Health and People with Special Needs

Program goals: To address the complex social, medical, and legal problems of people with HIV.

Since this issue cuts across a number of program areas, projects may fall within a number of our funding categories. A limited amount of support is available specifically for policy research and advocacy efforts that:

• Increase public understanding of AIDS and HIV infection.
• Improve the funding and delivery of services.
• Improve coordination among service organizations.

In addition, we administer the New York City AIDS Fund a collaborative effort of grantmaking organizations in the City to promote community prevention and service projects. The Fund provides grants in four areas:

• Direct service,
• Advocacy,
• Education and prevention efforts, and
• Technical assistance to strengthen the capacities of organizations fighting AIDS.

Applications are accepted only in response to requests for proposals. see our latest RFP here. With any questions about the proposal process, contact Len McNally at (212) 686 - 0010 x556.

The Trust provides funding for biomedical research projects in three areas:

• Blood Diseases
• Cancer
• Leprosy and Tuberculosis

Grants for these projects are awarded in response to requests for proposals. Please check here for available RFPs.

Program goals: To support program innovation and reform and eliminate service gaps.

We make grants to:

• Improve services to those people with visual disabilities who are presently underserved, such as the elderly, minorities, people with multiple disabilities, people in institutions, and youth in transition from school to work. Projects need not be limited to direct service, and may include advocacy and organizational improvement.
• Involve people with visual disabilities more fully in community activities. Special emphasis will be given to encouraging collaborative efforts among agencies serving those with visual disabilities and those with sight.
• Expand programs that identify people with vision problems at an early stage and link them with appropriate resources. A variety of efforts are needed to intervene in problems ranging over the span of life from premature birth to old age.
• Empower persons with visual disabilities by enabling them to participate in planning programs that affect them. Priority will be given to projects that develop their leadership skills.
• Support research in the prevention and treatment of blindness. This may include clinical, epidemiological, and applied studies.

Program goals: To stimulate policymakers and service providers to improve existing services for children with disabilities and to encourage a service approach that emphasizes independence and the development of full potential.

We make grants to projects that:

• Foster integration into community life, independent living, and improved self-image.
• Improve early identification of disability, encourage early intervention, and increase access to early childhood education.
• Provide comprehensive treatment, planning, and referral programs for children and their families.
• Assess needs, develop policy, and advocate to improve the delivery and coordination of services.

Program goals: To enable elderly people to remain active in their communities and to meet the basic needs of those who are vulnerable and dependent. Resources are primarily targeted toward the most underserved elderly and those whose needs are most acute, including members of racial and ethnic minorities, the poor, and those with chronic illnesses or mental or functional disabilities.

We make grants that:

• Increase the number of elderly who are able to participate in community activities, particularly those involving contact with young people.
• Enable the elderly to assume a leadership role in planning, influencing, or changing the programs that serve them.
• Improve the management, capacity, and resources of government and voluntary agencies serving the elderly, and encourage collaboration among agencies.
• Assess need, develop policy, and advocate to improve the delivery and coordination of services.

Program goals: To improve the effectiveness, responsiveness, and equity of health care in New York City.

We make grants for services, policy research, advocacy, and technical assistance that:

Promote the accessibility of basic health services, especially in minority and immigrant communities by:

• Advocating for the expansion of affordable public and private health insurance;
• Providing health screening, early intervention, and referral for effective treatment of disease; and
• Providing services to needy people with serious illness.

Strengthen health service providers, especially those serving the City's poorest residents through:

• Model program development;
• Improving the cultural competency of health care providers; and
• Capacity building and better use of information technology.

Promote healthy lifestyles by:

• Educating adults and children about the benefits of healthy diets and weight reduction;
• Encouraging more exercise; and
• Developing model health promotion programs.

Program goals: To foster the independence of people with mental illness and mental retardation, and to encourage a community-based system of care.

We make grants to projects that:

• Improve the quality and availability of community housing and services for people with chronic mental illnesses.
• Improve and expand the delivery of mental health services to children and adolescents, especially those that stress the early identification and remediation of problems.
• Strengthen advocacy groups that promote reimbursement practices and allocation of mental health resources that correspond to community needs; or direct the attention of service providers, policy makers, and the general public to the mental health concerns of racial and ethnic minorities.