Rutgers School of Social Work evaluates IHC program

A research team at the Rutgers University School of Social Work released an evaluation of the Inclusive Healthy Communities (IHC) grant program, launched in 2020 by the Division of Disability Services, NJ Department of Human Services.

The Inclusive Healthy Communities Grant Program in New Jersey supports organizations in capacity development and implementation activities toward enhancing access to the benefits of healthy communities among people with disabilities. Unique to the program is a focus on policy, systems, and environmental changes that have potential for widespread and sustainable population health impact. This emphasis complements longer-standing approaches in the field of disabilities, which traditionally have oriented to individual and group service delivery. The program is designed to be of relevance for people with a wide range of disability types. It also aims to engage people of diverse ages, races, ethnicities, income levels, nationalities, sexual orientations, genders, and other intersectional identities. 

Data collection took place in the second half of the program’s first year. The goal of the evaluation was to describe grantee progress, identify early successes, and learn about the grantees’ experiences with the program.