Mobilizing Communities

The New York State Health Foundation's Diabetes Campaign builds on existing community resources and support community- and faith-based organizations to strengthen their capacity to implement and expand diabetes screening and management and increase access to diabetes care and resources. We engage leaders to advance communitywide policy changes for increased access to healthy foods and physical activity space. The Campaign targets initiatives that have a lasting impact on large numbers of people.

Faith-Based Initiative

The Campaign selected faith-based organizations as one of the first community initiatives of the Campaign. Faith-based organizations are trusted sources of information and activity in their communities and, if they are motivated and supported, they can influence their membership to improve their health.

In December 2009, the Campaign awarded a grant to The Institute for Leadership to advance one of NYSHealth's main objectives: to mobilize communities to spread programs that help prevent, identify, and manage diabetes in places where people live, work and worship. Specifically, this grant will work with faith-based organizations (FBOs) across New York. The Diabetes Campaign’s Faith-Based Initiative will target regions hardest hit by diabetes in New York State: the Finger Lakes, Hudson Valley, Long Island, New York City, and Niagara County.

To see the materials for our faith-based campaign, please visit http://www.faithfightsdiabetes.org.

YMCA Initiative

Another area of investment for the Campaign is a community-based approach that focuses on diabetes prevention among New Yorkers at a high risk for diabetes. With a $375,000 grant to the New York State YMCA Foundation, NYSHealth is supporting programs at 10 Ys across the State to implement a community-based diabetes prevention program to stop the onset of Type 2 diabetes.

The initiative is a partnership among the New York State YMCA Foundation, the New York State Department of Health’s Diabetes Prevention and Control Program, and NYSHealth, offering sessions on healthy diets, exercise, and behavioral change in a group environment for community members with pre-diabetes, which occurs when an individual’s blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. People with pre-diabetes are five to 15 times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than someone without the condition. It increases their risk of developing heart disease, stroke, and eye disease.

The program will be available to residents in the following areas: Capital District, Binghamton, Buffalo, Long Island, Middletown, Plattsburgh, New York City, Rochester, Syracuse and Watertown. To learn more about a participating Y in your area, click here.