Home >> What's New >> Events and Campaigns

The Gift of Health for All New Yorkers

New Yorkers are living longer than ever before...and that's the best holiday gift ever!

The Gift of Health for All New Yorkers

Through our unique partnership with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Fund for Public Health in New York is working jointly to develop transformative programs that successfully address today's most pressing public health issues.

From decreasing smoking rates to school-based health clinics, these programs have improved the lives of countless New Yorkers in the last decade alone. But we still have a long way to go to make sure that everyone in our city is the healthiest and safest they can be.

This Holiday Season, help us give the gift of health and well-being to all of our neighbors.

 

Cribs for Kids

Secure cribs are essential to a safe sleep environment, but many babies in NYC are not fortunate enough to have one. In NYC, over the past five years, 60% of unintended infant deaths were caused by suffocation, and over half of those deaths were due to an unsafe sleep space. Tragically, babies most often affected by suffocation are those born to low-income families who cannot afford a safe crib. Cribs for Kids is a national program that was brought to NYC by the Health Department in 2007 to provide cribs to families in need that do not have a safe place for their newborn baby to sleep. The New York City Cribs for Kids program has distributed over 4,000 cribs since 2007 along with safe-sleep education. The NYC Health Department estimates that there are 12,000 families in NYC in need of a safe place for their child to sleep. A donation of $100 can provide a family in need with a crib, creating a safe place for their newborn baby to sleep.

 

Heart's Desire Scholarship Fund

The Heart's Desire Scholarship Fund helps first-time moms achieve self-sufficiency by alleviating financial barriers to furthering their education and/or returning to the workforce. The program provides scholarships for tuition and book assistance, vocational supplies, computers, and travel for clients of New York City's Nurse-Family Partnership program. In the past two years, over 100 scholarships have been granted to high-need, first-time mothers striving to achieve a better future for themselves and their families.

The Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is an evidence-based, nationwide nurse home-visiting program committed to improving the health, well-being and self-sufficiency of low-income first-time mothers and their children. Nurses implement the program through frequent, highly structured home visits from pregnancy until the child is two years old. NYC NFP is the largest urban program in the country, having served more than 9,000 clients since its inception in 2003 and currently serving approximately 2,000 clients across all five boroughs. Supporting NYC NFP's Heart's Desire Scholarship Fund is a great way to help young families succeed.