Since our founding in 2002, the Health Foundation for Western & Central New York has focused on improving the health of people in the 16 counties of New York State we serve, with a focus on children ages zero to five and older adults. This work has always recognized the impact that poverty can have on health outcomes. However, until 2020, we had not taken an explicit stance on the role that race and socioeconomic status can play in a person’s health.
In March 2020, our board and staff completed a rigorous year-long strategic planning process. We agreed that systemic racism and socioeconomic inequity are indisputable drivers of health disparities. As a result, the board committed to a new organizational vision of racial and socioeconomic health equity, as well as a detailed strategic plan to pursue that vision.
The Health Foundation’s vision is: A healthy central and western New York where racial and socioeconomic equity are prioritized so all people can reach their full potential and achieve equitable health outcomes.
In the time that has passed since the strategic plan was adopted, the Health Foundation has undertaken several system-wide and department-focused initiatives to ensure our grantmaking and organizational decisions are supporting our efforts in advancing health equity.
In 2025, the board voted to extend the strategic plan’s timeline through 2028. Later the same year, they voted to update some of the strategic plan’s strategies to reflect what we had learned in the previous five years.
Learn more about our goals and strategies in our strategic plan summary here or in the images below.
