Celebrating Building a Culture of Health in Passaic County
Earlier this year, the Passaic County Food Policy Council hosted the Building a Culture of Health Blueprint for Action Breakfast Forum to publicly release our community plan to improve the quality of life and length of life of Passaic County residents. More than 100 community partners, residents, and stakeholders attended the forum to learn more about what it means to build a Culture of Health, the components of Boundary Spanning Leadership, and the content of our plan. It was a wonderful morning to celebrate all of our hard work to develop the plan and the collaboration that it represents. We were thrilled to have Bob Atkins, PhD, RN, FAAN, Director of New Jersey Health Initiatives, speak about how our work connects to the statewide effort to build a Culture of Health in New Jersey.
Our Blueprint for Action addresses barriers to health in the municipalities of Paterson City, Prospect Park, Haledon, Passaic City, and Clifton. Our coalition and cross-sector team participated in a year-long planning process to assess community needs and assets, identify best practice modalities, and map out objectives, resources, and a timeline for the plan. We invited community stakeholders to participate in implementing the plan over the next three years. The cross-sector team that was instrumental in writing our Blueprint for Action includes:
- Charlene W. Gungil, DHSc., Director/Health Officer, Passaic County Health Department
- Ken Morris, Vice President of External Affairs, St. Joseph’s Healthcare System
- Ruben Gomez, Director of Economic Development, City of Paterson
- Rosie Grant, Executive Director, Paterson Education Fund
- Mary Celis, Project Director, Director of Health Initiatives, United Way of Passaic County
Our Blueprint for Action for Passaic County includes four focus areas that address the social determinants of health and include: Economic Opportunity, Access to Healthy Food, Access to Clinical Healthcare, and Community Safety. To access our community Blueprint for Action, please visit our website.
For more information regarding our Blueprint for Action please contact the Project Director, Mary Celis, Director of Health Initiatives, at the United Way of Passaic County at maryc@unitedwaypassaic.org and follow us on social media.
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