To connect 500 or more vulnerable Burlington County residents with the COVID-19 vaccine, the Food Bank of South Jersey (FBSJ) is leading this collaborative effort to coordinate outreach and community-based vaccination events throughout the county. Together with its network of food pantries, soup kitchens and other emergency feeding partners, and both Virtua and Cooper Health systems, FBSJ is identifying opportunities to provide vaccinations during upcoming food distribution events and securing community locations to host up to 25 vaccination clinics. FBSJ is also partnering with the New Jersey Association of Black Women Physicians in this work that on a broader level, could strengthen community-clinical connections to benefit everyone in the county. Through FBSJ’s commitment to collaboration and partnership in taking the vaccine to community settings, this program could create a model for providing equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The Food Bank of South Jersey and its partners are among the nonprofits and service providers that have come together as the Moving New Jersey Forward Learning Collaborative to share accomplishments and lessons learned from this work with each other, with New Jersey Health Initiatives and the state, to benefit every community. Ensuring more equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine originally connected these thought leaders as the New Jersey Vaccination Learning Network for over a year. In March 2022, the network renamed itself the Moving NJ Forward Learning Collaborative to better represent the partners’ systems-level thinking and commitment to applying the lessons from the past two years to unlock the doors to opportunity that marginalized communities face. Learn more about the collaborative’s expanded focus.

In July 2022, the Food Bank of South Jersey project team reflected on more than six months of this collaborative work across Burlington County. Scroll down to check out their latest blog post.

Browse reflections on similar efforts from across New Jersey in the Summer 2022 collection of community stories by the Moving NJ Forward Learning Collaborative.