New York City plans to spend nearly $9 million on local organizations providing gender-affirming care to minors, according to a city procurement notice. The money is part of a $15 million investment in gender-affirming care initiatives the Mamdani administration announced in June.
The move comes after major hospital systems in the city — NYU Langone and Mount Sinai — struck deals with the Trump administration to stop providing gender-affirming care to minors.
The agreements resolved federal investigations into the hospital systems. NYU said its settlement allowed the hospital system to avoid turning over confidential patient medical records sought by the federal government. The Department of Justice said its investigations concerned potential violations of federal health care laws related to gender-affirming care.
Local civil rights groups and state and city officials denounced the hospitals’ decisions, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who said the settlements “politicize families’ most private medical decisions, vilify lifesaving care, and undermine professional medical judgment.”
On Tuesday, the city’s health department said it intends to contract with local organizations capable of providing such care — including the prescription and administration of puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy — citing “a compelling need for gender-affirming care services that cannot be met timely by competitive sealed proposals.”
The nearly $9 million procurement puts into motion the largest piece of the $15 million initiative announced this summer. The administration said at the time that the broader funding would also support a hotline connecting New Yorkers with gender-affirming care and research into gaps in health care access and outcomes for transgender and gender-nonconforming New Yorkers.
In a public notice, the health department said treatment would have to be performed by qualified medical providers licensed in New York and comply with state laws governing parental consent.
The city identified Callen-Lorde and the Nonprofit Organization for Philanthropic Initiatives as two potential contractors and said other interested providers have until Oct. 16 to express interest.
The proposed contracts would begin Feb. 1, 2027 and run through June 30, 2029, with an option to renew for another three years. The city estimates the procurement will be worth about $8.9 million.
Neither the Department of Justice nor Mamdani’s office immediately responded to requests for comment from Gothamist.