Affinity Health Plan - Community Outreach

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Community Outreach

Since its founding, Affinity Health Plan has been dedicated to improving the health and welfare of the communities we serve. We recognize that good health is more than the absence of illness. Good health reflects the totality of a person's well-being - in physical, emotional, economic, social and cultural terms.

We address these broader issues of health by building partnerships with a wide array of other community groups, including local businesses, schools, faith-based organizations, recreation programs and local public officials. Through these partnerships, we sponsor or collaborate on many innovative programs that impact lives - one person at a time, one community at a time.

We believe that healthy communities of the future start with young people, and education is a key part of that future. That is why Affinity Health Plan sponsors two initiatives - our Leadership Program and our Reading is Healthy from the Start Program - that are opening doors to young people in our communities, and expanding their vision and hope.

Leadership Program

Established in 2000 with the support of area religious organizations and businesses, our Leadership Program provides scholarships and leadership development seminars to graduating high school students who are pursuing higher education at vocational schools or two-year and four-year colleges. Since inception, the Leadership Program has awarded nearly $60,000 in scholarships to 36 students now attending schools all over the country.

Reading is Healthy from the Start Program

This program aims to promote reading among elementary school children and their parents. With support from The Literacy, Inc., MoneyGram, Coca-Cola Bottling Company and Futur.com, Affinity erects reading areas in public elementary schools, complete with books, tables, chairs and other accessories that replicate a home environment. These Reading Corners are designed to encourage parents, teachers and other adults to come into the school and share quality time reading to and with the children. The program's theme is "A Book is a Mind's Best Friend." To date, Affinity has established two Reading Corners - one at P.S/M.S. 306 in the Bronx, and the other at Juan Pablo Duarte School (P.S. 132) in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan.

Through our Health Education and Outreach Program, Affinity matches local health educators with community organizations interested in providing health information to their constituents. The Program provides health screening opportunities, and literature on a variety of health issues. Topics include diabetes, asthma, cancer, nutrition, well-baby care, teenage pregnancy, mammograms, bike safety and fire prevention. Now in its eighth year of operation, this Program has served well over 35,000 New York City area residents.

Each year, Affinity Health Plan works with the YMCA and Urban League to give young people living in New York City, Long Island, Westchester, Rockland and Orange Counties a two-week summer camp experience. Campers are selected through essay contests.

Every year, Affinity undertakes two key initiatives that reach out to needy families and children with gifts of food and toys. At Thanksgiving, we provide turkey, rice and other food items for needy families. These items are given to community and faith-based organizations for distribution.

At Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa time, Affinity partners with the A. T. Toy Drive for Homeless Kids, a community-based organization, to collect and distribute toys to thousands of children in living in homeless shelters.

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2500 Halsey Street, Bronx, NY 10461 | Phone 718-794-7700 | Fax 718-794-7800

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