Community Investments & Partnerships
Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is watching developments involving novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and what it means for those we serve. The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting life for everyone as our communities battle this potentially deadly virus. Because of this disruption, we are carefully evaluating all corporate giving requests to assess where these dollars will do the most good as our communities begin to recover. We appreciate your patience and understanding. Learn more about how we are supporting our communities during the pandemicLearn more about how we are supporting our communities during the pandemic.
Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is committed to making Upstate New York a better place to live, work and raise a family. As a nonprofit health plan, our mission is to provide access to affordable health care and continually work to improve the health and health care of residents in the communities we serve.
Through our community investments and partnerships programming, we strive to improve access to care, advance specific health outcomes and support organizations in our community that share our mission.
Bringing Dental Care To Children At School
Since its inception in 1971, the North Country Family Health Center (NCFHC) has endeavored to break down barriers to care for the underserved in rural Northern New York. Their effort “Expanding Access to Pediatric Preventative Oral Health Services through a Mobile School-Based Dental Program” operates in collaboration with local school districts which help to promote the services and engage students, families, and faculty in the importance of oral healthcare, hygiene, and prevention. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield awarded the NCFHC Mobile School-Based Dental Program with a Member and Community Health Improvement (MACHI) Initiative grant to help close the gaps in care. This funding support empowered the NCHFC to purchase five new portable dental units, add a .71 FTE dental hygienist, commence service in three additional locations (Port Leyden, Glenfield, and South Lewis Middle/High School), and expand external promotional efforts in those participating school districts.
Committing To Fitness At The Boilermaker
The Boilermaker is a health and wellness agency best known for conducting a nationally renowned 15k road race and the Utica region’s premier event. The Boilermaker uses the platform afforded by the race to serve as a year-round agent to promote health and wellness through a variety of programs and urban initiatives. Examples of community outreach include urban garden and kids after school running programs. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is the presenting sponsor of the 15K Road Race, as well as the Corporate Cup competition. The Boilermaker, which attracts elite and casual runners from around the world, generates millions of dollars of economic activity for the region.
Partnering To Feed Children In Need
Providing access to summer meals for children in low-income areas is an important priority for Catholic Charities of Broome County in partnership with Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. When school is out during the summer months and children are no longer receiving breakfast and lunch at school, many families struggle to feed their children nutritious meals each day. Food costs can rise by hundreds of dollars a month. The Catholic Charities Summer Lunch and Literacy summer program works to fill this critical gap. The program also provides a reading challenge for the kids to participate in to receive a free backpack filled with school supplies at the end of the program.
Standing Against Racism
YWCA Stand Against Racism is a national campaign with a weeklong focus of higher profile events held annually to raise awareness about the impact of institutional and structural racism and by mobilizing individuals, organizations and employers to advocate racial justice. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is proud to be a part of Stand Against Racism and their mission to provide opportunities for communities across the United States to find an issue or a cause that inspires them to take a #StandAgainstRacism and to unite their voices to educate, advocate, and promote racial justice.
Supporting Healthy Eating And The Community
Brady Urban Farm, Syracuse, is working to create an economically sustainable and resilient source of affordable, locally grown food for the community, skilled and employable youth and adults, hands-on community education, and respite for the community. The program offers a community-supported agriculture share to provide healthy, locally grown and readily available produce and offer cooking classes and recipe cards for participants and market stand customers. In addition, with the support of an Excellus BlueCross BlueShield Community Health Award, Brady Urban Farm has launched a Southside Wellness Ambassador program, which provides wellness education and meals on Syracuse’s Southside. Wellness ambassadors engage neighbors of Brady Farm (located on Ford Avenue) to increase their consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables through delivering food to families and then having them join online to take part in a cooking session with the delivered ingredients.
Promoting Healthy Families
Syracuse Community Connections works with individuals, families and communities in the City of Syracuse to promote health and well-being through prevention, intervention and education. The grant funds from Excellus BlueCross BlueShield have been used to enhance and expand its “Mother Witt” program at the Southwest Community Center in the Southwest neighborhood of Syracuse. The program provides culturally competent one-on-one doula mentorship for at-risk pregnant women. A doula is a nonmedical person who supports a woman during her pregnancy, labor and delivery, and after her baby is born. The program also includes group educational classes and tailored support to help families have a healthy start. Goals include engaging expectant and new mothers, removing barriers to prenatal and postpartum care, increasing breastfeeding rates, and ensuring screening for postpartum depression among participants. The Excellus Blue Cross BlueShield grant for the Mother Witt Doula Program complements Syracuse Community Connections’ Healthy Start programming, made possible through their partnership with the Healthy Families Division of the Onondaga County Health Department.
Creating Healthy, Affordable Meals
Excellus BlueCross BlueShield sponsors the Cooking Matters program for Flower City Habitat for Humanity’s new homeowners. This special cooking class offered through Foodlink, a provider of food to food pantries across the Rochester region, empowers families at risk of hunger with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to make healthy and affordable meals. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, lower-income households tend to eat less nutritious foods as it can be difficult to afford healthier food items. Program participants work alongside volunteer culinary and nutrition experts to learn how to select nutritious and low-cost ingredients and prepare them in ways that provide the best nourishment possible for their families.
Screening Diabetic Patients
Excellus BlueCross BlueShield funding allows the UR Medicine Primary Care and Flaum Eye Institute improve retinal screenings for diabetic patients. Retinal cameras in UR Medicine primary care practices allow retinal images to be taken at a patient’s regular diabetic appointment. The images are transmitted to Flaum Eye Institute using telehealth to be read. Having the screening taken at the patient’s regular appointment makes it more convenient and more likely to be completed. The program goal is to improve screening rates to the 90th percentile.
Supporting People With Developmental Disabilities
As part of our commitment to the community Excellus BlueCross BlueShield has sponsored The Dunkin’ Run Arc Race for several years. The Dunkin’ Run Arc Race benefits the Arc of Onondaga and is held each fall at Long Branch Park in Liverpool. The USATF-certified event includes Half Marathon and 5K runs, a non-competitive 3K Family Fun Walk and a Kids 1 Mile Fun Run for children ages 5-12. Each year the event draws almost 2,000 runners, walkers and volunteers from the Central New York Community, the road race raises critical funds for programs and services for people with developmental disabilities.
Stretching Mind, Body and Soul
The DICK'S Sporting Goods Open is an elite professional golf tournament on the PGA TOUR Champions that is held in Endicott, NY. The DICK’S Sporting Goods Open is operated by Broome County Community Charities, Inc. (BCCC) and has donated over $17.2 million back to charity. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield supports the BCCC's mission of focused funding towards health care related organizations with the intent to assist the greatest number of people within the community. Both the United Health Services Foundation and Lourdes Hospital Foundation have been primary recipients of annual donations made by BCCC. In addition to the golf tournament there are several other events throughout the week, which includes the Excellus BlueCross BlueShield sponsored Sunrise Yoga which is held on the golf course before the final round of the golf tournament.
Taking Steps To Increase Physical Activity
For over ten years, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield has sponsored the Schuyler Steps Out program, a free community walking program designed to get people who live or work in Schuyler County walking and moving. Participants are encouraged to increase activity and healthy habits over an eight-week period. The program has a competition aspect with winning the team logging in the most steps and receiving a small prize and bragging rights at the end of the eight-weeks! Participants have shared that they have increased activity, lost weight, joined fitness clubs, improved healthy eating habits, and even reduced use of some medications.
Access To Healthier Food
Excellus BlueCross BlueShield has developed a strong partnership with the Food Bank of the Southern Tier over the last three years. A healthier community means a healthier bottom line for health insurers, who have found it much less costly to keep people healthy than to treat illnesses that can be avoided with a healthier lifestyle. Access to healthy food is so critical to maintaining good health the partnership between Excellus BCBS with the Food Bank just makes sense. The company is involved with several sponsorship opportunities and has participated in the Food Bank’s Leader of the Pack corporate packing challenge, sponsored their Truck Upgrade Project, granted a Community Health Award to support the Kids’ Farmers Market, and sponsored the Selfless Elf 5K. Working with the Food Bank helps Excellus BlueCross BlueShield delve further into its mission while the Food Bank has helped provide a model for client-centered service.
Cooking For Better Health
The Madison County Rural Health Council (Morrisville, NY) has coordinated and conducted several diabetes preventions (now Prevent T2), chronic disease, chronic pain, and diabetes self-management programs over the past several years, with more than 100 participants. Each class emphasized the importance of healthy eating, including increasing the consumption of vegetables, but they did not allow time to teach the participants how to prepare healthy meals. With the financial support of a Community Health Award from Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, the Council was able to add two lunch classes to involve participants in learning about the preparation of healthy meals, a chance to reconnect with and support each other, and to educate and inspire them to continue their journey to better health.
Transportation For Those In Need
The Volunteer Transportation Center, Inc. (VTC), established in 1991, drives thousands of miles each year assisting community members in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence Counties. Over the last 20 years, this essential non-profit organization has provided rides to health care appointments, grocery shopping, and other destinations for residents. The VTC received funding from Excellus BCBS in support of the nonprofit organization’s activities in 2020.
Essential Supplies For Students
Pencils and Paper, a program administered by Jewish Family Service of Rochester, serves the educational, creative, and personal care needs of students in the Greater Rochester area. Pencils and Paper provides free school and hygiene supplies to Rochester City School District teachers at high-poverty schools. Supported by donations from volunteers, local businesses and foundations, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield is proud to provide funding for basic hygiene items, such as band aids, tissues, hand sanitizers, toothbrushes, deodorant, and more. With challenges in school funding, many teachers spend hundreds of dollars of their own money to equip students with school needed supplies. Pencils and Paper is a community resource where teachers can access supplies to help expand and enrich their students’ studies, provide materials for homework, and help them develop and maintain good hygiene practices.
Connecting With Children Through Reading
The Help Me Read program, a one-on-one in-school tutoring program at the elementary school level is dedicated to improving graduation rates in the City of Rochester. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield employees volunteer their time throughout the school year to help children learn how to read. Students who participate in the program have seen significant improvements in their reading levels, some increasing their reading proficiency by multiple grade levels in one year.
Spring Cleaning at Our Community Parks
Volunteers from Excellus BlueCross BlueShield spent the day sprucing up Syracuse City parks after a long winter as a part of a biannual Employee Volunteer Day. Braving the rain, volunteers collected litter, raked leaves, and swept the pool deck at Kirk Park in order to help get it ready for summer use.

Corporate Sponsorship
We invest in local nonprofit organizations through one-time funding opportunities that support a health specific program, event or service.

Community Health Awards
Through a competitive application process, Community Health Awards support programs that have clear goals to improve the health or health care of a specific population. Each recipient is awarded up to $5,000 allocated by the company to help fund health and wellness programs in our community.

NEW! Health Equity Awards
We strive to work with communities to create an environment of equity and access where everyone can reach their full potential. The 2021 Health Equity Awards focus on addressing racial and ethnic health disparities. Each region will award a minimum of $30,000 through a competitive application process to qualified community-based organizations.
Health Equity AwardOpen a PDF
Health Equity Award - SpanishOpen a PDF

Member and Community Health Improvement (MACHI) Grant Program
The MACHI grant program provides funding to local, nonprofit organizations that share our vision for healthier communities. These 2- to 3-year grants support initiatives with specific objectives and measurable outcomes for improving health. Our current focus is on reducing racial disparities in maternal health.

Employee Volunteerism
Employee volunteerism aligns with our company’s vision and values of improving the health of our community.
Excellus BCBS provides employees with volunteer time off hours to cultivate community connections through volunteer service, engage with the community via board membership and help nurture meaningful community relationships.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Our company is committed to fostering an environment where inclusion, diversity, equity and access are explicitly recognized as fundamental parts of our organizational culture. As a result, diversity, equity and inclusion is a uniting principle that runs through all our community engagement activities. By building authentic connections with organizations that share in our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, we can better fulfill our mission to improve the health and well-being of the communities we serve.
Contact the Community Investments and Partnerships Team:

Rochester (Monroe, Wayne, Livingston, Ontario, Yates and Seneca counties)
Dajia Richardson, Dajia.Richardson@excellus.com

Southern Tier (Chenango, Broome, Tioga, Chemung, Schuyler and Steuben counties):
Amber Granger, Amber.Granger@Excellus.com

Central New York (Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga, Cortland and Tompkins counties):
Robyn Smith, Robyn.Smith@Excellus.com

Utica/North Country (St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Franklin, Clinton, Essex, Hamilton, Herkimer, Fulton, Oneida, Madison, Montgomery, Otsego and Delaware counties):
Shayna Keller, Shayna.Keller@Excellus.com

Corporate Investments:
Holly Snow, Holly.Snow@Excellus.com
Excellus BlueCross BlueShield receives hundreds of corporate giving requests every year. Each corporate giving request that benefits a charitable organization will be reviewed. Our corporate giving must follow all applicable laws, regulations, and corporate policies and refrains from contributing to political organizations, political candidates and labor unions (unless the payees are registered 501(c)(3) charitable organizations). In addition, we will not fund organizations that conflict with our corporate mission, goals, policies or products, including organizations that discriminate against persons or groups on the basis of age, political affiliation, race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, HIV/AIDS status or religion.
Excellus BlueCross BlueShield’s 31-county region includes: Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Clinton, Cortland, Delaware, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Montgomery, Oneida, Onondaga, Ontario, Otsego, Oswego, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, St. Lawrence, Tioga, Tompkins, Wayne and Yates counties.
Latest Community News
Modal for Community Health Awards Application Information
Community Health Awards Application Information
Applications open at 10 a.m. on Thursday, February 17, 2022, and close at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 17, 2022.
Awards Criteria
We encourage applicants to propose new and innovative ways to improve health.
Community Health Award proposals must address the following areas:
Social Determinants of Health, Racial and Ethnic Disparities
Improve individual and population health and reduce ethnic and racial disparities by investing in programs which improve health by impacting:
- Economic stability – food availability and security, healthcare workforce development
- Education access and quality – early childhood education and development, enrollment in higher education, high school graduation, language and literacy
- Social and community support – caregiver, youth mentorship, reintegration
- Healthcare access and quality – access to healthcare, access to primary care, health insurance coverage, health literacy (health education), healthcare provider pipeline programs
- Neighborhood and built environment – neighborhood crime and violence (including domestic violence and bullying), availability and quality of housing, access to transportation
- Racial, ethnic, and cultural competency – educational initiatives to address bias, discrimination, and racialized medicine
Clinical Health Improvement Priorities
Support programs with considerations for community need and impact on quality gap closure, focusing on:
- Behavioral health – mental health, substance abuse, follow-up care, medication management
- Women’s health – breast cancer, chlamydia, cervical cancer, maternal health including one-year postpartum
- Chronic condition management – diabetes and cardiovascular diseases including hypertension
- Preventative care – mammograms and colonoscopy
- Well child visits
- Osteoporosis and fall prevention
Application Rules/Requirements
- Proposals that are aligned with the above focus areas, have detailed scope, goals, rationale for support, and measures will be given priority
- Applicants must be charitable organizations located in a participating region
- Applications must be received on or before 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 17, 2022
- Excellus BCBS does not fund political activities and/or capital campaigns
- Recipients will be announced mid-May
Modal for Corporate Sponsorship
Corporate Sponsorship
Application Available: Year Round
Application Rules/Requirements:
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Applicants must be charitable organizations located in a participating region.
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Excellus BlueCross BlueShield will not fund support to programs involving political activities, endowments, or capital campaigns;
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Requests to fund organizational operating costs will not be considered.
Modal for Application Rules and Requirements
Application Rules and Requirements
Application period opens on Tuesday, August 17, 2021 and closes Friday, September 17, 2021.
Awards Criteria:
Proposals must include clear, defined goals for reducing health disparities and improving health equity in communities of color, especially within Black and Latino communities, where historic and current racism and discrimination continues to result in a higher burden of health inequities and social disadvantages. To foster a deeper understanding and outcome, proposals should take an intersectional approach when possible. Organizations will need to specify how funding will measurably assist in improving racial and ethnic health equity outcomes. Categories include, but are not limited to:
- Improving the community’s physical health and mental health
- Reducing social disparities in health care
- Ensuring access to healthcare
Application Rules/Requirements:
- Applicant must be a nonprofit organization located in our health plan region
- Application must be received on or before midnight of September 17, 2021
- The majority of constituents served by the program must be from Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, Asian and/or other communities of color
- Excellus BCBS will follow up with recipient organizations six months after funding is received to understand impact and use of funds
- Excellus BCBS does not fund political activities and/or capital campaigns
Definitions:
- Health Equity: per CDC Guidelines, health equity is achieved when every person has the opportunity to “attain his or her full health potential” and no one is “disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances.”
- Health Disparities: per CDC Guidelines, health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or in opportunities to achieve optimal health experienced by socially disadvantaged racial, ethnic, and other population groups, and communities.
- Intersectionality: per AAIDD Guidelines, intersectionality is a framework for understanding how aspects of a person's multiple social and political identities might combine to create unique burdens and barriers.