Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health

What Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health does

Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health (REACH) is a presidential initiative of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, launched in December 2021 with a $10 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and additional institutional support from the Rutgers Office of the President and all four chancellor-led units. The initiative operates from 325 Cooper Street in Camden, NJ, with a core team of seven employees led by Principal Investigator Rafael E. Pérez-Figueroa, MD, MPH (who succeeded founding PI Denise V. Rodgers in February 2026), and addresses social determinants of health across five focus areas — Education, Employment, Food Access & Security, Housing, and Population Health — in three New Jersey host cities: Camden, New Brunswick, and Newark.

REACH's primary activity is grant-making and convening: it has funded more than 35 community-academic partnership projects across multiple competitive cycles from Summer 2023 through Winter 2025, partnering Rutgers faculty with community-based organizations such as The Leaguers, One Camden, Saint Joseph's Carpenter Society, New Community Corporation, Unity Square, RWJBarnabas Health, Camden Coalition, and My Brother's Keeper Newark. The initiative has also built two technology products: the Collaboratory, an internal Rutgers database that catalogs faculty community-engaged scholarship and partnerships, and the NJ Food System Dashboard, a public-facing data platform co-developed with the NJ Food Democracy Collaborative and launched in June 2024 to organize state food-system indicators across nutrition security, agriculture and land use, food economy, and food/climate.

REACH does not generate commercial revenue. Its funding model is grant-based and philanthropic, anchored by a single $10M RWJF grant and supplemented by Rutgers institutional support. Distribution runs through grant award processes, the Collaboratory platform (available to Rutgers faculty and staff via campus SSO), the NJ Food System Dashboard (publicly accessible to government agencies, researchers, nonprofits, and advocates), and earned media plus a YouTube/LinkedIn content presence. The initiative explicitly states intent to scale its model to additional New Jersey cities once its three pilot cities demonstrate outcomes.

Name

Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health

Legal name

Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health

Website

https://reach.rutgers.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health (REACH) is a Rutgers University presidential initiative that funds community-academic partnerships and operates the Collaboratory database and NJ Food System Dashboard to address social determinants of health in Camden, New Brunswick, and Newark.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Health Equity Programs

NAICS

Community Food and Housing, and Emergency and Other Relief Services (6242), Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Social Assistance (624)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Health, Prevention & Health Education (BPAGACAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Financial Assistance & Benefits Navigation Services (BPAGAEAK), K–12 Support & School Improvement Nonprofits (BPAGADAB)

Keywords

• Community health partnerships
• Health equity initiatives
• Social determinants research
• Community-academic collaborations
• Food system data analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

Camden

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Foundation Grant Funding: Primarily funded by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grants with additional support from Rutgers University Office of the President and four University Chancellors. The initiative distributes grant funding to community-academic partnership projects.
2. Institutional Support: Additional support provided by Rutgers University Office of the President and the four University Chancellors to sustain and expand the initiative's operations and grant-making activities.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

REACH is a presidential initiative of Rutgers University that funds and supports community-academic partnership projects addressing social determinants of health in three New Jersey cities (Camden, New Brunswick, and Newark). It operates five focus areas (Education, Employment, Food Access & Security, Housing, Population Health) through grant funding cycles and maintains two data platforms: the Collaboratory database for tracking faculty community engagement and the New Jersey Food System Dashboard for food system data.

Product overview

Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health (REACH) is not a technology product company but rather a university-based community health initiative. It is a grant-funded program that supports community-academic partnerships focused on addressing social determinants of health in three New Jersey cities (Camden, New Brunswick, and Newark). The organization's primary offerings include grant funding for community research projects, the Collaboratory database for tracking faculty community engagement activities, and the New Jersey Food System Dashboard. These are programs and initiatives rather than commercial software products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Collaboratory Database
• New Jersey Food System Dashboard
• REACH Community-Academic Partnership Grants
• Collaborative Learning Tables

Quantifiable outcome

• 35+ grant projects funded across multiple cycles
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

17 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• The Leaguers, Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal social services agency serving the Newark community. Longtime partner of Dr. Rothpletz-Puglia on the 'Dismantling the Kids Food Archetype' project using photovoice methodology with Newark mothers.
• One CamdencoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity organization founded in 2017 to ensure equitable school enrollment in Camden. Partner on school choice research projects.
• Saint Joseph's Carpenter SocietycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity development organization in Camden focused on housing. Partner on equitable home mortgage lending research.
• New Community Corporation (NCC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity development corporation in Newark partnering on rapid transitions from homelessness into permanent housing through the Housing and Health Equity cluster.
• Unity SquarecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGrassroots service organization in New Brunswick serving people experiencing homelessness. Partner on 'Unhoused in New Brunswick' research project.
• RWJBarnabas HealthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNew Jersey's largest health insurer and healthcare system. Partner on population health initiatives including Rutgers Health Service Corps collaborations.
• Newark Science and Sustainability, Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on food access and sustainability in Newark. Partner on community food systems projects and the Newark Community Food System initiative.
• NJ Food Democracy CollaborativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStatewide collaborative focused on food system resilience. Co-developed the NJ Roadmap for Food System Resilience and the NJ Food System Dashboard.
• Camden CoalitionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHealthcare coalition working on improving care for complex patients. Partner on population health initiatives.
• Catholic Charities Diocese of MetuchenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSocial services organization providing community support. Listed as community partner resource.
• Newark Trust for EducationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducation-focused organization in Newark. Listed as community partner resource.
• KIPP New JerseyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCharter school network serving students in Newark. Listed as community partner resource.
• My Brother's Keeper NewarkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity organization supporting young people of color. Partner on high school graduation pathway initiatives.
• New Brunswick TomorrowcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity development organization in New Brunswick. Partner on population health initiatives.
• La Casa De Don PedrominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity services organization in Newark. Listed as community partner resource.
• HopeWorksminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerYouth services organization in Camden. Listed as community partner resource.
• North Jersey Community Research Initiative (NJCRI)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity research organization. Listed as community partner resource.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Health Leads: National nonprofit focused on addressing social determinants of health through partnerships with health systems and communities. Highly comparable to REACH's model of bridging community-based organizations with institutional/healthcare partners to address SDOH.
• Prevention Institute: National nonprofit that works at the intersection of health equity, community resilience, and upstream prevention. Comparable to REACH in its emphasis on community-led, structural approaches to health inequities and social determinants.
• HealthBegins: Mission-driven organization that partners with health systems and communities to advance social-health equity, including SDOH consulting and tooling. Overlaps with REACH in combining community-academic collaboration with practical data and program infrastructure.
• Build Healthy Places Network: National initiative that catalyzes partnerships between community development and health sectors to address upstream drivers of health. Comparable to REACH's multi-sector, community-academic partnership model targeting SDOH.
• Center for Health Care Strategies: Nonprofit policy and resource center that works with states, health plans, and community organizations to advance SDOH and health equity. Overlaps with REACH in working at the intersection of community organizations, funders, and health systems.
• Health Equity Solutions: Connecticut-based nonprofit advancing health equity through policy advocacy, community engagement, and research partnerships. Comparable to REACH as a state/regional initiative pairing community-academic partnerships with policy and data work.
• Sinai Urban Health Institute: Hospital/university-affiliated research institute focused on urban health inequities on Chicago's West and South Sides. Directly analogous to REACH as a university-housed center that combines research, community partnerships, and data infrastructure to close life-expectancy gaps.

Broad incumbents

• The Colorado Health Foundation: Large state-level health foundation that funds community-based partnerships, policy, and data work to advance health equity in Colorado. Comparable to REACH in being a place-based, SDOH-focused initiative with a multi-year grant-making model, though much larger in scale.
• Urban Institute: Major research organization studying economic and social policy including health equity and community development. Comparable to REACH's research-and-data orientation, but broader in scope and primarily a research/policy shop rather than a grant-maker.
• Trust for America's Health: National nonprofit focused on public health policy, prevention, and health equity. Adjacent to REACH's SDOH focus but operates at a national policy level rather than as a community-academic grant-maker.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@REACH2022
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/rutgers-equity-alliance-for-community-health

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health