Successful mental health pilot at risk as city stalls release of promised funds
Irma Garcia-Vargas, who lives with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, struggled to find stable housing and treatment years after she moved to New York. Garcia-Vargas, who came to the city from Puerto Rico in 2016, cycled in and out of city shelters, where she said it was difficult to access help for her mental illness. She […]
Meeting Crisis With Connection: The Power of Peer Specialists on Mobile Crisis Teams
Over the past several years, New York City has increasingly shifted toward community-based responses to behavioral health crises. In the past, individuals experiencing psychiatric emergencies were often limited to hospital emergency departments or interactions with law enforcement. While those systems still play an important role, there has been a growing effort to develop alternatives that […]
STEPS program shows promise in first two years
A pilot program designed to help New Yorkers with serious mental illness transition out of intensive mental health programs shows promise in early results, according to the Institute for Community Living. A report detailing the STEPS program’s progress over its first two years shows that 97 percent of the individuals who went through the program remain housed. Roughly 89 […]
Notable Leaders in Health Care 2026
Our 2026 Notable Leaders in Health Care represent the driving force behind this industry. The 80 honorees below are leading innovations in neuroscience, making mental health support more accessible, advising health care organizations on digital innovation, leading workforces that are thousands strong, and more. Click here to read more.
Opinion: New York’s Mental Health Crisis Demands We Invest in Programs That Work
For years, New York City has struggled to meet the needs of people living with the most serious behavioral health challenges. We saw the consequences on our subways and in shelters, emergency rooms, and jails. But in the last few years, the city, state and nonprofit providers developed even more effective programs—including Intensive Mobile Treatment […]
Op-ed: Mamdani should scale affordable housing services to help the homeless
No single policy will solve New York City’s homelessness crisis on its own, but a little-known program with tremendous potential offers one of the most effective paths from shelter to permanent housing. Affordable Housing Services is a proven model that can help thousands of New Yorkers move into deeply affordable, stable homes, and it deserves […]
The 2026 Who’s Who in Affordable Housing
New Yorkers creating and preserving housing for low- or middle-income households. There’s no single policy solution when it comes to easing the housing crisis in New York. Instead, there’s an assortment of policies and programs aimed at addressing the severe shortage of affordable units. Incentives for developers, subsidies for tenants and limits on rental increases have […]
Continue Encampment Sweeps — But Do Them Right
Lessons from recent New York City history for Mayor Mamdani The trial for Randy Rodriguez Santos, the man accused of murdering four unhoused New Yorkers in 2019, is underway. This case is horrific, but the violent death of people living on the streets is unsurprising. It happens all too frequently. The danger of being unsheltered has been […]
The 2026 Black Trailblazers
New York is ahead of the pack in elevating Black politicians into positions of power. The state has elected a Black governor, attorney general, comptroller and several lieutenant governors, while both houses of the state Legislature currently have Black leaders. New York City has had two mayors, two public advocates, a comptroller and a council […]
The 2026 Trailblazers in Health Care
When people think about health care, they tend to think primarily about doctors and nurses. But getting proper medical attention goes much deeper, relying on a multilayered, interconnected system of medical specialists, business leaders, insurance executives, technology professionals, educators, scientists, drugmakers, labor union chiefs, social services providers, and government regulators and policymakers – not to […]