.

Progress

• NYHealth’s two 2023 Special Projects Fund Requests for Proposals elicited 278 requests for funding, 65% of which had a statewide, multi-county, or upstate regional impact.
• Grants addressed a variety of topics, including mental health services for young people living in rural areas, advancing birth equity through expansion of doula services within clinical teams, and integration of age-friendly practices in supportive housing sites.

Progress

• Played a lead role in developing a consortium of funders that has committed more than $2 million to support the Keep New York Covered Initiative, a community outreach initiative to help re-enroll close to 9 million New Yorkers in health insurance coverage. The initiative, led by the Community Service Society, is mobilizing community-based organizations across the State to conduct marketing and outreach activities. Efforts are proving successful; New York ranked in the top five states keeping families and children enrolled in Medicaid at the end of the year.
• Addressed the ongoing needs of New Yorkers experiencing the effects of Long COVID. NYHealth awarded grants to NYC Health + Hospitals and Long COVID Justice to support a patient-centered approach to connect patients to care, train primary care providers, and engage patients and communities to identify treatment needs and preferences.
• Addressed health care needs stemming from a large influx of migrants and asylum seekers in New York City. Grants are supporting culturally and linguistically appropriate health navigation and mental health support.

Progress

Publishing

• Published 11 reports and 13 commentaries, in addition to 13 grant outcome reports.
• Published 6 op-eds and letters to the editor.

Traditional Media

• Received 110 media hits.

Convening

• Held 31 convenings, including the Foundation’s first in-person events since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hosted two large conferences, on veterans’ health and healthy food, and held webinars on topics including telehealth, the opioid crisis, mental health, and medical debt.

E-mail/Social Media

• Maintained nearly 17,000 contacts on our e-mail lists.
  • Averaged a 34% open rate (industry standard is 37%) and a click rate of 6% (industry standard is 4%) for e-mail blasts.
• More than 7,000 Twitter/X followers and more than 1,600 LinkedIn followers.

Website

• Website traffic increased by about 13% compared with 2022.

Progress

• Performance in 2023 was strong. Investment return for the year was 18.6%, the second highest in the Foundation’s history.
• As of December 31, 2023, the 3-year compound annual return on endowment investments was 4.3%, net of fees.
• Investment performance relative to peers for the 3-year period ending September 30, 2023 (latest comparison available) ranked in the bottom quartile.¹ Our returns since inception are above median.

¹ Peer data are based on a survey conducted by Cambridge Associates; “Peers” are defined as foundations with less than $500 million in assets. There are currently 60 foundations contributing such data.

Progress

• NYHealth was certified with another clean audit.
• The average rating by grantees of NYHealth staff members’ responsiveness was of 6.51 (out of a 7-point scale), placing NYHealth highly relative to peer foundations.² 
• In 2023, all grantees received their initial payment within an average of 12 days of receiving an award notice.

² Based on the 2022 Center for Effective Philanthropy Grantee Perception Survey.