Building Healthier Communities Through Upstream Action Acceleration
Building a Culture of Health requires unprecedented collaboration from communities, policymakers, businesses and others. In the past several years, a growing number of communities in New Jersey and across the nation have assembled cross-sector coalitions that include residents, non-profits, schools, municipal governments, local businesses, and faith-based groups, and are focusing on “upstream” approaches that give everyone a fair and just opportunity to be healthier.
New Jersey Health Initiatives, the statewide grantmaking program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, just announced our newest funding initiative – NJHI: Upstream Action Acceleration – to support existing cross-sector coalitions to adopt “upstream” environmental-, policy- and systems-change strategies, and accelerate their work to improve community health.
By “upstream,” we mean working with all community stakeholders to address the factors that influence health prior to the onset of disease and illness.
By “upstream,” we mean working with all community stakeholders to address the factors that influence health prior to the onset of disease and illness. These factors include income, employment, education, early childhood development, housing, nutrition and the built environment. Accordingly, areas of focus under this initiative might include, but are not limited to:
- Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
- New Sector Engagement
- Effective Use of Data Tools and Resources to Guide Actions
- Civic Engagement
- Environment/Open Space
- Medical-Legal Partnerships and
- Transportation
NJHI: Upstream Action Acceleration contributes to the continued development of healthier communities in NJ by supporting community-focused, cross-sector partnerships to advance their efforts on addressing social determinants of health; encouraging communities to think broadly about health; and approaching community change by thinking strategically about policy, environmental and systems change. Learn more and access the call for proposals.