We are honored that Breaking Ground has been named a recipient of the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation’s January 2022 grant program, which recently awarded $140 million to more than 450 programs and organizations across New York State.
Mother Cabrini Health Foundation’s grant to Breaking Ground will make possible our Queens Healthcare Pilot (QHCP), an initiative to improve health-related connections and care for unsheltered homeless individuals in the adjacent neighborhoods of Elmhurst and Corona in Queens. The program will be specifically tailored to meet the needs of un- and under-documented individuals experiencing homelessness.
“As we look back at the compounding crises of the last few years, the health-related needs of vulnerable communities have only grown. Our grantees have demonstrated tremendous resilience, creativity, and dedication to serving those in need, especially as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have such detrimental impact,” said Alfred F. Kelly, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Visa and Chair of the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation Board.
“Grant funding from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation will provide a lifeline for the un- and under-documented people we are serving on the streets of Queens,” said our CEO, Brenda Rosen. “The roll out of this approach could not come at a more crucial moment, and we are eager to put this grant to work helping people get connected to healthcare, housing, and other services that will transform their lives.”
People who are un-documented and unsheltered face extreme challenges to accessing healthcare, putting them at risk of developing chronic conditions or and premature death. Breaking Ground’s three-year pilot program will enhance the agency’s existing outreach operations in Queens to deliver robust, person-centered wraparound healthcare coordination services. Forging partnerships with a diverse group of community-based healthcare providers and systems, the program will offer connections to a wide spectrum of medical services – including primary care, health screening services, substance use treatment, mental healthcare, and more – to meet each person’s needs. The holistic approach will also aim at addressing key social determinants of health through legal services and transitional and permanent housing.
At the conclusion of the three-year pilot program, the results will be disseminated with the goal of establishing methodologies that can be both replicated across Breaking Ground’s suite of programs and adapted by peer organizations.
The planning phase for the implementation of the QHCP program was made possible by generous support from the Altman Foundation and Mizuho Americas.