Building healthy communities: Opportunities for New Jersey municipalities to promote inclusion of people with disabilities

The New Jersey Inclusive Healthy Communities (IHC) grant program is a new and exciting initiative of the state Department of Human Services Division of Disability Services (DDS) that seeks to advance the inclusion of people with disabilities in building healthy communities at the local, regional and state levels.

NJ Municipalities
January 2022 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that almost one in four New Jersey adults have some type of disability and that people with disabilities suffer greater health disparities including heart disease and diabetes. More and more, Americans are recognizing that people with disabilities experience inequalities in all aspects of life that contribute to health and well-being, including access to employment, affordable and quality health care, healthy housing, education, transportation, and more. There is increasing recognition that as the Ford Foundation recently noted, “to build a world where everyone is equal, we need to recognize how disability interconnects with the issues of social justice and follow the lead of the individuals at the center of the fight” …