BARNABAS HEALTH PRESIDENT AND CEO BARRY H. OSTROWSKY HONORED BY NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

Barry H. Ostrowsky, President and Chief Executive Officer of Barnabas Health, received the Community Builder Award from the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ) recently at its 10th Annual Gala, held at the Newark Club, and attended by over 200 business and community leaders. The Community Builder Award recognizes extraordinary individuals or organizations working to challenge barriers that constrain New Jersey’s cities.

In accepting the award, Mr. Ostrowsky said, “On behalf of our 23,000 employees, and 5,200 physicians, I thank you for this important honor. At Barnabas Health, as at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, we have a passionate commitment to inspire our communities. It is part of our job to promote the right regulations, to support the right legislation and to stand with organizations that share our commitment to have a positive impact on the quality of life for others.”

The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice is a Newark-based urban research and advocacy organization dedicated to the advancement of New Jersey’s urban areas and residents. The Institute works to identify, analyze and address the underlying causes of social and economic disparities and to challenge the barriers that constrain cities and their residents from achieving their full potential.

Barnabas Health, New Jersey’s largest nonprofit health care delivery system, was recognized for its leadership in supporting significant policy changes at the state and local level, such as providing paid sick leave and prohibiting employers from making an inquiry into an applicant’s criminal record until after the first interview is completed in order to give individuals who have “paid their debts to society” a fresh start with regard to opportunities for employment.

At the event, NJISJ President and CEO Ryan P. Haygood, Esq., spoke of the urgent need for building coalitions, new alliances and partnerships to advance the critical work NJISJ is doing. And he stressed the importance of “Developing a community-responsive urban agenda that recognizes the urgency of the challenges we face and the opportunities available to us, an aspirational agenda that operates not from a deficit perspective, but rather envisions the empowerment of healthy urban communities.”

PHOTO:
Attending the Institute for Social Justice Gala are: l to r., Ryan P. Haygood, President and CEO, NJISJ; Michellene Davis, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Barnabas Health; Barry H. Ostrowsky, President and Chief Executive Officer, Barnabas Health; and Douglas S. Eakeley, Esq., Chair, NJISJ Board of Trustees and Partner of Lowenstein Sandler LLP.