Aligning with New York State Prevention Agenda and New York City and Long Island public health priorities, the Community Service Plan (CSP) focuses on Economic Stability; Social and Community Context; Neighborhood and Built Environment; Healthcare Access and Quality; and Education Access and Quality.

Each of the CSP programs addresses a health disparity: unstable housing and the high risk for food insecurity and obesity among low-income populations; high risks of hypertension and barriers to care for South Asian populations; high rates of smoking among Asian American and immigrant men; high rates of teen pregnancy and risk for sexually transmitted disease among low-income youth; increased risk of maternal depression and child development delays among families who experience the stresses of poverty; and risk of inactivity and falls for the elderly.

Economic Stability

The following are economic stability programs.

Healthy Food Initiative

The Healthy Food Initiative is an evidence-informed intervention that aims to increase food security in Sunset Park, Brooklyn and surrounding communities by distributing emergency food through their food pantry and by assisting community members in accessing benefits and resources to reduce economic strain. In addition to decreasing food insecurity, the initiative also supports the consumption of healthy food by providing information about nutrition and enrolling people in programs that incentivize the purchase of healthy foods, such as New York City’s Health Bucks. The initiative includes emergency food assistance, screening for social drivers of health and case management, community education, and a community-wide coalition of food systems stakeholders.

Primary contact: Isabella Divilova, program supervisor, at Isabella.Divilova@NYULangone.org.

The Health & Housing Consortium

The Health & Housing Consortium (the Consortium) is a collaborative network of healthcare, housing, homeless and social services organizations, and government partners with the shared goal of improving health equity and housing stability in New York City. The Consortium’s core activities foster cross-sector relationships, inform policy, and build the capacity of frontline workers and direct service providers to support people with unmet health and housing needs. The Consortium envisions a world where all people live healthy, fulfilling lives and experience safety and holistic wellbeing in the housing and communities of their choice, with the support they need to thrive.

Primary contact: Tess Sommer, director of strategy and engagement, at info@hconsortium.org.

Health x Housing Lab

With rapidly growing health system interest in housing and an increasing recognition of the importance of housing for health, the Health x Housing (“health by housing”) Lab was created in 2021 with the mission of providing evidence-based guidance for initiatives sitting at the intersection of health and housing. The Lab aims to advance health and health equity by contributing toward a future in which all people have safe, stable, and affordable housing. The Lab’s Speakers Bureau and Peer Network facilitates opportunities for people with lived experience of housing challenges to share their expertise through speaking and writing engagements, peer networking, and training to develop communication and leadership skills.

Primary contact: Ingrid Berthomieux, senior project coordinator, at Ingrid.Berthomieux@NYULangone.org.

Social and Community Context

The following are social and community context programs.

Greenlight Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Program

The Greenlight program was initially developed as part of an NIH-funded project that was implemented in settings that served predominantly low-income Black and Hispanic families. The program trains pediatricians and other health care providers on how to communicate effectively with families using toolkits that contain culturally tailored educational materials that are easy-to-understand. The use of these plain language principles benefits all individuals but is especially helpful for those with low literacy.

Primary contact: Greenlight@NYULangone.org.

Tobacco Free Community

The CSP Tobacco Free Community portfolio is overseen by the Asian and Immigrant Communities Against Smoking (AICAS) Partnership, a collaboration of partners from various sectors working together to identify needs, share resources, and participate in advocacy efforts addressing the high rates of smoking in New York City's Asian and immigrant communities. Partners include Asian Americans for Equality, the Brooklyn Library, the Coalition of Asian-American IPA (CAIPA), the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center (CBWCHC), the Chinese American Medical Society, the Chinese American Planning Council, Immigrant Social Services, Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, NYCHA Smoke-Free, Family Health Centers at NYU Langone, NYU School of Global Public Health, and Public Health Solutions.

Primary contact: Binh Luu, project manager, at Binh.Luu@NYULangone.org.

REACH FAR: Community Health for Asian and Arab Americans: Preventing Chronic Disease Through Engagement with Community and Faith-Based Organizations

REACH FAR Community Health for Asian and Arab Americans in Brooklyn recognizes the important role that faith- and community- based organizations can play in improving the health of immigrants and racial and ethnic minority populations. REACH FAR Brooklyn partners with mosques, social service agencies, local leaders, and primary care settings in Brooklyn neighborhoods with substantial concentrations of South Asian and Arab American communities to improve cardiovascular risk factors (including obesity, hypertension control, and diabetes management) and promote healthy eating.

Primary contact: Muneeba Hassan, program supervisor, at Muneeba.Hassan@NYULangone.org.

Neighborhood and Built Environment

The following are neighborhood and built environment programs.

Red Hook Community Health Network

Red Hook Community Health Network (RHCHN or Health Network) is a network of community-based organizations, residents, and health partners working to improve the health of Red Hook residents by expanding access to health services and organizing to address root causes of health disparities in the 75 community. The Network was developed in response to the Red Hook Community Health Needs and Assets Assessment (CHNAA), undertaken as part of previous NYULH CHNAA and published in 2018.

Primary contact: Kara Smith, network manager, at Kara@RHICenter.org.

Community Health Worker Research & Resource Center

The Community Health Worker Research & Resource Center (CHW-RRC) was established in 2018 to recognize and strengthen the CHW workforce and to harness NYU Langone’s extensive CHW-related expertise to enhance and support emerging and existing CHW and patient navigator programs. The CHW-RRC develops and hosts professional development activities, training, and convenings; conducts research alongside CHWs about the CHW workforce; maintains the CHW Resource Hub; and engages in advocacy aimed at uplifting and sustaining the CHW profession. Through these activities, we highlight the unique and essential role CHWs play in improving health outcomes and reducing health inequities.

Primary contact: Dina Pimenova, project manager, at Dina.Pimenova@NYULangone.org or CHWRRC@NYULangone.org.

Fall Prevention and Exercise for the Elderly

Evidence-based fall prevention and exercise programs for the elderly are being implemented on the Long Island campus. These include Tai Chi for Arthritis for Falls Prevention, A Matter of Balance, the Otago Exercise Program, and Chair Yoga for Wellness.

Primary contact: Kymona Tracey, director, Community Education, Outreach, and Health Benefit at NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island, at Kymona.Tracey@NYULangone.org.

Healthcare Access and Quality

The following are healthcare access and quality programs.

PlayReadVIP

PlayReadVIP (formerly Video Interaction Project or VIP) is a strengths-based, evidence-based parenting program developed by faculty at NYU Langone and NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue that uses videotaping and developmentally-appropriate toys, books, and resources to help parents utilize pretend play, shared reading, and daily routines as opportunities for strengthening early development and literacy in their children.

Primary contact: PlayReadVIP@NYULangone.org.

ParentChild+

The two critical aspects of young children’s early literacy—social-emotional development and language development—are challenged when a child lives in a home environment that is stressful, unpredictable, or has limited resources. ParentChild+ (PC+), a national, evidence-based early literacy, parenting and school-readiness program, serves low-income, immigrant families in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. PC+ makes a significant difference in the lives of young children and their families by supporting families as they enhance positive parent-child verbal and non-verbal interaction; enhance their positive parenting skills; enhance their child’s early literacy skills essential for school readiness; and enhance their child’s conceptual and social-emotional development.

Primary contact: Jeannette Martinez, coordinator, Sunset Park Family Literacy Program, Family Health Centers at NYU Langone, at Jeannette.Martinez@NYULangone.org.

Family Support Services

The NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island Pediatric Center serves the largely Black and Hispanic population of Hempstead, a community with high levels of poverty—three times higher than in Nassau County overall. The families served by the Center are therefore more likely to experience risk factors for poor health such as food insecurity, homelessness, adverse neighborhood environments, and lack of access social services.

Primary contact: Kymona Tracey, director, Community Education, Outreach, and Health Benefit at NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island, at Kymona.Tracey@NYULangone.org.

Community-Oriented Virtual Primary Care and Technology (CARE Tech)

The Center for Community-Oriented Virtual Primary Care and Technology (CARE Tech) was added to the Community Service Plan in February 2024 to address inequalities in healthcare access in Flatbush, Red Hook, and Sunset Park, Brooklyn through a digital health lens. While digital health tools have the potential to increase access to high quality care, virtual care can often be inaccessible for certain populations due to disparities in technology and broadband access, digital and technology literacy, and language services.

CARE Tech designed the Digital Health Resource Center for use by clinicians and administrators at the Family Health Centers at NYU Langone, as well as community-based partners in Flatbush, Red Hook, and Sunset Park, Brooklyn. It provides access to a variety of informational materials that can be referenced, shared, and distributed on the topics of telehealth and telemedicine, mobile health, device and broadband access, and digital literacy.

Primary contact: Elaine Skaggs, project coordinator, at Elaine.Skaggs@NYULangone.org.

Education Access and Quality

The following are education access and quality programs.

ParentCorps

Low-income children experience steep inequalities in academic achievement, mental health concerns, graduation rates, and more. One reason these inequalities persist is that pre-K programs, especially those in disinvested neighborhoods, lack the resources to create an optimal learning environment. Educators often report that they need more support to provide the kind of high-quality, family-centered pre-K experience that sets the stage for children’s long-term school success and well-being. ParentCorps is an enhancement to pre-K programs that target this gap. In partnership with educators, ParentCorps works to support an educational experience that engages parents as partners and supports children’s social-emotional well-being to help unlock the full promise of early childhood education.

Primary contact: Kai-ama Hamer, ParentCorps Director, at Kai-ama.Hamer@NYULangone.org.

Project SAFE

Project SAFE prevents unintended pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS through evidence-based interventions within a youth development framework that builds upon the existing strengths of young people. Project SAFE has been providing teen leadership, culturally appropriate sexual health information and services, and HIV peer education programming at the Project Reach Youth (PRY) site in Brooklyn since 1989. The program provides youth ages 11 to 24 with support and opportunities to avoid risky behaviors and to develop to their full potential and become agents of change in their communities.

Primary contact: Michelle Nees, director, Adolescent Health Education, Family Health Centers at NYU Langone, at Michelle.Nees@NYULangone.org.

Measure and Enhance Population Health and Support Local Collaboration-Building

The following programs measure and enhance population health and support local collaboration-building.

Brooklyn Data Station

The Brooklyn Data Station (BKDS) provides the infrastructure to support our several community health needs and assets assessments to direct resources by identifying areas of need, and to monitor trends. Its focus is primarily in Sunset Park and Red Hook in Brooklyn, but the Data Station has also provided support for our needs and assets assessments in the Lower East Side and Chinatown and Hempstead.

Primary contact: Jennifer M. Norton, PhD, research assistant professor and director, Brooklyn Data Station, at Jennifer.Norton@NYULangone.org.

CSP Communications Network

Officially launched in early 2023, the Communications Network is a space for peer-knowledge sharing for programs within the CSP and community-based partners. Birthed out of a need to maintain and build connections during the COVID-19 pandemic, this group has evolved into an infrastructure that supports community engagement through innovative and adaptable communication strategies.

Primary contact: Bethany Springer, senior data analyst, at Bethany.Springer@NYULangone.org.