Get Healthy Camden Awarded $25,000 from General Electric’s Healthy Cities Leadership Academy Challenge

January 12, 2017 | Camden

Get Healthy Camden is one of the nine winners from around the country of the General Electric (GE) HealthyCities Leadership Academy Open Innovation Challenge. Get Healthy Camden receives an initial award of $25,000 to help develop population health improvements through partnerships with public and private entities.

Representatives from Get Healthy Camden’s partner organizations also are participating in GE’s HealthyCities Leadership Academy. The Academy is a year-long learning collaborative designed to mentor and support leaders in their communities as they develop and support new strategies to tackle population health challenges.

The Academy kicked off with a two-day, in-person workshop at GE’s Global Leadership Institute in Crotonville, New York on October 11-12. Valeria Galarza, Cooper’s Ferry Partnership Senior Project Manager, was one of the 10 Camden representatives who attended the workshop. “It was a tremendous experience to hear from experts who are engaged in population health and social change around the country. GE assembled an impressive list of speakers to motivate us and share successful ventures,” Galarza said.

Going forward, the Academy will continue to host in-person and virtual training sessions. Experts will provide peer support and mentorship around the winning community program implemented.

“Having a company like GE pay attention to Camden is an awesome opportunity. GE’s insights into innovation will benefit us immensely and bring outside thinking into our work to further our strategies and approaches,” said Galarza. “We are all following the prescribed Leadership Academy curriculum, so all nine communities will be able to work together as cohorts and learn from GE, other experts and each other. It’s a true learning lab.”

The winning communities were selected after a thorough evaluation of all eligible entries based on their ability to demonstrate a clear potential to improve the health of all socioeconomic strata of the targeted community. Cities were selected by a panel of distinguished judges who have expertise in the fields of population health, public health, and healthcare.

In addition to the Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, Get Healthy Camden partners include: New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids, Campbell Soup Company, Camden County Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Family Services, Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Camden County, Rutgers-Camden School of Nursing, United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey and the YMCA of Burlington and Camden Counties.

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