More than 30 states nationwide have public health institutes dedicated to advancing health equity. New Jersey is not yet one of them. This report offers recommendations for establishing a nonprofit institute to address health disparities through robust collaboration.
RWJF awarded a two-year grant to Acenda, a statewide nonprofit organization based in Glassboro, to serve as administrative, operational, and strategic home for the development of New Jersey’s public health institute, the first nationwide with a mission to advance health equity.
Structural racism, compounded through generations of policies and practices, causes different New Jersey populations to experience vastly different realities. Our work seeks to address the drivers of inequitable health conditions in three key areas: birth equity, affordable housing, and public health infrastructure reform.
Black people in New Jersey are seven times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than White people. To end such disparities, the systems that serve populations of color need targeted improvements in prevention, care, and support.
New Jersey has among the highest housing costs in the country and millions of residents—largely people of color—are segregated and effectively shut out of opportunities to live in the kinds of homes and communities to which they aspire. This is a major barrier to good health.
The COVID-19 pandemic called attention to—and worsened—the impact of racism and inequity on the lives of people of color and residents with low incomes. As New Jersey turns to recovery and repair, a revitalized public health system is crucial to making sure history does not repeat itself.
More than 285,000 households lacked access to affordable food at the height of the pandemic, and it hit hardest along racial and ethnic lines.
If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything, it’s that there’s no such thing as being too prepared.
RWJF’s director of New Jersey grantmaking, Maisha Simmons, and Program Officer Sallie George, explain why N.J. needs a public health institute to enhance statewide collaboration and reduce health disparities.
Since 1972, RWJF has dedicated more than $1.2 billion toward a broad set of issues, including health, child poverty, food insecurity, civic life, and arts and culture, and supported key institutions in our home state. Many of our grants advance causes and issues that RWJF’s founder, General Robert Wood Johnson II, supported during his life. Learn more about our history.
The bold voices featured on this reading list offer empowering perspectives on advancing racial justice and health equity.
We identified exemplary practices to help foster the nurturing, stable environments that children need from birth through adolescence to thrive.
Even well-intentioned policies can do harm. Rapid research can inform our actions and safeguard health equity.
An RWJF webinar discusses solutions needed so people in New Jersey have equitable opportunity to live in safe, affordable homes and neighborhoods.