Health care centers were at risk. A no-interest loan was the answer Nearly 1.5 million served by community care facilities now have a fighting chance
As the pandemic settled into hard-hit areas like Jackson Heights and the Far Rockaways in Queens, home to immigrants, communities of color, and a population with high rates of chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease, community health centers were feeling the pressure. At first, clinics were seeing patients with COVID symptoms, but as soon as the state shut down, many had no option but to scale back services and consolidate sites or were forced to operate with a skeleton staff. Suddenly, revenues dropped between 30 to 60% during the pandemic, leaving primary care for more than a million low-income New Yorkers in jeopardy. Community-based health centers are federally designated and provide primary care services, irrespective of a patient’s ability to pay. In New York City, there are 40 such centers, each serving 35,000 people on average. Because most patients either qualify for Medicaid or are uninsured, federal and state money keep safety net health centers afloat. With the State of New York facing a $14.5 billion deficit this year alone, and the federal government assistance running out,
Robin Hood sensed a catastrophe was in the making. We partnered with the Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC), a national nonprofit certified by the U.S. Treasury as a community development financial institution to develop a COVID-19 Community Health Care Loan Fund. We seeded the fund with a $1 million no-interest loan over four years. This new fund enables nonprofit community health centers to obtain loans to support COVID-19 related expenses, including, recruiting and training staff, redesigning patient flow, and facilities to accommodate new protocols, setting up technology for telehealth, providing personal protection equipment, are all critical expenses necessary for clinics to safely reopen sites, restore services, and provide quality health care. Most importantly, by reopening, clinics we’re able to provide critical health care services, like childhood vaccinations, diabetes treatment, and mental health services as well as connections to other critical supports like food pantries and domestic violence services.
Because we understood that reopening was no small task, Robin Hood also awarded a $125,000 management assistance grant to support PCDC’s expert capacity building team to provide additional in-house business and operations technical assistance to weather this crisis. Our initial investment was leveraged to attract new investors to the fund. That worked. Recently, the Google Foundation/ Opportunity Finance Network provided a $5 million loan, and PCDC pledged another
$5 million. The organization is seeking additional investors to broaden the reach of the fund. Now more than ever, preserving a safety net in health care is critical for vulnerable New Yorkers, and necessary to better ensure the public health of everyone. Your contribution to Robin Hood enables us to continue to identify and shore up fragile systems like community health centers, so that our neighbors in need have a fighting chance to regain their footing.
NOW MORE THAN EVER, PRESERVING A SAFETY NET IN HEALTH CARE IS CRITICAL FOR VULNERABLE NEW YORKERS AND NECESSARY TO BETTER ENSURE THE PUBLIC HEALTH OF EVERYONE .
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