In Orange, residents, resources, and learning communities are isolated from each other. Featuring Orange Public Schools, Montclair State University, Drew University, the Hispanic Business Association, Urban Essex Smart Growth, and the Police Athletic League as partners, the Healthy Orange coalition posits that “in a healthy city, everybody is learning all the time.”
The Blueprint for Action emphasizes providing resources for lifelong education or addressing obstacles to it, through creating community schools that open their doors to the neighborhoods, supporting the development of babies through play, and implementing an adult school. A significant grant to revitalize a 15-block area of the Heart of Orange, was a proposed model to help improve community health outcomes. Healthy Orange also identified an opportunity in anti-violence initiatives led by the Orange Interfaith Council, as the County Health Rankings already indicated a decrease in violent crime within Essex County.
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The Orange coalition represents one of the 10 New Jersey communities supported in the first round of the NJHI: Communities Moving to Action initiative. View this coalition’s progress toward a healthier Orange and a healthier Garden State.
Healthy Orange’s Blueprint for Action
Caucus New Jersey with Steve Adubato – Building a Culture of Health: Communities Move into Action
Caucus Educational Corporation. (2017, October 7).