Nonprofit Westchester Forum Reveals Affordability is the Key to Healthy Communities

ELMSFORD, NY — September, 2026 — The surging cost of basic necessities - food, shelter, energy, and health insurance—are a major roadblock to keeping Westchester healthy.

That was the takeaway from Nonprofit Westchester's (NPW) "From Ideas to Action: Building a Model Healthy Community Together" event at the NPW offices in Elmsford, which convened regional leaders to address how to overcome obstacles to building healthy communities.

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Serving as a follow-up to NPW's landmark June 4th cross-sector summit on healthcare, the event on September 24 featured a panel of experts including Maria Alfaro (Founder & CEO, One Paso), Tom Gabriel (President & CEO, United Way of Westchester and Putnam), Monica Hidalgo (Senior Director of Community Affairs, NewYork-Presbyterian), and Terry L. Kirchner, PhD (Executive Director, Westchester Library System). It was followed by breakout sessions led by the panelists. The program was opened by Deputy Westchester County Executive Joan McDonald and Westchester County Legislator Jewel Johnson, chair of the county board's health committee.

Jan Fisher, Executive Director of Nonprofit Westchester and the day's moderator, said building healthy communities involves looking at the wider context of the environment in which we live.

"A model healthy community is about much more than healthcare and the absence of illness. It is about a community where all people have the opportunity to be physically, mentally, socially and economically healthy and where all people have a chance to live, work, learn, connect, create and recreate,'' she said.

Key Program Takeaways & Speaker Perspectives

Speakers emphasized that the compounding pressures of living costs, health insurance burdens, and a rapidly growing older population continue to act as major roadblocks to achieving long-term community health equity. Health outcomes, they said, cannot be effectively improved while residents face severe financial precarity.

• The Squeezed Middle and Growing Older Population: Program leaders underscored how rising fixed costs and insurance premiums disproportionately affect vulnerable groups and a burgeoning older demographic.

Tom Gabriel, CEO of United Way of Westchester and Putnam, said the most recent findings of the United Way's bi-annual ALICE report (Asset Limited Income Constrained) released in August shows a steadily increasing gap between wages and the cost of living. The report, he said, shows that 41 percent of area residents are either living in poverty or from paycheck to paycheck - a 39 percent increase from just two years ago. He added that while the aggregate wealth of the top 10 billionaires has gone from $550 billion in 2014 to $2.7 trillion today, salary increases for the average American totaled about only 7 percent during that period.

"So salaries have gone up 7 percent, but food has gone up 200 percent. The math doesn't math here. It's really quite simple: You can't thrive if you can't put food on the table,'' he said.

Jan Fisher reminded the group that governments, especially in the area of economic development, - don't plan with the 41 perccent ALICE in mind but the other 60 percent.

·Inclusive Community Engagement: The dialogue heavily prioritized grassroots inclusion to ensure diverse populations help shape local health frameworks.

Maria Alfaro, Founder & CEO, One Paso, said she became interested in helping people navigate the mental health system after experiencing frustration helping her mother access care for her bi-polar diagnosis.

Alfaro said that her group was dedicated to meeting people where they live and pointed to two programs: one where they partner with a local barber shop and another which offers free salsa dance lessons led by a licensed social worker. She said in the current climate people feel scared to go shopping, walk outside their door or go to the doctor's office.

"We are able to meet our community in a way that they feel safe, that they understand,'' she said. "So we are able to help them with things that go beyond salsa dancing or chit chatting at the barbershop.''

• Bridging Data to Grassroots Action: Facilitators emphasized that cross-sector alignment is essential to turn data indicators into practical solutions on the ground.

Monica Hidalgo, Senior Director of Community Affairs, NewYork-Presbyterian, said that hospitals and healthcare providers were moving toward working more closely to support communities through partnerships with nonprofits.

"Experts in social services areas can help us keep communities healthy. How do we invest in nonprofits and their longevity and sustainability so that together we can keep communities safe?'' she said.

Equitable Access to Community Resources: Discussions focused on leveraging shared community infrastructure, such as library systems and local networks, to bridge gaps in support.

Terry L. Kirchner, PhD, Executive Director, Westchester Library System, said in order to effectively serve communities, libraries are forced to plan longer range than most organizations. He said that while libraries were traditionally focused on children's services, with the greying of the population, that has shifted to older adults. He pointed to the library's new digital education program that can help older adults access medical and other services.

"I think that all of us now appreciate the fact that our medical records are now electronic and that we can use an app to see it, but if you can get in that app, it's a miracle. Right? He added, "Our hospitals do amazing work in terms of the information they put out on their websites and blogs. But once again, you have to be connected.''

The "From Ideas to Action" event is part of NPW's ongoing "Inside the Nonprofit Sector" series, generously supported by Presenting Sponsor NewYork-Presbyterian, along with event sponsors Beacon Bank, Manhattanville University, Regeneron, and Simone Development Companies.

For more information about Nonprofit Westchester and upcoming initiatives, visit www.npwestchester.org.

About Nonprofit Westchester

Nonprofit Westchester (NPW) is the county's only membership organization solely dedicated to advancing the needs and interests of Westchester's nonprofit sector, the people and populations served, and the nonprofit workforce. Representing over 370 organizations across human services, the arts, environmental advocacy, and social justice, NPW provides a unified voice through advocacy, professional development, and cross-sector collaboration.