The Institute for Family Health Receives $450,000 Grant Award from Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity

New York, NY (December 13, 2022) — The Institute for Family Health is among 71 awardees that received a grant from Direct Relief’s Fund for Health Equity, which mobilizes financial resources for organizations focused on non-clinical interventions that affect a person’s health. Commonly known as the social determinants of health, these factors include an individual’s physical, social, cultural, and economic environment.

The grants, which total $22.7 million and will be disbursed over two years, were awarded with funding from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the AbbVie Foundation, and Eli Lilly and Co. to support underserved communities across the United States.

The Institute for Family Health received $450,000 from the Fund for Health Equity for startup operating support for a new, state-of-the-art federally qualified health center to be located at 145 West 108th Street in Manhattan, on the lower level of a large-scale supportive and low-income housing and shelter complex. The Institute’s new health center will serve the building’s residents as well as the community-at-large, providing a critical health care access point for underserved individuals of all ages, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. The 108th Street site will have capacity to serve approximately 4,000 patients through over 12,000 primary medical care visits and 3,000 mental health visits annually, as well as insurance enrollment and care coordination services.

“We are pleased to bolster the indispensable work of the Institute for Family Health and other grassroots organizations striving to reduce disparities and increase equity in vulnerable populations across the United States,” said Dr. Byron Scott, MD, MBA, Co-Chair of the Fund for Health Equity and Board Director of Direct Relief and Chair of its Medical Advisory Council. “It is a privilege to promote and support these organizations that are deeply connected to the communities they serve, know best what their patients and communities need, and the most effective means of providing it.”

The organizations in the latest round of funding were chosen for their efforts to enhance workforce diversification, reduce health disparities, and expand innovative models of care. A full list of winners can be found here.

The awardees were selected by the Fund for Health Equity’s Advisory Council, which includes the following members:

Co-Chair Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, 18th U.S. Surgeon General of the United States, Founder Bayou Clinic, Inc.

Co-Chair Byron Scott, MD, MBA, Board Director of Direct Relief and Chair of its Medical Advisory Council

Martha Dawson, DNP, MSN, RN, FACHE, President and CEO President of the National Black Nurses Association, Associate Professor the University of Alabama at Birmingham

Jane Delgado, Ph.D., MS, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health

Gail Small, JD, Head Chief Woman, a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe

Since the start of the Fund in 2021, more than $42.5 million has been provided to support 149 organizations across the U.S.

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The Institute for Family Health (www.institute.org) is a federally qualified health center network that operates 29 practices in New York State serving roughly 100,000 patients annually. Services are available to people of all ages, regardless of ability to pay.