Established in 1805, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the NYC Health Department) is the oldest and largest health department in the country. Our mission is to protect and improve the health of all New Yorkers, in service of a vision of a city in which all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, how old they are, where they are from, or where they live.

As a world-renowned public health agency with a history of building transformative public health programming and infrastructure, innovating in science and scholarship to advance public health knowledge, and responding to urgent public health crises from New York City’s yellow fever outbreak in 1822, to the COVID-19 pandemic we are a hub for public health innovation, expertise, and programs, and services. We serve as the population health strategist, and policy, and planning authority for the City of New York, while also having a vast impact on national and international public policy, including programs and services focused on food and nutrition, anti-tobacco support, chronic disease prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, family and child health, environmental health, mental health, and racial and social justice work, among others.

Our Agency’s five strategic priorities, building off a recently-completed strategic planning process emerging from the COVID-19 emergency, are:
1) To re-envision how the Health Department prepares for and responds to health emergencies, with a focus on building a “response-ready” organization, with faster decision-making, transparent public communications, and stronger surveillance and bridges to healthcare systems 2) Address and prevent chronic and diet-related disease, including addressing rising rates of childhood obesity and the impact of diabetes, and transforming our food systems to improve nutrition and enhance access to healthy foods
3) Address the second pandemic of mental illness including: reducing overdose deaths, strengthening our youth mental health systems, and supporting people with serious mental illness
4) Reduce black maternal mortality and make New York a model city for women’s health
5) Mobilize against and combat the health impacts of climate change

Our 7,000-plus team members bring extraordinary diversity to the work of public health. True to our value of equity as a foundational element of all of our work, and a critical foundation to achieving population health impact in New York City, the NYC Health Department has been a leader in recognizing and dismantling racism’s impacts on the health of New Yorkers and beyond. In 2021, the NYC Board of Health declared racism as a public health crisis. With commitment to advance anti-racist public health practices that dismantle systems that perpetuate inequitable power, opportunity and access, the NYC Health Department continues to work in and with communities and community organizations to increase their access to health services and decrease avoidable health outcomes.

PROGRAM AND JOB DESCRIPTION:

The Center for Health Equity and Community Wellness (CHECW) seeks to eliminate inequities resulting in premature mortality. With an unwavering grounding in history and structural analysis, CHECW works to increase visibility of socially unjust policies while pushing towards redress for the most affected NYC communities. CHECW addresses inequity across community and health-care systems in partnership with community, faith-based, school-based and health-care organizations. CHECW's work focuses on the social determinants of health, including environmental and commercial determinants, and addresses both upstream and downstream factors to improve the health and well-being of New Yorkers. CHECW employs approaches to reduce and minimize unfair exposure to risk and to advance health justice and social change. CHECW's birth equity portfolio is centered in its three Bureaus of Neighborhood Health (the Bronx, Harlem, and Brooklyn), which partner with community stakeholders to address health inequities and the drivers of premature mortality. The Bureaus of Neighborhood Health (BNH) provide tangible resources, practical support, community capacity-building, and workforce development; partner with health systems to improve the provision of care; and inform policy through broad-based coalitions. Each BNH hosts a Family Wellness Suite, which supports the portfolio of birth equity programs including the Citywide Doula Initiative, Healthy Start Brooklyn, Breastfeeding/Lactation Initiatives, and other perinatal health programs across the Agency. Family Wellness Suites (FWS) are safe, welcoming, and supportive spaces where families and individuals can connect to community resources and city services.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

Reporting to the Senior Director of Maternal and Child Health, BBNH and working collaboratively with the Assistant Commissioners of the BNHs, the Director of Women's Health and Family Wellness will provide programmatic oversight for the 3 Family Wellness Suites located in each of the BNHs, and identify opportunities for expansion. The ideal candidate must synergize programmatic best practices of the Family Wellness Suites, while balancing intrinsic neighborhood differences that influence maternal and infant health outcomes in BNH catchment areas. Strategizing with Family Wellness Suite Coordinators (Bronx, Brooklyn, and Harlem), the Director of Women's Health and Family Wellness must develop, implement, and operationalize new programs to meet the needs of birthing persons during pre/inter-conception, pregnancy and postpartum periods. Partnering with intra-agency Divisions and Bureaus is a priority to address maternal and infant health inequities among women and birthing persons. The Director of Women's Health and Family Wellness will be based in the Bureau of Brooklyn Neighborhood Health but required to routinely visit each of the three Family Wellness Suites.

DUTIES WILL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO:

Lead the advancement of the Family Wellness Suite model, supervising 3 Family Wellness Suite Coordinators across the three BNHs, ensuring goals and objectives align with CHECW's Maternal Health, Birth Equity Strategy.

Oversee the creation and implementation of a comprehensive evaluation strategy for FWS activities and services provided.

Work in collaboration with research and evaluation peers to design and develop appropriate evaluation tools using both qualitative and quantitative methods. These include client satisfaction surveys or interviews, and use of evidenced-based scales, as appropriate.

Analyze findings from surveys and studies and utilize findings and project performance data for continuous quality improvement activities.

Develop comprehensive evidence-based maternal health-centric trainings and support groups to build capacity of community stakeholders, birthing people and families.

Establish policies and procedures for implementing and sustaining perinatal health projects across the BNHs; Review public health literature to inform family wellness suite programming, agency policy and legislative agenda setting.

Lead and sustain development of a comprehensive partner engagement strategy, targeting birthing people, community-based organizations and clinical partners that provide maternal and infant health services.

Expand capacity-building opportunities for BNH staff and neighborhood stakeholders to support preconception, pregnant, and parenting clients through the identification and/or facilitation of education sessions/workshops, including the adoption of breastfeeding/lactation-friendly policies and practices.

Negotiate and manage contracts for maternal and infant health program services; develop program priorities and conduct and analyze performance monitoring for contracts in conjunction with Family Wellness Suite Coordinators.

Coordinate annual fiscal year budget development process for Family Wellness Suite Coordinators.


This position may be eligible for remote work up to two days per week, pursuant to the Remote Work Pilot Program agreed to between the City and DC37.

1. For Assignment Level I (only physical, biological and environmental sciences and public health) A master's degree from an accredited college or university with a specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological or environmental science or in public health.
To be appointed to Assignment Level II and above, candidates must have:
1. A doctorate degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and one year of full-time experience in a responsible supervisory, administrative or research capacity in the appropriate field of specialization; or
2. A master's degree from an accredited college or university with specialization in an appropriate field of physical, biological, environmental or social science and three years of responsible full-time research experience in the appropriate field of specialization; or
3. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" or "2" above. However, all candidates must have at least a master's degree in an appropriate field of specialization and at least two years of experience described in "2" above. Two years as a City Research Scientist Level I can be substituted for the experience required in "1" and "2" above.

NOTE:
Probationary Period
Appointments to this position are subject to a minimum probationary period of one year.

As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website at https://studentaid.gov/pslf/

New York City residency is generally required within 90 days of appointment. However, City Employees in certain titles who have worked for the City for 2 continuous years may also be eligible to reside in Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, or Orange County. To determine if the residency requirement applies to you, please discuss with the agency representative at the time of interview.

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.