Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Federal Government Award Children’s Health Grants to Trenton, N.J.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on Aug. 28 announced a $20 million program to "improve" the health of children in Trenton, N.J., the Trenton Times reports. The initiative, which is the "largest private donation ever aimed at child health care" in Trenton, will be administered by Children's Futures, an organization established by RWJF one and a half years ago "with help from" Trenton's Thomas Edison State College. The program will focus on reducing infant mortality, promoting "effective" parenting and improving the "quality and accessibility" of child and prenatal care in Trenton, program director Rush Russell said. The program will start soliciting grant applications -- from both secular and religious organizations -- in December. The RWJF donation will be supported by a separate $3.3 million grant, also announced Aug. 28, from the federal government. The city will use the federal money, $2.8 million of which will come from HHS and $500,000 of which comes from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to hire nurses, provide transportation to doctors' appointments and do "whatever it takes to ensure a woman gets the care she needs" during pregnancy and the first three years of her child's life, city health and human services director April Aaronson said. Trenton had an infant mortality rate of 8.3 per 1,000 live births in 1998, compared to a rate of 6.4 per 1,000 live births statewide. The percentage of women in the city who did not receive any prenatal care rose to 3.4% in 1998, up from 2.6% in 1996; statewide, 1% of women do not receive prenatal care. The Children's Futures program will not be aimed "exclusively" at low-income residents, but will instead focus on groups that are at a "higher risk" for prenatal and early childhood health problems, such as African Americans "of all income levels" (Raboteau, Trenton Times, 8/29).