PARTNERS WORKING TOGETHER

The project will focus on the physical and environmental conditions that contribute to healthy housing, as well as the relationships between local community members and organizations to serve the Esperanza and Unity Square Neighborhoods in the city of New Brunswick.

New Brunswick is one of 19 communities selected to participate. BUILD awards funding, capacity building support, and access to a national peer-learning network. The program emphasizes cross-sector collaboration among local non-profit organizations, hospitals, and public health departments to address upstream conditions that create opportunities for better health. BUILD selected New Brunswick Healthy Housing Collaborative because of its Bold, Upstream, Integrated, Local, and Data-driven (BUILD) ideas to improve the health of its residents.

The New Brunswick Healthy Housing Collaborative is comprised of New Brunswick Tomorrow, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Saint Peter’s University Hospital, and the Middlesex County Office of Health Services. These organizations will work together, with guidance from BUILD advisors, to identify and implement innovative solutions to community challenges. Matching funds from both hospitals, combined with BUILD’s $138,700 two-year grant, will further extend the partnership’s capacity to encourage safe and healthy housing in New Brunswick.

“We are delighted to call New Brunswick Healthy Housing Collaborative our partners in supporting communities to become healthier,” said Bob Atkins, director of New Jersey Health Initiatives, a BUILD funding partner. “The work this collaborative is doing in New Brunswick to address housing, childhood lead exposure and the environment takes the health conversation upstream and exemplifies the ambitious goal of building a Culture of Health in New Jersey and the nation.”

“Every community faces its own set of challenges and opportunities when it comes to improving the health of its residents,” said Emily Yu, executive director of the BUILD Health Challenge. “With this award, we hope to catalyze the work of New Brunswick Healthy Housing Collaborative and bring together residents and organizations from across sectors to address the root causes of health issues in New Brunswick—and ultimately transform how we think about health in America.”

ABOUT THE BUILD HEALTH CHALLENGE