The BUILD Health Challenge (BUILD) is a national program designed to support partnerships among community-based organizations, health departments, and hospitals/health systems that are working to address important health issues in their community. Each community collaborative addresses root causes of chronic disease (also commonly referred to as the social determinants of health) in their local area by leveraging multisector partnerships, and working with their local community.

The BUILD Health Challenge welcomed 18 new awardees to its 2019 cohort, including two New Jersey cities — Camden and New Brunswick. BUILD stands for Bold, Upstream, Integrated, Local, and Data-Driven. Applying these BUILD principles, the New Brunswick Healthy Housing Collaborative, a BUILD grantee in 2017, will use lessons learned and momentum built around healthy housing over the past two years as the Collaborative works to develop and drive policy changes that ensure healthier homes. The Collaborative will work with the City to improve housing-related city ordinances and operational efficiencies to enable stable and healthy housing. Integrated support will be provided through a sustainable medical-legal partnership and case management to aid in ensuring tenant rights and address health issues. Community engagement, driven by community health ambassadors, will build awareness of tenant rights in the community and empower the mobilization of efforts necessary to drive policy changes.

Camden-based Roots to Prevention believes that a healthcare provider’s fresh foods prescription program can strengthen urban agriculture in low-income areas. Roots to Prevention will be able to connect food-growing organizations throughout Camden with selling their produce direct to Virtua Health’s Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program. This effort will provide patients better access to healthy, affordable foods while also creating new income opportunities for surrounding neighborhoods. Led by community-based Parkside Business and Community in Partnership, Roots to Prevention will also expand nutrition, cooking and gardening programs citywide to increase participation in the local food economy by both residents and prescription redeemers.

Through the BUILD Health Challenge, the Camden and New Brunswick community partners receive technical assistance and support from BUILD’s communications, evaluation and other technical assistance partners to drive change within New Jersey and at the national level to better address the root cause barriers to health and health equity. In addition, Camden and New Brunswick partnerships will build their capacity to maximize their local impact and contributions to the healthy communities field.

The BUILD Health Challenge is made possible with generous support from: Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina Foundation, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, Blue Shield of California Foundation, the Communities Foundation of Texas, de Beaumont Foundation, Episcopal Health Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc., New Jersey Health Initiatives, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.