Gov. Mikie Sherrill has announced $83 million in grants to help strengthen healthcare access and improve health outcomes for residents in rural communities across New Jersey. 

Detailed July 31, the funding marks the first round of awards through New Jersey’s five-year Rural Health Transformation Program. The federally funded initiative is designed to: 

• Improve healthcare infrastructure 
• Expand access to care 
• Strengthen the healthcare workforce 
• Support innovative approaches to prevention and chronic disease management in rural communities 

“Every New Jerseyan deserves access to quality healthcare, regardless of where they live,” Sherrill said. “These grants will help strengthen hospitals, community health providers, and the healthcare workforce that families rely on every day.” 

Sherrill also noted New Jersey is receiving the support at a time when the state faces a $3.3 billion cut to hospitals and public health funding annually following the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

Transforming healthcare

New Jersey received more than $147 million from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for the first year of the program. The funding levels for the remaining four years of NJRHT have not been announced. 

The state Department of Human Services will oversee the program. The Department of Health will administer approximately $95 million in competitive grant funding, the governor’s office said. 

The first year of investments will fund 103 projects, out of more than 200 applications the Department of Health received. 

The largest individual grant in this round goes to the Center for Health Equity & Wellbeing. The state’s official public health institute will receive $21.7 million to deliver preventive health interventions and address social drivers of health, improve access to health coverage and primary care and other initiatives. 

The complete list of grant recipients is available here. 

“These investments are about more than funding individual projects,” said Human Services Commissioner Dr. Stephen Cha. “They are about transforming how healthcare is delivered in rural New Jersey.”

Health Commissioner Dr. Raynard Washington added that the grants “will help strengthen the overall health of rural New Jersey communities and move us closer to our goal of making New Jersey the healthiest state in the union.”