Mother Cabrini Foundation Announcement

March 4, 2020

NYS Council Note:  For your convenience we have attached the list of grantees

Article from today’s Crain’s Health Pulse

The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation has awarded $150 million in grants to more than 500 programs across the state.

The grants will go to improving the health and quality of life for people living in low-income and underserved communities, the foundation said.

The inaugural grant-making round follows the formation of the $3.2 billion foundation in 2018 through proceeds of the Catholic Church’s sale of the nonprofit health plan, Fidelis Care, to publicly traded Centene for nearly $3.8 billion.

The foundation, among the largest in the country, focuses exclusively on New York.

“We are honored to support such a wide range of organizations doing critically important work to improve the lives of New York’s most vulnerable communities,” Visa CEO Alfred Kelly Jr., chairman of the foundation’s board, said in a statement.

The grants include $25 million for youths and young adults, including awards to the Greater New York Hospital Association Foundation to improve access to medication and treatment for patients with opioid-use disorder. They also include $7 million for the needs of young children, pregnant women and new mothers, including an award to the United Hospital Fund to increase the number of children receiving primary care interventions that promote healthy development and address unmet social needs.

A $4 million grant was designated for programs at federally qualified health centers. Awards were made to the Community Health Care Association of New York State to benefit more than 70 health centers that serve low-income New Yorkers, as well as to the Wang Community Health Center in Flushing for its bilingual smoking-cessation program.

“Attracting and maintaining a skilled workforce is one of the biggest challenges community health centers face,” Rose Duhan, the association’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “This grant will help CHCANYS in accomplishing our mission to champion community-centered primary care in New York state through leadership and support of community health centers.”

Another recipient is Catholic Health Services, which got six grants totaling $3.8 million.

The largest of those grants—about $1.3 million—is earmarked for the health system’s Mercy Family Clinic in Rockville Centre, Long Island, to purchase medical equipment, medical interpreter certification for nurses and a shuttle van.

“Funding will be used to allow existing services to grow while also offering new health and wellness programs to vulnerable populations in the communities CHS serves,” said Jim Spence, senior vice president of mission and ministry for Catholic Health Services, in a statement provided to Crain’s. —Jennifer Henderson