If you want to make a meaningful difference in the health and lives of New Yorkers, the New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) may be the right place for you. The Program Officer position is an ideal fit for a candidate who is mission-oriented, strategic, creative, and collaborative and who cares deeply about making the health care system work better for patients, their families, and their communities. In this role, you will join our dedicated staff in a collegial atmosphere and work with grantees and partners to advance and strengthen primary care across New York State.
NYHealth Background:
The New York Health Foundation (NYHealth) is a private, independent foundation dedicated to improving the health of all New Yorkers, especially people of color and others who have been historically marginalized. NYHealth began operations in 2006; today, it has approximately $350 million in assets, as well as a $17 million annual grants and operations budget.
The Foundation is committed to making grants, but also to making a difference beyond grant dollars: informing health care policy and practice; spreading effective programs to improve the health system and make it more equitable; serving as a convener of health leaders across the State; and providing technical assistance to grantees and partners. Today, the Foundation concentrates its initiatives in three strategic priority areas: Primary Care; Healthy Food, Healthy Lives; and Veterans’ Health. NYHealth also engages in responsive grantmaking through a Special Projects Fund.
NYHealth launched a priority area focused on Primary Care in 2023. Primary care improves individual and community health, enhances health equity, and saves money. Yet, we underinvest in primary care, and too many New Yorkers—especially New Yorkers of color— have difficulty getting care when and where they need it. The priority area has three core strategies: (1) expanding primary care access, (2) advancing racial health equity through primary care, and (3) strengthening the community health worker and medical assistant workforce.
Position Summary:
Supporting and reporting to the Vice President of Programs, the Program Officer will work in close partnership with another Program Officer and a Program Assistant to shape and manage the Primary Care priority area. This position is ideal for a creative and strategic thinker who can contribute to executing and refining the three core strategies of the Primary Care priority area.
The Program Officer will be responsible for co-designing program strategies and initiatives; reviewing grant proposals; making grants recommendations to the Vice President of Programs and other senior staff; managing grants and relationships with grantees; assessing and communicating the impact of grant-supported projects; and generating ideas for communications and advocacy efforts, public events, technical assistance opportunities, and partnerships. They will work collaboratively across the Foundation’s other priority areas and its communications, policy and research, and grants management teams to advance shared goals.
As part of the Foundation’s activist philanthropy model, the Program Officer will represent the Foundation at meetings and conferences throughout New York State and nationally; organize and facilitate convenings; and contribute to external publications. The Program Officer will also help develop relationships that advance the portfolio’s work with thought leaders, key stakeholders, funding partners, and policymakers.
Reports to:
Vice President of Programs
Responsibilities:
- Collaborate with the Primary Care team and other Foundation teams to design and operationalize program goals, strategies, and grantmaking opportunities.
- Cultivate, develop, and implement ideas for grant projects and initiatives that are most responsive to emerging trends and the Foundation’s strategies.
- Prepare and present written grant proposal summaries and provide recommendations to senior staff, review panels, and the Board of Directors.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with grantees, including facilitating meetings, conducting site visits, tracking grantee performance and evaluation activities, and providing strategic direction.
- Work with grantees to identify opportunities to enhance projects, respond to challenges, disseminate lessons learned, leverage the Foundation’s resources, and partner with other public and private sector funders.
- Convene grantees, stakeholders, and policymakers to educate and share about local health needs, grant-supported initiatives, and advocacy messages.
- Develop and maintain productive working relationships with stakeholders across sectors including policymakers, health care providers, patient and community advocates, community-based organizations, other private and public funders, and researchers to advance program strategies and coordinate around shared goals.
- In partnership with the Foundation’s policy and research team, synthesize learning to contribute to original NYHealth publications and inform the priority area.
- Contribute to quality improvement and growth within the Foundation, including facilitating shared learning among and across teams to inform future program development and grantmaking.
- Participate in conferences, seminars, and other professional development activities to deepen and enhance expertise, relationships, and professional growth.
- Respond to public inquiries about priority areas and contribute to disseminating and communicating the Foundation’s goals, objectives, and grantmaking results on its website, in publications, and in other public settings.
- Complete special projects as assigned.
Experience and Qualifications:
A graduate degree in public health, public policy, or a relevant discipline is preferred. Candidates with a bachelor’s degree and equivalent experience will be considered. Successful candidates will have deep knowledge of/direct experience in primary care and preventive care, with a deep understanding of the overall health care system (e.g., in areas of policy and regulation, reimbursement and financing, operations and care delivery, racial equity-focused health care initiatives, health-related social needs, and/or community partnerships). They will also have working knowledge of, and/or connections with, New York State and/or national primary care policy or advocacy organizations, health care providers, policymakers, funders, or other primary care stakeholders.
Additional qualifications include:
- Experience in applying for, receiving, and managing grants or prior philanthropy experience is highly desirable.
- Excellent project development skills, including the ability to assess unmet needs; develop project objectives; facilitate partnerships; assess potential for sustainability and systems change; and develop project budgets.
- Superb project management and organizational skills. Fine attention to detail and follow-through.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills. Ability to synthesize complex concepts into succinct, clear, and compelling narratives for diverse audiences.
- Excellent analytic abilities, including creative and strategic thinking and capacity for collaborative brainstorming.
- Excellent interpersonal skills: collegial; energetic; and able to develop productive relationships with colleagues, grantees, consultants, and others who contribute to program development and management. Works well with and welcomes opportunities to work across diverse cultures.
- Experience building networks and collaborating with health care, business, and community leaders and other partners in program work.
- A demonstrated commitment and contribution to fostering and advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion.
- Demonstrated maturity and seasoned judgment. Ability to make decisions, justify recommendations, and be responsive and clear with applicants and stakeholders.
- Ability to travel for site visits and to represent the Foundation at outside meetings.
