RTW Foundation announced over $850,000 for 11 outstanding nonprofit organizations dedicated to expanding health access for underserved communities across NYC.
NEW YORK CITY, NY, UNITED STATES, January 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Today, RTW Foundation, the philanthropic arm of biotech investment firm RTW Investments, announced over $850,000 in grant funding for 11 outstanding nonprofit organizations dedicated to expanding health access for underserved communities across New York City.
New York City residents face increasing barriers to healthcare access. Federal policy shifts have exacerbated already high medical costs for New Yorkers across all forms of healthcare coverage and 28% of adults say they delay or forgo medical care due to cost. Black and Hispanic adults, as well as uninsured populations, are even more likely to forgo care due to high out-of-pocket costs. On top of that, 60% of nonprofits surveyed by Brooklyn.org have experienced cuts in government funding in the last year. This is forcing many to scale back or suspend free health services at a time when barriers to care are rising in neighborhoods with unmet needs.
Given this reality, RTW Foundation increased its community funding by over 80% to strengthen the local healthcare ecosystem across New York City. RTW Foundation grant partners are on the front lines of New York’s emerging healthcare crisis, providing free primary and specialized care, transportation support, care navigation, and appointment incentives. “Supporting our partners through funding challenges is central to our mission of advancing health equity,” said Marti Speranza Wong, Co-Chair of RTW Foundation. “By standing alongside them and strengthening their organizations, we aim to ensure that access to quality health services remains available to every New Yorker.”
Since 2020, RTW Foundation has supported 35 New York City nonprofits through $3.9 million in community grants. Together, our health equity initiatives have expanded access to care, improved quality of services, and addressed social determinants of health, reaching over 122,000 New Yorkers. RTW Foundation will continue collaborating with exceptional partners, providing value beyond grant funding, through Days of Action and other co-created programming. “We are proud to support and work alongside trusted local leaders at this critical moment,” said Sarah Garwood, Director of Community Engagement at RTW Foundation. “Now and in the years ahead, many more New Yorkers will rely on community-based health services, given rising barriers to access, and we are dedicated to strengthening pathways for safe, affordable access to care across New York City. Healthcare is a human right, and we will continue to strengthen local organizations to ensure all residents can receive the care they need.”
Learn about some of RTW Foundation’s new grant partners strengthening health access across New York City below:
The Floating Hospital is a Federally Qualified Health Center providing comprehensive, affordable care to underserved patients in New York. Through their Good Health Shuttle, The Floating Hospital will provide free transportation to over 15,000 patients from shelters and safe houses across the five boroughs this year, building access to care.
Karen’s Club is a new grant partner dedicated to providing personalized and culturally responsive consulting to cancer patients of color. Before each patient’s initial consultation, Karen’s Club equips a research team with a concise summary of the patient’s concerns and barriers, which helps clinicians offer tailored education and guidance during 1:1 navigation sessions.
We’re grateful to partner with East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership (EHHOP), the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s student-run, physician-supervised, free clinic providing care to uninsured adults in East Harlem. Supporting EHHOP for the third year in a row, our grant will enable appointment incentives and transportation coverage for 300 patients to access regular primary and specialized care.
Community Health Action of Staten Island is a returning grant partner whose project will educate 1,000 NYCHA residents on hypertension, deliver health screenings to 250 patients, and support 250 patients with care navigation and follow-up appointments. The project will also sustain a dedicated community health worker to lead its hypertension program, helping protect a critical service that was temporarily paused due to funding cuts.
The NYU Langone Health Undiagnosed Diseases Program, provides long-awaited diagnoses for medically complex patients who have gone years without answers after standard clinical evaluations. With this grant, the team will enroll 25 families in the program this year, providing state-of-the-art genetic and genomic testing for rare disease patients regardless of socioeconomic status.
Hamilton-Madison House is another third-time grant partner that expands access to behavioral health services for the Asian American community. The grant will support a psychology fellow’s hands-on behavioral health service training focused on the linguistic and cultural needs of New York City’s pan-Asian-American community.
Mixteca is a third time grant partner whose project will focus on providing health education and free screenings for over 2,125 Latino community members in Brooklyn through health fairs and Days of Action. The organization will also train 15 community health navigators, or Promotoras, in mental health first aid.
RaisingHealth Partners is a third-time grant partner whose project will provide free, bilingual individual and group mental health counseling to community members in Brooklyn. The team will also reach 2,000 New Yorkers in Brooklyn through psychoeducational outreach and monthly workshops.
Saving Mothers is another second-time grant partner that is dedicated to eradicating preventable maternal deaths and birth-related complications in New York City, where Black women are nine times more likely to die from pregnancy or childbirth than white women4. With this grant, Saving Mothers will provide 300 mothers with mPOWHER Mom’s Kits.
Grameen Promotoras, a Grameen America community health program, is a new grant partner that supports thousands of underserved entrepreneurs across New York City with health education, screenings, and personalized referrals and care navigation. With our support, Grameen America will hire and train an additional community health worker who will deliver health curriculum, create health action plans, provide navigation support, and screenings.
Violence Intervention Program (VIP) is a returning grant partner that will hire a new bilingual Healthcare Specialist to provide direct referrals and navigation for about 500 low-income Latina women and their children. The grant will also support intensive individualized healthcare case management for at least 150 mothers, including accompaniment to visits, advocacy with healthcare providers for billing, and care management.
Samantha Darris
RTW Foundation
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