Year Comunilife was founded in New York City
Affordable & supportive housing units
New Yorkers served each year
Comunilife helps New York City’s most vulnerable — people experiencing homelessness, those living with HIV/AIDS or mental illness, new immigrants navigating a city in a language not yet their own, and at-risk teens. We provide housing and culturally responsive supportive services that empower vulnerable New Yorkers to live healthy, meaningful lives.
In 2025 alone, we served more than 4,000 people — offering hope and a path forward through supportive and affordable housing, our 63-bed Medical Respite Program, new community engagement programs, and the only suicide-prevention program of its kind in the country.
The need for Comunilife’s services is greater than ever. With your partnership, we can do more — building brighter futures and breaking the cycle of homelessness for thousands of New Yorkers.
People experiencing homelessness · Adults living with HIV/AIDS or mental illness · Medicaid members in need of care coordination · Youth aging out of foster care · Seniors
Create more housing opportunities for individuals, families, and seniors, with supportive services tailored to every stage of life.
Grow our most successful programs, bringing proven solutions like youth suicide prevention and Medical Respite to more communities.
Develop innovative services such as ENGAGE and the Social Care Network while building new solutions for the challenges ahead.
“The need for Comunilife’s services is greater than ever. With your partnership, we can do even more — building brighter futures and breaking the cycle of homelessness for thousands of New Yorkers.”
As President and CEO, I have the privilege of leading an organization that, every day, proves what culturally responsive care can do for the New Yorkers our city overlooks. We don’t ask anyone to leave their language, their family, or their faith at the door. We meet people where they are.
Thank you for standing with us — and with those who need hope, healing, and a home. Together, we make it possible.
New Yorkers served in 2025
Affordable & supportive housing units
Adolescents through Life is Precious™
Years building community-based care
We were created for the community and continue to grow and adapt to serve our community.
Comunilife opens its doors with a commitment to providing innovative, culturally responsive services to New York City’s most vulnerable residents — homeless New Yorkers, people living with HIV/AIDS or mental illness, overwhelmed by daily life in an unfamiliar city.
Comunilife becomes a lifeline for New Yorkers who need more than just a roof, launching transitional and supportive housing programs for people living with chronic illness, HIV/AIDS, and mental illness.
Comunilife launches the only program of its kind in the country: an after- school suicide-prevention initiative for adolescents: bilingual, bicultural, and built around risk factors for suicidal ideation.
The Prospect Residence opens, the first mixed population building in NYC for older adults living with special needs and low-income community seniors.
Working closely with NYC Health + Hospitals (H+H), Comunilife leadership recognized the potential to connect high-utilizers of public healthcare system developing supportive and affordable housing on underutilized parking lots and hospital-owned land.
El Borinquen Residence opens with 148 units of affordable housing and supportive services on Third Avenue, marketed in coordination with HPD.
Comunilife provides services to more than 4,000 homeless and low-income New Yorkers and is recognized by the SPRC Best Practices Registry; Life is Precious is featured on the Today Show.
ENGAGE short-term mental-health services (English, Spanish, French) and Comunilife’s role in New York’s Social Care Network connect Medicaid members to housing, food, and behavioral-health care.
El Hogar Residence opens in the Bronx, adding new supportive and affordable housing for seniors and continuing the expansion of our continuum of care. The residence is dedicated entirely to older adults, with 60% of apartments serving formerly homeless seniors and 40% serving low-income seniors from the community.
Blanca Ramirez leads Comunilife’s mission to provide innovative services to New York City’s most vulnerable — with 3,107 housing units and a growing portfolio of programs.
Comunilife was founded in 1989 by Dr. Rosa M. Gil — a clinical social worker, public-health leader, and bilingual, bicultural advocate who built the organization around a simple insight: care that doesn’t speak your language, doesn’t understand your family, or doesn’t honor your faith is not really care.
That principle still shapes every Comunilife program — from the housing continuum that surrounds each resident with services, to Life is Precious, the only suicide-prevention program of it’s kind in the country.
Blanca Ramirez
President and CEO
Angela Grigoryan
Chief Financial Officer
Beverly Raudales
Chief Program Officer
Erin Palmer
Chief Development Officer
Michael O’Donnell
Chief Housing Officer
Vivan Michael
General Counsel
Desiree Andrepont
Senior Vice President of
Portfolio Operations
Ann McHugh
Vice President of Supportive
Housing
Julie Laurence
Vice President of Youth and
Family Services
LeShan Gualman
Vice President for Transitional
and Community Services
Candida Hierro
Vice President of Human
Resources
Karuna Mehta
Vice President of Real Estate
Development
Luis Matos
Vice President for Information
Technology
Marisa Greason
Vice President for Strategy and
Regulatory Compliance
Sue Li
Vice President of Accounting
Yang Song
Vice President of Financial
Planning and Analysis
Awilda Martinez, MPA
Maximus
Chair
Elizabeth Guzman
Retired
Vice Chair
Jason Torres
Sana Capital
Treasurer
Melissa Bindra
Vaya Development
Secretary
Karina D. Aguilar, DrPH, MSW, MS
Public Health Consultant
Gary Calnek
Retired
Joya Cohen
Merchants Capital
Steve Dyott
Tracy Green
Vontelle Eyewear, LLC
Christy Hamilton
Carey & Co.
Ted Houghton
Terra Linda Housing Services
Karen Hu
Camber Development
Pamela Maraldo, PhD
Girls Inc.
Milton Nunez
HealthPHI
Reggie Odom
Hospital for Special Surgery
James Shaw
West Harlem Group Assistance
Niki Tsismenakis
Goldstein Hall, PLLC
Eileen Vega-Lamboy
Beacon Hill Legal & Managed Review
Services
Woody Victor, MBA
Success Academies
Martin Weinberg
Matthews Co
Administrative offices · New York, NY 10018