CN Guidance & Counseling Awarded $3 Million in NY State Funding to Help Long Islanders Get Health Insurance

Hicksville, NY October 23, 2019 – CN Guidance & Counseling Services-a nonprofit which provides outpatient mental health and substance use disorder services – has been awarded a five-year grant from the New York State Department of Health to provide education and in person application assistance to individuals, families and small businesses and their employees at initial enrollment and when renewing health insurance coverage in Nassau and Suffolk County.

The money from the New York State Department of Health Navigator Program will reduce barriers and help the uninsured in Nassau and Suffolk counties get the health coverage they desperately need. CN Guidance & Counseling Services will specifically use this $3.2 million funding towards hiring health insurance “Navigators.” These navigators will go to places such as community-based organizations, libraries, faith-based agencies, hospitals and health clinics to provide health insurance outreach, education and enrollment assistance to individuals, families and small-business leaders.

Jeffrey Friedman

CEO of nonprofit CN Guidance & Counseling Services, a behavioral health safety-net organization.

“This funding enables us to provide a vital service during a time of great need,” said Jeffrey Friedman, CEO of CN Guidance & Counseling Services, “We are very much honored to be one of only two agencies on Long Island to receive these critical dollars."

CN Guidance will be subcontracting with the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island (HWCLI), a regional nonprofit umbrella organization for health and human service providers that has been working with CN Guidance for over a decade.  HWCLI has key experience delivering the earlier round of this Navigator program on Long Island – and as such is a strong fit for this current collaboration.

“Health and Welfare Council of Long Island is excited to expand our long-standing Navigator services across Suffolk through this partnership with CNG. Helping families access health insurance is a vital first step to increasing the affordability and accessibility of healthcare services,” says Rebecca Sanin, President/CEO of Health and Welfare Council of Long Island.

There are more than 135,000 Long Islanders who are living without health insurance – at least 80,000 in Suffolk and 50,000 in Nassau. And people of color are less likely to have health insurance. Only 66% of Latino adults and 85% of African-American adults are insured, compared to 93% of Caucasians.   This program’s critical mission will be to make a significant impact in reducing those uninsured figures.

Consumers in need can call 516-495-8034 to make an appointment. 

About CN Guidance

Established in 1972, the purpose of CN Guidance & Counseling Services, a nonprofit organization, and the only state Certified Community Behavioral Health Center on Long Island, is to inspire and catalyze recovery for people living with mental health and substance use conditions through innovative and person-centered integrated clinical treatment, counseling, housing and support services-empowering those served to live healthy and fulfilling lives.

About HWCLI

The Health and Welfare Council of Long Island (HWCLI), established in 1947, is a health and human service agency serving the interests of poor and vulnerable people on Long Island by convening, representing, and supporting the organizations that serve them; and through:

• Illuminating the issues that critically impact them,
• Organizing community and regional responses to their needs,
• Advocacy, research, and policy analysis,
• Providing services, information and education.