Why Partnership Matters Now
In the Bronx, access is not an abstract issue. It is the distance between a family and a clinic. It is whether a parent can get care without losing a day of work. It is whether a student can be seen before a health concern becomes a crisis. It is whether a resident managing diabetes, asthma, hypertension, depression, or housing instability can reach the right support before the system becomes too hard to navigate.
That is the work Bronx Community Health Network is built for.
For nearly three decades, BCHN has helped expand access to affordable, community-based care for Bronx residents. Today, BCHN is entering a new phase: building more direct access points, strengthening neighborhood-based care, and creating the infrastructure needed to support families beyond a single appointment.
This next phase requires partnership.
BCHN is advancing several connected priorities: new care access points, mobile health capacity, school-based health access, community health worker services, and stronger development infrastructure to support future campaigns. Together, these priorities reflect one larger goal: making care easier to reach, easier to navigate, and more responsive to the real conditions affecting health in the Bronx.
The most immediate example is BCHN’s new Wellness Center at Starhill, located at 1600 Macombs Road in Morris Heights.
The Wellness Center will be part of a new supportive and affordable housing community, placing care in a setting where residents and neighbors can access services closer to home. The site is expected to be completed in November, with opening anticipated by January 2027 at the latest.
For BCHN, this is more than a new location. It is a shift toward care that meets people where they are.
The Wellness Center is being developed to support access to primary care, behavioral health, substance use services, dental care, pharmacy services, and enabling supports such as care coordination, health education, and assistance connecting to resources. This matters because the health challenges facing many Bronx residents do not come one at a time. Medical needs are often connected to housing, food access, transportation, stress, language access, income, and the ability to keep appointments while managing work, family, and daily life.
A well-equipped Wellness Center can help close that gap.
Before the site can fully serve patients, BCHN must outfit the space with the equipment, furniture, and start-up infrastructure needed to make care possible from day one. The current need is estimated at approximately $400,000 for full outfitting.
That includes the practical items that turn a site into a functioning care environment: clinical equipment, exam room furnishings, waiting area furniture, workstations, technology, storage, and other essential infrastructure.
These are not cosmetic needs. They are access needs.
That is the request: help BCHN open this Wellness Center ready.
A gift to this campaign is an investment in the first day of care, the first family welcomed, the first patient seen, and the first connection made before a health need becomes harder to manage.
As BCHN prepares for launch, we are inviting partners to help bring this site from planned space to patient-ready care. Together, we can equip the Starhill Wellness Center and strengthen access for Morris Heights and the surrounding Bronx communities.
Help us open the doors ready to serve.
