Human Needs

While New York is one of the world’s great metropolises, many struggle with the costs of food, rent, and other necessities. The poverty rate in New York City is 23%—nearly twice as high as the national average rate—affecting 2 million people and resulting in approximately 1 in 5 children experiencing food insecurity. Poor nutrition negatively affects children’s health, cognitive development, and ability to pay attention in school. New York City’s elderly are also affected disproportionately, as many live on fixed incomes, making it difficult to afford sufficient healthy food. The Starr Foundation works with partner organizations like City Harvest and Citymeals on Wheels to ensure that New Yorkers experiencing food insecurity have access to healthy, nutritious food and are connected with community resources.

The Foundation’s deliberately unbureaucratic structure allows us to respond quickly and decisively to crises—whether they occur around the world or in our backyard.

The Foundation extended support to victims of the 1970 Gediz earthquake in Western Turkey—a practice of emergency funding that has persisted through dozens of emergency events, including Hurricane Sandy, aid to Afghanistan refugees in the wake of the U.S. pullout in 2021, and support for Ukrainians displaced after Russia’s 2022 invasion. Within days of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Foundation, with our lifelong connection to lower Manhattan, committed to support victims and rebuilding efforts. Internationally, the Foundation has been a longtime partner of the International Rescue Committee in assisting refugees fleeing war, famine, political persecution, and other hardships.

With relationships and networks around the world, The Starr Foundation’s reach extends beyond geographic consideration, focusing on where the need is most urgent.

The Starr Foundation’s grantmaking has long valued and honored society’s oldest citizens. Focusing especially on isolated and disabled elderly, Starr funding has supported community-based adult day programs that offer social interaction, cultural programs, social services, and health and wellness, including programs at settlement houses across New York City, the Carter Burden Network, and the Service Program for Older People (SPOP). In addition, the Foundation has partnered with exceptional institutions like the Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale to assure highest quality residential and memory care for those with dementia or other age-related illnesses. The Foundation has also funded Citymeals on Wheels since 1991 as a lifeline of essential nutrition and companionship for New York City’s homebound elderly.

Mindful of New York City’s five boroughs and multicultural neighborhoods, the Foundation has pursued a nimble, tailored approach to local social-service giving—collaborating with government agencies and leading nonprofit organizations to address shared challenges that require large-scale, coordinated, public-private interventions related to issues like housing and hunger, and looking to trusted community-based organizations, which astutely understand and have credibility with local residents, to be a safety net for the most vulnerable.