DeWITT, N.Y. — Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is accepting applications for its 2024 Health Equity Innovation Awards.
The award grants provide funding to community-based organizations to support health and wellness programs that address racial and ethnic health disparities in upstate New York.
Nonprofit organizations in Excellus’ 31-county service area can apply for funding of up to $30,000. Rochester–based Excellus is Central New York’s largest health insurer.
The online-application portal is now open and will close on Oct. 4 at 11:59 p.m., per the health insurer’s announcement.
Applications should propose “innovative projects with measurable outcomes, expansion potential, and clearly outlined goals to reduce health disparities and address social disadvantages,” Excellus said. Funding is dependent upon a project’s ability to demonstrate “tangible improvement” in racial and ethnic health equity.
Priority categories for the Health Equity Innovation Awards include improved maternal health outcomes; behavioral health or mental-health conditions; acute and chronic disease management; and social determinants of health such as economic stability; education access, and quality; health care access and quality; neighborhood and built environment; and social and community context.
“The Health Equity Innovation Award funding is designed to support initiatives that confront the fundamental causes of health disparities, particularly those linked to structural racism,” Simone Edwards, VP of health equity and community investments at Excellus. “By providing funding for projects that tackle social, economic, and systemic issues, we aim to create a healthcare system that is fair and equitable for everyone.”
Excellus’s service area includes Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Clinton, Cortland, Delaware, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Montgomery, Oneida, Onondaga, Ontario, Otsego, Oswego, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, St. Lawrence, Tioga, Tompkins, Wayne and Yates counties.