Community

We build partnerships with local organizations to advance health equity in New York City

Roderick Wong, MD

Chairman

One of the hallmarks of our community partnerships is that we go beyond just financial support. Our team truly engages with communities and serves alongside our partners.

Sarah Garwood

Director, Community Engagement

Locally-led development is critical for lasting impact in the community. One thing I love about our work at RTW Foundation is that we really focus our projects on community-led initiatives and shift the power to local leaders. Our partners know the challenges their communities are facing the best, making them best positioned to respond well.

100,000+

New Yorkers provided with improved health access through community-based health services, low/no-cost health screenings & resources, appointment transportation, appointment incentives, and other health equity initiatives

177,000+

hot meals and groceries provided to combat food insecurity

2,438

people across underserved communities provided with culturally responsive mental health support, including 908 frontline healthcare workers

65,000+

people reached with vaccine education and improved health literacy

300

healthcare workers trained or hired to respond to underserved communities globally

2,867+

underserved students provided with education support and STEM programs

11,500

people vaccinated against COVID-19 through support for mobile vaccine services, nurses, community health workers, registration support, and appointment translation

30+

small businesses in Chinatown provided with support to remain open in the face of the pandemic

240

low-income families provided with safe, improved affordable housing

BioQuest

BioQuest is a STEM mentoring program designed to give middle and high school students opportunities to explore diverse careers in science, biotechnology, and medicine.

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Health Equity Grants

At RTW Foundation, we believe that building strong, lasting relationships with our Grant Partners is the cornerstone of meaningful change.

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Days of Action

RTW Foundation and our community partners are committed to advancing health equity by addressing key social determinants of health in NYC and beyond. One key way we achieve this is through our Days of Action.

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Community Partners

covid-response

Weill Cornell Medicine

“Pediatricians tend to think about one patient at a time, visit by visit, child by child. Our vision, graciously supported by the RTW Foundation, is to harness data collected through these visits to improve the health of children as a population. We will do this by organizing our data and making it available to our academic physician faculty to support a variety of initiatives and to improve access to care and clinical outcomes.”

- Dr. Zachary Grinspan, interim chief of the Division of Child Neurology, director of the Pediatric Epilepsy Program, and associate professor in pediatrics and in population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine

Areté Education

"We were able to expand our support services to families in temporary housing whose children have not been able to access schooling during this period of remote learning."

- Dr. Sarah Benis Scheier-Dolberg, President of Areté Education, Inc.

Think!Chinatown

"Think!Chinatown launched “Assembly for Chinatown” in the Spring of 2020 to design and construct outdoor build outs at no cost to the restaurants in need, most of which are immigrant- and family-owned."

- Yin Kong, Director and Co-Founder of Think!Chinatown

Hunts Point Alliance for Children

"At PS 48, we've faced many challenges over the last two years. The RTWCF funding will help our teachers be better equipped to handle the emotional challenges and traumatic changes our young learners have faced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic."

- Mr. Joseph Dicrescento, Principal at PS 48

New York Cares

"COVID-19 has devastated NYC, especially those communities that continue to suffer the effects of systemic inequality. New York Cares channels the goodness of New Yorkers to address the immediate needs of those communities while building a foundation for long term prosperity."

- Gary Bagley, former Executive Director of New York Cares

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

"Early in the pandemic, when Long COVID was an emerging phenomena leaving millions without answers or treatment options, the RTWCF provided us with our only source of research support. This enabled rapid, action-oriented research that has steered knowledge in the field of Long COVID rehabilitation and care."

- David Putrino, PhD, Director of Rehabilitation Innovation for the Mount Sinai Health System

Habitat for Humanity New York City

"COVID-19 may have placed us all in the same storm but we are not all in the same boat. Hard-working New York City families, particularly low-income families, have been among the hardest hit by the pandemic itself, and then again by the ensuing rent and mortgage crises."

- Karen Haycox, CEO of Habitat for Humanity New York City

Welcome to Chinatown

"Manhattan’s Chinatown is a resilient neighborhood that has long served as one of the oldest cultural enclaves in the U.S. The prolonged impact of the COVID-19 pandemic poses a great risk to accelerate the gentrification of Chinatown and the displacement of its residents and small businesses."

- Jennifer Tam, Co-Founder and Board Chair, Welcome to Chinatown

Send Chinatown Love

"Send Chinatown Love is able to feed about 2,500 hungry New Yorkers with meals through our Gift-a-Meal campaign."

- Justin McKibben, Founder of Send Chinatown Love

Violence Intervention Program

"For the Latinx communities hit hardest by death and diagnosis related to Covid-19 and its related economic devastation, this gift is a ray of hope."

- Margarita Guzmán, JD, Executive Director of Violence Intervention Program

ACT Care Foundation

“ACT Care Foundation gives many thanks to RTW Foundation for the support they have given our organization to enable us to continue the work we do in our community. Flatbush usually doesn't receive enough resources and RTW's contribution has enabled us to feed thousands of families, provide PPE, supplies and referrals to healthcare access. Their partnership has been a true blessing.”

- Ann Marie Selfridge, Program Director, ACT Care Foundation

AICC

"AICC aims to pilot an adapted online version of an evidence-based mental health support program for 32 Black nurses and healthcare workers."

- African International Collaborative Center

Community

Roderick Wong, MD

Sarah Garwood

Community Impact to Date