NY Community Trust Updates Grant Strategies for Behavioral Health and Special Needs Programs
In June 2016, The New York Community Trust’s Board of Directors approved revised strategies for our Health and Behavioral Health and People with Special Needs grantmaking programs.
These strategies are the culmination of six-months of interviews with nonprofit leaders, government officials, and advocates; a literature review; and a scan of the field for best practices. A consultant, Laura Wolff, helped us with this process. If you were one of the many people who spoke to Laura, we appreciate your taking time to have the conversation. Your feedback was critical in helping develop the strategies.
These two programs are consolidated under our Healthy Lives area. Highlights of each of the strategies are below.
Health and Behavioral Health
To promote an equitable, patient-focused, and cost-effective health and behavioral health care delivery system. We will make grants to:
- Monitor—through research and advocacy—health care reform implementation.
- Build the capacity of New York City’s health, behavioral health, and human service sectors to succeed in a reformed health care system.
- Reduce health disparities between low- and higher-income neighborhoods through investments in disadvantaged communities.
- Foster the independence of people with mental illness and substance use histories.
People with Special Needs
The Trust has a coordinated strategy that reflects the common challenges and opportunities for four groups of people with special needs: the elderly, children and youth with disabilities, people with blindness and visual disabilities, and people with developmental disabilities. We support projects that target low-income individuals and communities and make grants to:
- Make New York City communities—especially those that are under-resourced—accessible, welcoming, and inclusive for people with special needs.
- Ensure that health, social, education, and vocational services allow people with special needs to live up to their fullest potential.
- Build the capacity of nonprofits serving people with special needs.
Both strategies give preference to projects that offer sector-wide, systemic, and multi-agency solutions, and whenever possible, make grants in partnership with other Trust program areas to ensure the greatest systemic impact of our dollars.
Our website has more details for each strategy. You can access these details by clicking on the Health and Behavioral Health and People with Special Needs links.
We look forward to continued partnership.