A Brooklyn nonprofit facility shows the future of holistic public health

A new community center in eastern Brooklyn aims to promote a holistic approach to public health. The East New York Health Hub – a collaboration between the Institute for Community Living and Community Healthcare Network – aims to combine services for physical and mental health issues with resources addressing issues such as housing, jobs, and food security, according to an Oct. 29 press release. City Councilman Rafael Espinal and New York State Office of Mental Health Commissioner Ann Marie Sullivan also joined in the festivities that day, which celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the opening of the 40,000 square-foot, $30 million facility. More than 240 full-time staff will work at the facility.

“The seriously mentally ill die 20 to 25 years earlier than the rest of us. Why? Because they don’t get the health care that ICL’s Hub can provide,” Sullivan said in the press release. “This is the future. We need to use this as a model so that people realize that integrated care is where the rubber meets the road. This is where the silos break down and everything comes together.”

Citymeals on Wheels has a new warehouse facility at Hunts Point in the Bronx. The Joan and Bob Tisch Emergency Meal Distribution Centers is a 30,000 square-foot facility that will expand the nonprofit’s capacity for supplying food to more than 18,000 older New Yorkers. Here are more details on the facility.

Start Treatment and Recovery Centers has received a $3.9 million contract renewal from the Administration for Children’s Services. The money will fund mental health services for youth in detention from April 1, 2019 through March 31, 2020, according to an agency representative and the City Record. KidsPeace National Center has also received a contract with the agency to provide family foster care services. The contract will run through June 2021, with a three-year renewal option. A financial total for the contract was not available by press time. MercyFirst also received a $6.7 million contract renewal to manage a youth reception area. The Department of Social Services awarded Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation a $2.4 million contract to provide three years of legal services for residents of northern Brooklyn.

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand wants Congress to increase funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. The Senate has only allocated $35 million for the security initiative, which helps pay for nonprofits and religious organizations to protect their facilities from terrorist attacks.
“Our religious institutions and nonprofits urgently need more federal funding to protect themselves against violent hate crimes like the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh,” Gillibrand said in an Oct. 30 letter to the Senate Committee on Appropriations. “We must do everything in our power to prevent another heinous, anti-Semitic attack from happening again. We all have a role to play in the fight against anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, and I urge my colleagues to join me in calling on Congress to fund this program at the highest possible level.”