Communications and Education

HCP-NJ can help municipalities create messaging from evidence-informed recommendations. Each report section contains information and recommendations for the public, including public health campaigns. For example, the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) report section contains posters from the CDC and information that November is National COPD Awareness Month.

Examples

HCP-NJ data can make environmental health communication more meaningful to community members.

Below are example communications created with and without HCP-NJ using Frenchtown Borough municipal data.

Without HCP-NJ: Your private well could contain harmful contaminants. Check when you last tested your well or get your well tested today.

With HCP-NJ: From 2002-2018, 69.7% of Frenchtown Borough private wells did not meet primary drinking water standards. Check when you last tested your well or get your well tested today.

Emergency Management

Certain HCP-NJ indicators may inform planning for emergency situations such as wildfires, flooding, and extreme storms.

• Air Quality Index (AQI)
• Flooding (Urban Land Cover)

If your municipality shows any of these indicators in red in the rightmost column, meaning that your municipality is doing more poorly than most New Jersey municipalities, discuss emergency prevention and response strategies.

Examples

HCP-NJ can help communities take action on AQI. For example, if a municipality is concerned about air quality (e.g. their AQI is above the 80th percentile), HCP-NJ provides links to NJDEP Air Quality Flag Program to raise awareness about poor air quality days for vulnerable residents.

HCP-NJ can also help municipalities concerned about flooding. They can use HCP-NJ data and resources as part of the development of a Resilience and Adaptation Action Plan to understand and mitigate flooding and other climate resilience issues. An example of a town's resilience plan is featured here.

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Grant Writing

Grant money may facilitate progress or open the doors to new partners. HCP-NJ can help you find grants and write grant applications.

The HCP-NJ Resources page also contains links to "Funding Sources/Incentive Programs."

Find Grants

Each HCP-NJ "Ideas for Taking Action" section contains links to grants for meeting identified environmental health needs.

Open Space

• NJDEP’s Green Acres Program – matches grants and provides low-interest loans to acquire open space and develop outdoor recreation facilities.
• New Jersey Recreational Trails Program – provides grants to develop, maintain, and restore trails and trail-related facilities.
• USPA’s Smart Growth Grants – provides funding for smart open spaces.

Groundwater and Soil, Contaminated Sites

• Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund
• New Jersey Spill Compensation Fund
• Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Remediation
• Upgrade and Closure Fund (UST Fund)
• Technical Assistance Grants
• New Jersey Environmental Infrastructure Trust
• Brownfields Impact Fund

Surface Water Quality

• Water quality restoration grant – funds nonpoint pollution infrastructure improvements

Radon

• NJ Department of Environmental Protection small grants – provides funding for purchasing radon test kits.

Traffic

• “It Pay$ to Plug In” EV charging grant program – provides funding for charging infrastructure throughout the State.

Write Grant Applications

After finding a grant that is relevant to community priorities and projects, HCP-NJ can help provide data and action items to facilitate writing the grant proposal.

The following page contains ideas for finding data and language for grant writing. Even if you are not applying for a grant addressed in the examples, many grant questions are similar, and you may find reviewing these examples helpful.

Grant Writing Examples

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Grant Writing Examples

How to use this grant writing examples page

Several municipal officials say they use HCP-NJ or want to use HCP-NJ for grant writing. This tool and HCP-NJ make writing evidence-informed grant applications easier and faster.

Find categories of grant-writing questions

• General Questions
• Health Equity
• Environment
• Purchasing

In each section, find questions taken from real grants underlined and in bold. Below each question, find locations of relevant HCP-NJ data and language that you can use in your grant writing.

General Questions

How will you meet the stated grant goal?  "Expand data collection and infrastructure to drive decision making with the aim to improve equity."

Use HCP-NJ to understand the health priorities that require close monitoring and existing supporting data.

• Each section: After identifying a public health priority, the section on that priority discusses existing data sources.
  • Usage example. The community drinking water section discusses existing tests on New Jersey Drinking Water Watch, Private Well Testing Act, and discusses key parameters for understanding testing results. From there, city officials can keep closer tabs on these numbers or consider other data they need to collect.
• Additional tool: EJMAP shows granular data of where waste facilities exist.
  • Usage example: Use EJAMP indicators to track project progress.
  • Language example: Camden is completely comprised of overburdened communities apart from communities in census blocks 73, 80, 81, 139, and 140. The NJDEP tool, EJMAP, provides data regarding environment and health adverse stressors in overburdened communities. EJMAP is updated every six months and certain adverse stressor levels will show project progress in OBCs.

Health Equity

How will you meet the stated grant goal? “Increase health equity for disproportionately affected populations.”

Use HCP-NJ to understand the locations, demographics, and needs of disproportionately affected populations.

• Community Data Summary: Understand how your municipality compares to county and state benchmarks.
  • Language example: Camden City residents are exposed to lower air quality than the average New Jersian and experience higher rates of public health issues than the average New Jersian. 
    
    
• Each section: Each section contains maps showing how health and environment data differ across the area.
  • Usage example: In the Air Cancer and Noncancer Risks section, the AirToxScreen maps show where highest hazards and risks are concentrated in Camden.
    
    
• Additional tool: EJMAP shows granular data of where overburdened communities (OBCs) exist in Camden.

How will you meet the stated grant goal? "Strengthen organizational capacity to drive progress on public health priorities and increase capacity across LHDs."

Use HCP-NJ to identify public health priorities and actionable steps to increase capacity.

• Community Data Summary: Understand where to funnel your health and environment energy. Municipal government might evaluate the areas where risk levels are higher than the state average and then focus on one of those areas where the government can make swift progress. 
  • Language example: Compared to [your municipality], [percentile for indicator]% of New Jersey municipalities [have lower/better indicator]. [Your municipality]'s poorer [red indicator] compared to other New Jersey municipalities makes improving [red indicator] a priority for [your municipality]. To increase capacity, Camden City will [suggestions from indicator's "Taking Action" page].
    
    
• Each section: Get next steps for each area of environmental health. Find links to programs that help municipalities on the path to sustainability.
  • Usage example: In the Urban Flooding section, HCP-NJ recommends steps to increase capacity for mitigating urban flooding, including using the Local Planning for Climate Change Toolkit to increase climate change resilience or partnering with the Division of Coastal Engineering, the Blue Acres program, or Rebuild by Design Projects.

Environment

Goals and Policies: Goals should clearly state the community's decisions on the obligation it has to provide open space and recreation opportunities on an equal and accessible basis for all citizens.

• Additional tool: EJMAP shows granular data of where overburdened communities (OBCs) exist, and Community Stressor Summaries show whether certain OBCs lack open space.
  • Language example: Lack of open space within a quarter mile is an adverse stressor for many OBCs in [your municipality].

Needs Analysis: A description of change which will affect recreation and open space provision such as in number of residents, age structure, land use, leisure time and income, which form the basis for forecasts of future open space and recreation needs.

• Community Data Summary:  Understand how your municipality's open space compares to county and state benchmarks.
  • Language example: Paterson City has 145,484 residents, 49.7% of whom are under two times the poverty level, meaning that about 72,306 residents live on $7,290 or less if they live alone or $12,430 or less for a family of three.
  • Language example: Paterson City is in the 97th percentile of New Jersey for Open Space, meaning that 97% of other New Jersey Municipalities have more residents less than a quarter mile from open space per are of open space. Paterson City is in the 88th percentile of Passaic County for Open Space.
    
    
• Open Space Section: Locate existing open space and areas of residents who live greater than a quarter mile from open space.
  • Usage example: On page 57 of Paterson County's full report, the open space map shows open space and residential population far from open space. The section also provides a link to the Recreational Open Space Inventory (ROSI) database where you can find more open space data.
    
    
• Additional tool: EJMAP shows granular data of where overburdened communities (OBCs) exist, and Community Stressor Summaries show whether certain OBCs lack open space.
  • Usage Example: Lack of open space within a quarter mile is an adverse stressor for [number of OBCs for which open space is an adverse stressor in your municipality] OBCs in [your municipality].

Resource Assessment: Supporting conservation objectives such as water supply protection, wildlife habitat protection, protection of rivers, streams and forest lands, farmland preservation and historic preservation.

• Community Data Summary: Understand whether certain areas have surface water that is not supported for designated use; Understand percentage of Urban Land Use Area flooded.
  • Ex. In Paterson City, 100% of surface water is not supported for its designated use. Planners might want to take a look at the full report section for surface water. If a Green Acres park intersects with a Paterson City body of water, planners will have to notify park-goers that the water is unsafe for certain uses or restore surface water quality.
  • Ex. In Paterson City, 11% of urban land use area flooded in 2021. Examining where flood plains exist can help planners decide where to put parks and open spaces.
    
    
• Surface Water Section: Understand where surface water designated uses are impaired; Learn next steps for remedying impaired designated uses.
  • Ex. The Passaic River passes through Paterson City, and the water quality is impaired for aquatic, fish consumption, recreation, and water supply uses, according to the table on page 18.
  • Ex. Officials, residents, and community groups can all apply for grants or learn about water quality to restore the Passaic River.
    
    
• Urban Flooding Section: Understand where urban flooding occurs to plan open space and recreation around this knowledge.
  • Ex. Certain areas of Paterson City have experienced urban land flooding more than others, and considering these areas might be helpful for open space and recreation planning.
    
    
• Additional tool: The NJ Department of Environmental Protection Flood Resource Toolkit can help you understand and respond to flooding.

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Long-Term Planning

Consulting the HCP-NJ report during projects or planning can help municipalities consider health in all policies. HCP-NJ can contribute to both proactive and remedial planning.

• Addressing climate resilience planning (HCP-NJ complements NJDEP Whole-Community Climate Resilience Planning)
• Maintaining healthy air quality index levels, including by reducing traffic
• Monitoring and preventing ground water and soil contamination
• Creating shade-tree programs
• Preventing urban flooding and creating emergency responses
• Creating purposeful public open space

Furthermore, HCP-NJ maps and Environmental Justice Mapping, Assessment, and Protection Tool (EJMAP) maps can help long-term planners identify and target inequities within a municipality.

The HCP-NJ Resources page provides links to guidance on “Integrating public health into local government master plans.”

Examples

Maplewood references HCP-NJ on page 11 of their Draft Master Plan, reviewing the tool before and during the planning process.

Newark 's Environmental Resources Inventory responds to Newark's local Environmental Justice Law.

Similar to HCP-NJ, the Inventory reviews environmental resources to incorporate into daily planning and municipal decisions.

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Parks and Recreation

Whether assessing existing parks and recreational spaces or considering new projects, consulting your municipality's HCP-NJ report can help develop, improve, or find funding for parks and recreation.

Open Space

Developing and maintaining parks can improve community access to open space and contribute to the health of the community. The HCP-NJ Community Data Summary's Open Space indicator shows the percentage of residents living more than a quarter mile from open space and compares that percentage to county and state values. HCP-NJ municipal open space maps show where residents live without access to open space.

Additionally, the Environmental Justice Mapping, Assessment, and Protection Tool (EJMAP) can also identify block groups within a municipality where there is a lack of access to open space and other adverse stressors.

Examples

New Jersey municipalities have taken steps towards improving parks and open spaces.

New Brunswick's Feaster Park contains elements of sustainable design and planning.

New Brunswick installed cost and energy efficient solar-powered LEDs in Feaster Park using a Community Development Block Grant.

Furthermore, Feaster Park is located in an Overburdened Community (OBC) with a lack of open space as an adverse stressor.

Plainfield City received Green Acres funds to improve its Madison Ave Park, located in an OBC.

Current plans include updating the fitness area to contribute to the health and wellbeing of nearby residents.

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Purchasing

Before purchasing carbon-emitting fleets, consider reviewing HCP-NJ indicators such as municipal Traffic, Air Quality Index (AQI), and Asthma (ED) indicators. Governor Murphy set targets for 330,000 electric vehicles by 2025, and choosing to go electric can positively impact a municipality’s environmental health.

Examples

New Jersey municipalities have taken steps towards purchasing fleets of electric vehicles. Consider the example below.

In 2020, Jersey City began building its EV fleet, with a goal of 100% electric vehicles by 2030. Jersey City found funding for its electric garbage trucks through New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) grants.

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Zoning and Ordinances

The HCP-NJ Resources page provides links to “Municipal Ordinances and Local Obligations,” including both ideas for community ordinances and information about state requirements. HCP-NJ reports also suggest certain ordinances to improve environmental health, examples of which are listed below.

Example Zoning Decisions and Ordinances

In 2022, Woodbury passed Ordinance No. 2364-22 prohibiting smoking in municipal buildings, around entrances to municipal buildings, in public parks owned by the City of Woodbury, and in city vehicles. Woodbury publicizes this ban with signs bearing the international no-smoking symbol and enforces the ban with the Police Department, Fire Department, and Code Enforcement Office.

Municipalities can use HCP-NJ links to find NJ smoke-free ordinances and adopt those for their community.

Understanding the need for flood planning, Long Beach Township adopted its Resilient NJ Plan. The plan involved community engagement, detailed flood plain mapping, and research of past local attempts to mitigate flooding.

Municipalities can use HCP-NJ links to find NJDEP's Model Code Coordinated Ordinances to assist in planning that leads to changes in zoning to improve flooding outcomes.

The Newark360 Master Plan responds to environmental injustice and designates Green Zones where local government will focus on environmental health.

To explore where environmental injustice is concentrated in your municipality, please visit the Environmental Justice Mapping, Assessment, and Protection Tool (EJMAP) to see where overburdened communities are located and review environmental health data at a census block level.

HCP-NJ Zoning and Ordinance Ideas (Not an Exhaustive List)

Community Drinking Water

“Adopt local ordinances to ensure entire lead service lines are replaced, not just the water system’s portion” (13).

Private Wells

“require the installation of appropriate treatment equipment if primary drinking water standards are not met in private wells” (15).

Urban Flooding

“Work with NJDEP’s Community Assistance Program on a local ordinance to adopt new or revised flood maps or Flood Insurance Study” or “Adopt a local flood damage prevention ordinance to regulate development in flood hazard areas” (20).

Contaminated Sites

“Consider enacting a municipal soil and fill ordinance to prevent creating new contaminated sites with ‘Dirty Dirt’ and illegal dumping of fill in your community” (29).

Scrap Metal Facilities

“Adopt a local ordinance requiring scrap metal facilities to conduct and document monthly visual inspections to ensure that best management practices identified in the NJDEP industrial stormwater permit are implemented” (31).

Open Space

”Adopt a Complete Streets resolution or ordinance to build and maintain sidewalks, crosswalks, bike racks, and bike paths at and on routes between parks, schools and areas where people live. Complete Streets also helps control the traffic speeds on roads where people walk through road design and lower speed limits” (35).

Childhood Blood Lead

“Create local ordinances to require that all rentals are lead tested upon tenant turnover” (41).

Stroke, Cancer, Smoking

“Promote outdoor smoke free ordinances, smoke free multi-unit housing, and worksite wellness” (53).

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