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The New Jersey Council for the Humanities (NJCH) has announced $272,408 in grant funding to 22 organizations across the state for Spring 2023.
The awards are split between 11 Incubation Grants and 11 Action Grants. Incubation Grants help organizations plan, research, develop, and prototype public humanities projects and events. Action Grants help organizations implement a wide array of humanities-based projects, including public programs, exhibitions, installations, tours and discussion groups.
“This grant funding represents support for a mixture of new projects and ongoing, important work,” said Carin Berkowitz, Ph.D., executive director of NJCH. “In that way, it mirrors the fundamental purpose of the humanities, examining our history and culture in ways that shape our current understanding of the world.”
The New Jersey Council for the Humanities (NJCH) has announced $231,768 in grant funding to 19 organizations across the state.
The awards are split between 9 Incubation Grants and 10 Action Grants and represent 10 counties in New Jersey. Incubation Grants help organizations plan, research, develop, and prototype public humanities projects and events. Action Grants help organizations implement a wide array of humanities-based projects, including public programs, exhibitions, installations, tours and discussion groups.
“Our most recent grantees are bringing under-told stories from throughout the state and world to new audiences,” said Carin Berkowitz, Ph.D., executive director of NJCH. “They demonstrate that understanding our shared history is key to understanding our current world.”

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) has announced a 10-year, $20 million commitment from Novartis in support of students and faculty at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and medical schools.
With the goal of reducing financial barriers to a college education and equipping the next generation of leaders in health, business, and social equity-related fields, the Novartis US Foundation HBCU Scholarship program will provide up to $10,000 a year for up to 360 students at 27 institutions. Recipients also will have access to training, professional development, and opportunities for real-world skill application. In addition, 10 competitive faculty research grants of $25,000 a year will be offered to faculty at the participating HBCUs.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the inequities Black Americans face, with recent data showing that higher rates of cases and deaths in predominantly Black counties are associated with social conditions and structural racism, not underlying health conditions. That inequity extends to Black underrepresentation across medical systems—not only among clinical trial participants but also among medical school students, physicians, and clinical trial investigators.
“While the world has focused on the numbers of COVID-19 positive infections and deaths, many have ignored the long-term educational and economic impacts of the pandemic—especially for Black Americans,” said TMCF president and CEO Harry L. Williams. “Although there has been attention to the great disparities of Black Americans contracting COVID-19, and the higher death rates for Black Americans than for other racial groups, this community will be living with COVID-19 impacts for the next two decades in economic, educational, and health outcomes.”
From February 26-28, 2023, members of the NLC’s Mayoral Network on Community Safety and Violence Prevention, city representatives and resource guests were welcomed by Mayor Ras J. Baraka in Newark, New Jersey. Attendees saw firsthand the strides made by Mayor Baraka, Office of Violence Prevention & Trauma Recovery Director Lakeesha Eure, and the rest of the Newark team. Alongside community partners, the city team members are advancing new safety strategies alongside longstanding ones. This collaborative, people-centered approach to addressing violence and promoting safety led to 60-year lows in homicides for the city.
The philanthropic community in Newark is an instrumental part of the city’s transformation of its public safety ecosystem over the past nine years. Several local foundations supported the development and implementation of a new public health centered strategy from its infancy by providing the resources for two public safety retreats, multiple community-based violence prevention and interruption organizations, new data tools and collaboratives, and trauma training for community and police.
Lisa Block, Senior Program Officer with the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, shared her thoughts on the work in this article for Grantmakers in Health.