South Brunswick Designated An 'Up And Coming' Healthy Town

SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — The Mayors Wellness Campaign recently honored several New Jersey municipalities with "healthy town" awards. For the first time, the campaign placed South Brunswick in its list of "Healthy Towns Up-and-Coming."

The Mayors Wellness Campaign (MWC)is a program of the New Jersey Health Care QualityInstitute in partnership with the New Jersey State League of Municipalities. In addition to the eight Healthy Town Winners, seven towns were designated as 2021 Healthy Towns to Watch, and 17 were designated as 2021 Healthy Towns Up-and-Coming.

The award highlights New Jersey towns that have "taken to make their communities healthier places to live, work, and play," according to the Mayors Wellness Campaign. The MWC represents a statewide community-health initiative, designed to provide evidence-based tools and strategies for mayors and community leaders to help residents improve their overall health.

Each year, communities participating in the Mayors Wellness Campaign submit a "healthy town application" to highlight their research on community-health needs and explain how they organized their local MWC committee.

South Brunswick offered a variety of programs throughout the year including a community garden, senior health and wellness programs, food insecurity assistance programs, COVID-19 vaccines, physical therapy, and other health screenings in partnership with Penn Medicine Princeton Health.

Mayor Charlie Carley thanked the Quality Institute for recognizing and designating South Brunswick as a "Healthy Town Up and Coming."

"Several of our township departments and community partners continue to provide a variety of wonderful and engaging special events, programs and activities that promote healthy behaviors for all ages, through sports and exercise opportunities, access for those who may need financial assistance for housing and food insecurity, many parks and open spaces for outdoor recreation, organized social events and celebrations, and numerous opportunities for community engagement — all designed to help improve the physical, mental and emotional well-being of our residents,” Carley said.

here's the list of cities and towns that got awards:

Healthy Towns

• Bay Head
• Evesham
• Montclair
• Paterson
• Plainfield
• Scotch Plains
• Wildwood Crest
• Woodbridge

Healthy Towns to Watch

• Belleville
• Borough of Freehold
• Franklin Lakes
• Hillsborough
• Jefferson
• Norwood
• Vernon

Healthy Towns Up and Coming

• Bernardsville
• Oradell
• Cranbury
• Cresskill
• Deerfield
• Denville
• Eatontown
• Fort Lee
• Garfield
• Highlands
• Keyport
• Lawrence (Mercer)
• Morristown
• Princeton
• Ridgewood
• South Brunswick
• Stafford

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