New Jersey Health Initiatives (NJHI)’s Upstream Action Acceleration initiative furthered the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) vision of building a Culture of Health by supporting the efforts of existing community-focused, cross-sector coalitions to adopt and implement upstream environmental, policy, and systems changes. The initiative has accelerated the work of 12 coalitions over a two year period in areas they identified as priorities for improving community health including Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), new sector engagement, effective use of data tools and resources to guide actions, civic engagement, environment/open space, and housing.
Inspired by Healthy Places by Design’s approach and management of the Roadmaps Action Acceleration and Collaborative Learning initiative, NJHI partnered with us to leverage our unique strengths which include a national perspective; expertise in community change and policy, systems, and environmental strategies; and our history of collaboration with RWJF.
Specific services we provided included:
“We are generalists, and we’re always seeking an opportunity to bring in experts with a knowledge or skill set that will transfer to our communities—someone to fill the gaps and take what we know and help amplify it. That’s definitely what the Healthy Places by Design team did. We are really big fans. I can’t overemphasize how pleased we are to have your colleagues work with us and our grantees. It’s everything we hoped for.”
BOB ATKINS
Director, NJHI
“When we are working collaboratively on planning, we know Healthy Places by Design will deliver what needs to be done. They know how we think and how we like to do our work, so it's smooth from start to finish. And they provide perspective from what they hear [so that] we can focus on more fine points within each community."
DIANE HAGERMAN
Deputy Director of Programs, NJHI
For better or worse; for richer, for poorer; through sickness and health. You may not associate this phrase with working with funders—unless you’ve had the privilege of partnering with New Jersey Health Initiatives (NJHI).