A Nassau County nonprofit has been awarded a $3.9-million state grant to help people at high risk for pregnancy-related mortality.
The five-year grant from the New York State Health Department was awarded to the Long Island Federally Qualified Health Center — an organization that serves low-income residents in Nassau County who are without health insurance or underinsured.
The money was allocated to help communities with significant populations of at-risk pregnant people. It will be used to educate them about healthy lifestyles and provide better access to health care. Assistance will continue for up to two years after they deliver.
The Suffolk County Department of Health Services also received a grant to continue these services in Babylon and Islip, and expand into Brookhaven and Riverhead this summer.
Black people are five times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white people, according to state records. Just over half of people who died of pregnancy-related causes in New York in 2018 were Black.
