The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded New Brunswick-based New Jersey Community Capital a $750,000 grant to support the creation of affordable homes and community health facilities in low-income communities throughout New Jersey.
The grant will support the newly-established Partnership to Invest in Transformative Community Health, or PITCH, program, a $5 million community health fund working to advance health equity in economically distressed communities.
“We know that housing is an essential component to the health and livability of a community,” Wayne Meyer, president of NJCC, said. “Through strategic collaborations with anchor hospital and health systems – and leaders in the health care sector like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – we’re able to continue unlocking new, low-cost, and flexible capital for our mission-driven borrowers. Most importantly, we’re able to foster healthy, equitable neighborhoods that allow individuals and families to grow and thrive.”
PITCH will provide local housing builders an investment match for the acquisition of predevelopment of “healthy homes”, NJCC said. NJCC’s real estate development subsidiary, Community Asset Preservation Corp., will then assist the builders with a goal of increasing and sustaining their development capacity.
“As a community development financial institution, NJCC continues to design resources and tools that drive holistic and equitable community development and promote safe and healthy homes for individuals and families in low-income communities,” Hanaa Hamdi, director of health impact investment strategies and partnerships, said. “Through cross-sector partnerships and collaboration, we’re able to align capital to finance the creation and preservation of healthy homes and neighborhoods that improve the essential wellbeing of those most in need.”
