The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has announced a grant to the Community Foundation of New Jersey (CFNJ) and Community Foundation of South Jersey (CFSJ) to oversee strategy development and management of New Jersey Health Initiatives (NJHI), one of RWJF’s flagship grantmaking programs in its home state. 

Last June, RWJF issued a call for proposals, seeking a partner to work with it to re-envision and realign the strategy, structure, and operations of NJHI. Together, CFNJ and CFSJ will amplify RWJF’s role as a place-based funder that contributes to policy change, systems change, and equitable benefits and resources for everyone in New Jersey’s communities. The grant covers work over the next 18 months with RWJF, other partners, and stakeholders in New Jersey to redesign NJHI’s efforts related to programmatic strategies, approaches, and operational structures. 

Over the past 35 years, NJHI has invested $100 million in more than 300 projects and grants across the state to advance health equity and empower community-level organizations to be effective advocates. Since 2020, a team at RWJF has worked to learn to better understand the state’s landscape, including its assets, needs, and partners as they relate to the mission of advancing health equity, with a racial equity lens, statewide.

“Both foundations are rooted in community philanthropy—and the geographic reach of both in addition to their roles and relationships as trusted community partners are critically important to advancing health and racial equity and justice,” said RWJF program officer Cathy Malone. “They will provide the infrastructure, technical assistance, and financial capital to help empower communities to exercise their leadership and knowledge to build capacity and drive systems change.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Ultima Gaina)