Children's Futures: Improving Health and Development Outcomes for Children in Trenton, N.J.

The Foundation's program, Children's Futures, was designed to employ a comprehensive set of interventions designed to improve the health of children in Trenton, New Jersey.Health outcomes for children in Trenton, New Jersey, are two to four times worse than those for children living in the surrounding communities, including much higher rates of infant mortality, late/no prenatal care, births to teen mothers, child abuse and neglect and school drop-out rates. Children's Futures is a nonprofit organization established in 2001 with major support from RWJF to address the lack of systematic effort to prevent or address these problems, and reverse the long term negative consequences for the health and life chances of children and youth. With an initial focus on young children, from prenatal to age 3, this multifaceted initiative has established unprecedented public/private collaboration in Trenton to proactively improve child health and development outcomes. This renewal funding will help continue programs that: (1) strengthen effective parenting; (2) improve primary care systems; (3) improve child care; and (4) integrate and connect families to existing community social and economic supports in Trenton. The goal of the next phase is to position Children's Futures as a more permanent change agent to improve child health and development in Trenton. Working with its partners, Children's Futures will use grant funds to help design innovative systems-level approaches to issues threatening child health; provide agencies with best practice information; and leverage federal, state and local government funds to increase the availability of services.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $14,500,000.00

Awarded on: 12/11/2006

Time frame: 1/1/2007 - 8/31/2013

Grant Number: 59484