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Americares has announced a $2 million grant from Johnson & Johnson to launch a three-year program aimed at strengthening the resilience of more than 100 safety-net health clinics in areas where climate change disproportionately affects the health of vulnerable communities.

The Climate Health Equity for Community Clinics Program is a collaborative effort between Americares, the Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Johnson & Johnson, and healthcare providers at participating free clinics and community health centers, which will design tailored interventions that meet the needs of under-resourced and overworked staff. By improving clinic operations and health resilience, the program aims to protect patients’ health during heat waves, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and other climate-related emergencies.

According to Americares, more than 90 percent of free clinic and community health center patients qualify as low income, and more than half identify as racial and ethnic minorities. The World Health Organization has declared climate change the single biggest threat to humanity—putting clean air, safe drinking water, secure housing, and food supplies at risk—and projects climate change will cause an additional 250,000 global deaths annually from 2030 to 2050, largely due to malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress.

Newark to Offer Affordable, Healthier Food Options for Residents
Through the office of the Newark Philanthropic Liaison, CNJG recently had the opportunity to convene a group of funders with the Brick City Development Corporation (BCDC), a nonprofit that is working with the City of Newark to improve access to fresh, affordable foods for Newark residents.

BCDC's Fresh Foods Program Farm Stand Initiative will link New Jersey farmers with 11 Family Success Centers located at public housing developments and nonprofit agencies. Operated by BCDC, the initiative will expand Newarkers’ access to fruits and vegetables, increase use of WIC Farmers’ Market Vouchers and Food Stamps, and educate residents about the benefits of nutrition and physical activity.

Newark’s 283,000 residents currently have little access to nutritious, affordable fresh fruits and vegetables. Only three full-size supermarkets operate in the city, and Newark residents report a scarcity in supermarkets stocked with nutritious food products. The South and West Wards, the city’s most underserved neighborhoods, are not served by full-sized supermarkets or farmers’ markets. 

Lack of fresh foods access is linked to troubling statistics for individuals of color and low-income individuals. A multi-state study found that wealthy neighborhoods have over three times as many supermarkets as low-wealth neighborhoods, and predominantly white neighborhoods have four times as many supermarkets as predominantly black neighborhoods. Nationwide about 44% of Latino and 40% of African American youth are overweight, and obesity rates are three times above average in low-income districts. The State of New Jersey has the highest rate of obesity in 2-5 year old children in the country, and about 56% of its residents are at risk for obesity-related illness. In 2004 the City of Newark WIC Program found that 18.2% of children under age 2 were overweight, higher than both the national average of 13.6% and state average of 16.8%. Similarly, 20.8% of children over age 2 were found to be overweight.

When grocery stores and other fresh-food retailers, such as farmers’ markets, are present, they have a direct impact on residents’ patterns of consumption: a 2002 study found that black Americans’ fruit and vegetable intake increased by 32% for each additional supermarket in the census tract. Farmers’ markets have an even more dramatic effect: another study found that women who had access to farmers’ markets consumed more fruits and vegetables than women who had access only to supermarkets. 

BCDC anticipates launching the Fresh Foods Program Farm Stand Initiative in the spring of 2009.
 

The Trenton Arts Fund at the Princeton Area Community Foundation has awarded a total of $25,000 in grants to eight nonprofits working to make the arts more accessible to the community.

The Trenton Arts Fund was created in 2018 by John Hatch and his husband, David Henderson, to support arts, culture and history organizations because they believe that when the arts thrive, cities thrive. A seven-person grants committee, whose members live locally and have a background in the arts, reviewed and evaluated all applications and recommended funding eight finalists.

“Our goal was to support emerging and established arts, culture and history organizations in Trenton as they reopen and emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Hatch. “We also wanted to support and recognize those organizations that focus on our young people in the city. The Trenton Arts Fund received many excellent applications, and we are thrilled to support these eight organizations that are doing extraordinary work in Trenton, bringing the arts to all corners of the city.”

TD Charitable Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Cherry Hill-based TD Bank, awarded $5.8 million through the 16th annual Housing for Everyone grant program. A total of 33 nonprofit organizations received grants ranging from $150,000 to $250,000, TD announced March 8.

Five recipients from the Garden State were chosen, receiving a total of $875,000.

The program aims to help housing organizations deliver resident services such as eviction prevention assistance, workforce development and child care.

“Housing organizations have been on the front lines of both the affordability crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. They have been called upon time and time again over the past few years to do everything from helping people find affordable homes to serving as vaccine clinics. Each time, they’ve stepped up and expanded their mandates to meet the needs of some of the most vulnerable members of our communities and work towards an equitable COVID-19 recovery,” Paige Carlson-Heim, director of the TD Charitable Foundation, said in a statement.

Impact100 Essex announced that three Essex County nonprofits are the recipients of its 2023 Equity Grants: SHE Wins Inc., AAPI Montclair, and Keys 2 Success.

With over 170 members, Impact100 Essex is a collective philanthropic group founded and funded by women in Essex County. For the past three years, in response to research showing a discrepancy in funding to BIPOC-led nonprofit organizations, Impact100 Essex’s Equity Grants have provided unrestricted funds to small BIPOC-led nonprofits.

A'Dorian Murray-Thomas, Founder and Executive Director of SHE Wins Inc., a leadership initiative for girls in Newark, receiving a $15,000 grant, said, “We are honored to be a recipient of this Equity Grant. When you invest in the hearts and minds of young women today, you invest in a better tomorrow for us all.” While inclusive of all girls, SHE Wins Inc. primarily aims to serve girls affected by inner city violence.

Nonprofit funder GreenLight Fund Greater Newark said it made a $600,000 investment to help improve literacy by bringing Reading Partners’ successful program model to Greater Newark. Reading Partners is a national nonprofit that has been mobilizing communities across the nation for 25 years to provide students with the proven, individualized reading support they need to read at grade level by fourth grade.

“Data has shown us that Newark is experiencing a literacy crisis, and this was confirmed during our community conversations tour where we heard from hundreds of residents that this is a critical issue for us to address,” GreenLight Fund Greater Newark Executive Director Tish Johnson-Jones, said. “As a new school year starts and we mark National Literacy Month, GreenLight Fund Greater Newark is excited to announce that we will be bringing Reading Partners’ proven program model to Newark to help improve literacy. By recruiting and training community members to provide one-on-one literacy tutoring, we will help strengthen reading skills and set our young people up for lifelong success.”