Camden Coalition and the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation announce $3.3 million in grants
Building the complex care field Strengthening ecosystems of care
New Jersey Safety Net Innovation Proposal (“NJ SNIP”)
A capacity-building grant for mental healthcare safety net organizations, funded by the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation and implemented by the Camden Coalition.
Building the complex care field Strengthening ecosystems of care Education & training Measurement & evaluation Workforce development
What is NJ SNIP? An overview
What is NJ SNIP? An overview
In 2023 the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation (BMS Foundation), an independent charitable organization, funded the NJ Safety Net Innovation Proposal (NJ SNIP) grant opportunity to support safety net healthcare organizations across New Jersey. NJ SNIP enables grantees to strengthen their organizational capacity and address a critical health need facing their community through continuation or expansion of existing work and/or pilot project. In 2024, the BMS Foundation offered the grant opportunity again to a cohort of mental health-focused organizations serving individuals living with serious mental illness (SMI), including but not limited to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder.
The Camden Coalition was selected by the BMS Foundation through a competitive proposal process to co-design, implement, and administer this grant program on the foundation’s behalf due to our two decades of experience working with individuals living with complex health and social needs, and our reputation as a leader in developing person-centered models of care.
Recipients of the NJ SNIP grants will receive funding from the BMS Foundation for two years to address a mental health community and/or strategic capacity-building need. The Camden Coalition will offer tailored technical support related to project management and implementation barriers as well as other technical resources.
By virtue of their mission and the communities they serve, mental healthcare safety net institutions are uniquely well-positioned to improve access and quality of care for individuals living with SMI. The goal of the NJ SNIP funding and technical support is to deliver sustainable value to these organizations and objectively demonstrate the success of empowering safety net organizations to identify their most pertinent strategic capacity building needs.
NJ SNIP Cohort II grantees and project descriptions
To be eligible for Cohort II of NJ SNIP, applicants needed to be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in the state of New Jersey and qualify as a community mental health center or community health improvement organization. Grant applications were reviewed by a panel of external reviewers that recommended organizations for funding based on their high potential for community impact and commitment to fostering meaningful partnerships with community members. The NJ SNIP Cohort II grantees include:
Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services
- Project name: BBHS – Thrive
- Project goals: Improve health and wellness of people with SMI served by wraparound service teams and by increasing engagement with partners to achieve integrated care and enhancing staff skill level to provide complex care.
- Project name: Pathways to Wellness: Expanding Access to Mental Health Care at CPW
- Project goal: Address mental health instability among individuals diagnosed with persistent SMI by offering an integrated approach that combines mental health services with essential support.
- Project name: NJ SNIP: Building Resources and Integration for Dedicated Growth and Empowerment (BRIDGE)
- Project goal: Enhance the quality of care for individuals living with SMI by improving coordination, transitions of care, and service linkage across Monmouth County hospitals, acute care programs, and primary care providers.
- Project name: Improving SMI Treatment Access & Retention through Community Mental Health & Emergency Department Collaboration
- Project goal: Bridge the gap between the emergency department and the Integrity Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic by embedding care managers in the emergency department to ensure individuals living with SMI are rapidly connected to care.
Jewish Family Service Atlantic County
- Project name: JFS Connections
- Project goal: Strengthen the organization’s services for people living with SMI by creating an interdisciplinary team providing therapy, case management, outreach and intake services. The team will provide high quality care to clients and collaborate to improve external partnerships, cross-programmatic referrals, and care coordination to address the multilayered needs of people with SMI in Atlantic County.
- Project name: Open Door Access to Mental Health Care for the LQBTQIA+ Community
- Project goal: Significantly improve access to necessary services by addressing both the systemic and logistical barriers often faced for LGBTQIA+ individuals, particularly those with SMI.
Mental Health Center of Passaic
- Project name: Compassionate Care for Individuals with SMI
- Project goal: Improve training for clinicians, address clinical mental health staff shortages, and foster better integration and collaboration across the healthcare system to provide more consistent, high-quality support for individuals living with SMI. Additionally, support sustained partnerships with a range of health care providers through improved health data infrastructure and updated technology for data sharing.
- Project name: Mobile Health and Wellness Services
- Project goal: Improve access to services by engaging individuals using a Mobile Health and Wellness Van added to an existing Certified Community Behavioral Health Center. Providing mobile integrated health and mental health wellness services will remove a prominent barrier to accessing care and expand capacity to provide outreach, support, and engagement across multiple communities and populations.
- Project name: Pathways to Healing: A Program for Individuals Facing Severe Mental Health Challenges
- Project goal: Address gaps in care related to language, transportation, and stigma barriers by providing a comprehensive, holistic approach to care that integrates mental health service with primary care, social support, and community-based resources through an expansion of culturally sensitive, bilingual services, and connections to wrap-around services and support that individuals with SMI need to lead healthier, more stable lives.
Information about the current Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation’s NJ SNIP, including program requirements, grant details, selection criteria, and more, can be found in the request for applications document.
NJ SNIP Cohort I grantees and project descriptions
NJ SNIP Cohort I
NJ SNIP Cohort I grantees and project descriptions
To be eligible for this inaugural pilot cohort, applicants needed to be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in the state of New Jersey and qualify as one of the following four organization types: community health center, free and charitable clinic, essential/safety-net hospital, or a Regional Health Hub. Recipients of the grants were selected by a panel of external, independent reviewers based on their high potential for community impact and commitment to fostering meaningful partnerships with community members. The inaugural grantee cohort includes:
Care Plus Bergen, Inc. (Bergen New Bridge Medical Center)
- Project name: Improving Healthcare Access for the LGBTQ+ Community Through Telehealth and Navigation
- Project goals: Expand LGBTQ Wellness Center to offer wraparound services like patient navigation, assessment of social determinants of health, and referral services. Care Plus Bergen, Inc. will work together with one to two community-based organizations to create a hybrid telehealth care system.
Greater Newark Health Care Coalition
- Project name: Greater Newark Pediatric Asthma Safety Collaborative
- Project goals: Design and implement a community-based quality improvement strategy to improve the outcomes of pediatric asthma patients in the Greater Newark communities of Newark, Irvington and East Orange. The project design will involve conducting focus groups, providing training to healthcare providers treating pediatric asthma patients, and upskilling community members to implement educational and awareness activities within their communities.
Health Coalition of Passaic County, Inc.
- Project name: HCPC Pathways to Success for Diabetes
- Project goals: Reinitiate and expand the evidence-based community hub model to provide health education, medical assessments, medical referrals, food assistance, and social service assistance to patients with diabetes.
Henry J. Austin Health Center
- Project name: Sustaining Health: Advancing the Hypertension Control Initiative
- Project goals: Expand the Hypertension Control Initiative by providing remote blood pressure monitoring devices with enhanced automation to 500 patients. This pharmacist-led intervention will be supported by Community Health Worker outreach.
Ocean Health Initiatives
- Project name: OHI Pediatric Centering with Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation
- Project goals: Establish a prenatal centering service for expecting mothers in Freehold Boro to improve maternal and infant health outcomes by incorporating non-traditional maternity care strategies.
Osborn Family Health Center, Inc.
- Project name: Improving Access to Quality Healthcare
- Project goals: Expand access to patient-centered care through the addition of an OB/GYN patient coordinator and two patient navigators to serve as liaisons between referring physicians, hospital facilities, and all other collaborating health center entities.
South Ward Children’s Alliance DBA South Ward Promise Neighborhood
- Project name: South Ward Community Wellness
- Project goals: Expansion of services at the newly created Wellness Center will focus on increasing Community Health Workers, Social Workers, and navigation services, as well as providing family support services such as infant necessities.
St. Joseph’s University Medical Center
- Project name: St. Joseph’s Health- Team Based Doula Pilot Program
- Project goals: Launch a pilot program to expand existing doula staff from 2 to 6 full-time doulas, providing 24/7 supportive care and co-creation of culturally sensitive birth solutions at every stage of pregnancy.
Urban Health Institute (“UHI”) at Cooper University Health Care
- Project name: Building Bridges: Addressing Social Determinants and Enhancing Community Connections
- Project goals: UHI and the Center for Family Services (“CFS”) will partner to deliver a more effective SDOH assessment, referral, coordination, and bi-directional feedback process between clinical care and social service providers. This partnership aims to provide holistic care to patients living with chronic conditions in Camden City.
Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey Community Health Center (VNACJ CHC)
- Project name: Transforming VNACJ CHC into a High Reliability Organization
- Project goals: Implement the five principles of High Reliability Organizations across all HNACJ CHC sites, from leadership to the entire employee base, to reduce preventable errors and embed a culture of safety for its patients.
Zufall Health Center, Inc.
- Project name: Integration of MAT and Primary Care for Vulnerable Populations
- Project goals: Establish a holistic approach to serving patients with substance abuse disorder by integrating Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) with primary care, behavioral health support, and case management for patients in Zufall’s service areas.
Information about the 2023 Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation’s NJ SNIP including program requirements, grant details, selection criteria, and more can be found in the request for applications document.