New Routes to Community Health is a new approach for improving the health of immigrants through immigrant-created media. Eight diverse immigrant-led collaborations across the United States have received three-year grants from New Routes to create locally-focused media and outreach campaigns that speak directly to immigrants’ health concerns.

Grants have been given to collaborations in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St Paul, Oakland, Philadelphia and San Francisco. In these communities, immigrant groups, media makers and prominent community institutions are working together to produce original content in English as well as in immigrants’ first languages, including Amharic, Chinese, Creole, French, Lao, Somali, Spanish, Swahili and Vietnamese. Grantees are creating a wide range of media, including television and radio features, telenovelas, first person narratives, live theater, print, the Internet and social marketing campaigns. Partners include community institutions such as major colleges and universities, television and radio stations, an advertising agency and a museum.

New Routes to Community Health is grounded in the belief that everyone in society benefits when immigrants get help to live healthy, productive lives. Integrating immigrants into work and social life is key to building healthy communities. Through New Routes, immigrants also are building partnerships within the larger community, giving voice to their needs and enhancing their leadership and communication skills.

New Routes to Community Health is funded through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Vulnerable Populations portfolio. The Benton Foundation and MasComm Associates, acting as the National Program Office, provide direction and technical assistance. This includes national training conferences, site visits and on-going advice for grantees via phone, e-mail and the New Routes Web site. The NPO also acts as a hub for information exchange, connecting New Routes grantees to others who are doing similar work.

Media content created by the eight projects will be housed on this website as it is developed and is available for any community to use.

New Routes to Community Health National Program Office Staff
Benton Program Liaison Karen Menichelli
Program Director Beth Mastin
Deputy Director Brenda González
Media and Technology Co-Directors Gale Petersen & Catherine Stifter
Web Developer Jeremy Isett

Contact us by e-mail
Web site: newroutes.org

4510 Regent Street
Madison, WI 53705
Phone: 608-236-0674 10am-5pm EST Monday-Friday
Fax: 866-380-4060

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. www.rwjf.org

About the Benton Foundation

The Benton Foundation works to ensure that media and telecommunications serve the public interest and enhance democracy. It pursues this mission by seeking policy solutions that support the values of access, diversity and equity, and by demonstrating the value of media and telecommunications for improving the quality of life for all. www.benton.org.