The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the weaknesses of New Jersey’s underfunded and understaffed public health system, and now two New Jersey-based foundations have proposed a public health institute for the state — and have offered the seed money to get it started.
The proposal by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Nicholson Foundation is one result of a months-long assessment of the public health system by the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. It found that New Jersey’s local public health departments are far more dependent on local property tax revenue than their counterparts elsewhere and have much more to do.