Anchor Mission

BUY LOCAL. HIRE LOCAL. INVEST LOCAL.

As an Anchor Institution, RWJBarnabas Health leverages its long-term, place-based economic power, human capital, and intellectual resources in the communities in which it resides. By building stronger community partnerships, providing employment and procurement opportunities, and investing in community wealth building, the organization creates inclusive local economies that provide talent, business savings, and resiliency for our supply chain and professional service demands. Working collaboratively with departments across the system, the practice serves as a driver of the system’s anchor mission.

“The corporate practice works with local sites and community-based organizations to enhance existing, and help establish new, workforce development and job training programs throughout the region.”

2019–2020 GOALS & KEY OBJECTIVES

GOAL 1
Formalize and integrate the anchor mission strategy - with a specific emphasis on local procurement and hiring throughout the system, as evidenced by enhanced systems and increased contracting with a minimum of 25 targeted vendors.

A chief aim of the SICI practice is to build the collaborative leadership necessary to drive and fulfill the system’s anchor mission. To advance inclusive local sourcing, hiring, and investment, the practice encourages asset leaders to appoint departmental liaisons to work with the SICI practice and lead anchor opportunities in each department. Adequate staffing assigned to focus on the area across departments enables efficient collaboration and facilitates tracking for internal and external purposes.

1. Increase the efficiency of data collection, to the level necessary, to formalize the anchor mission strategy, as evidenced by increased standardization and streamlined data collection, analytics and reporting across the system.
2. Increase the procurement opportunities provided to a minimum of 25 local and locally owned Minority-Owned (MBE), Women-Owned (WBE) and Veter Owned Business (VOBE) businesses across the RWJBH system, as evidenced by increased contracting to such entities.
   • Develop methodology to calculate total spend baselines across the enterprise for targeted facilities for WBE/MBE/VOBE and local businesses.
   • Establish and track system-wide hiring and procurement indicators for anchor initiatives that are tracked at the facility level.
3. Establish vehicles of accountability and responsibility that govern the system’s anchor mission initiatives, as evidenced by the establishment of standard operating procedures, principles, policies for the system’s anchor work, development of clear workflows, and a dashboard to feature the system’s progress, which will be reported on a quarterly basis.
4. Establish common anchor institution language across the system to ensure for clarity, transparency and efficiency, as evidenced by increased knowledge of anchor institution concepts, constructs, definitions and vocabulary and improved awareness of SICI practice efforts as it relates to the anchor mission.
   • Define and clarify terminology related to the system’s anchor work (i.e. how we define local businesses, local hires, and local investments).
   • Ensure transparency of guidelines and protocols for how to engage, identify, and track local businesses, hires, and investments to enable quality and standardization of processes and procedures.
   • Educate the system at all levels about the critical role of an anchor institution and the strategic rationale for addressing the social determinants of health.
   • Finalize methodology regarding local and vulnerable zip codes.
   • Develop and disseminate a system-wide “Did You Know…” toolkit/guide on local and vulnerable geographic analysis.
   • Educate the RWJBH system on baseline data for local procurement and hiring.
   • Ensure language and protocols are easily accessible to all RWJBH asset leaders and employees.
   • Determine the criteria for SICI community partnerships and local organization engagement and communicate the criteria to internal and external stakeholders.

GOAL 2
Increase the capacity of Local Minority Owned businesses (MBEs), Women Owned businesses (WBEs), and Veteran Owned businesses (VOBEs) to work with the RWJBH system, as well as other industry leaders, as evidenced by the number of contracts awarded to the same and amount of dollars awarded across the system.

The SICI practice works with internal and external partners to comprehensively strengthen the capacity of MBEs, WBEs, and VOBEs to work with the system and provide quality products and services on a sustainability basis for mutual benefit. The overall aim is community wealth building across the system’s statewide footprint.

1. Establish partnerships with local business development entities, as evidenced by an increase in the number and quality of partnerships developed and the number of vendors receiving technical assistance and capacity building training.
   • Partner with Newark Community Economic Development Corporation (NCEDC) to provide access to capital and to support the mini MBA program (identify program participants that meet eligibility criteria).
   • Partner with small business development department heads at financial institutions.
   • Partner with the regional office of the Small Business Administration to support the “emerging leaders” program.
   • Partner with African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey to source prospective MBES and identify bonded or bondable minority subcontractors.
   • Partner with Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey to support small business development programs and to source prospective MBEs.
   • Establish one community partnership for each focus area: hire local, buy local, invest local (i.e. Institute For Entrepreneurship Leadership, Newark Venture Partners).
   • Establish a mentorship and apprenticeship program to cultivate long-term relationships.
   • Develop and pilot an institutional initiative to enhance the skills and capabilities of locally owned MWBEs and VOBEs to support their growth.
   • Collaborate with Greater Newark LISC to ensure that they are connecting with NCEDC, and other business development entities to select MWBE and VOBEs businesses and/or ensure local businesses are connected with the appropriate certification resources or are aware of opportunity to self-certify online with RWJBH.
2. Increase community-based organizations’ capacity to work with RWJBH, as evidenced by the number of the number of CBOs receiving training, number RWJBH partners with hiring/procurement initiatives, and number of RWJBH employees that volunteer in local organizations. Co-designed interventions require SICI to collaborate with various community-based organizations to leverage our communities’ existing assets. Some community based organizations may not have the appropriate resources (i.e. tracking software, marketing staff, technology) and RWJBH will co-create partnership opportunities to provide assistance when those gaps arise.
3. Bolster local economic development in Newark through urban entrepreneurship and investment as evidenced by the amount of funding secured through partnerships for the apprenticeships and number of local hires through the Competitive Edge program.
   • Collaborate with Newark economic development leaders to establish economic development targets.
   • Support the RWJBH Innovation and IT team to ensure $5M investment in urban entrepreneurship.
   • Establish necessary partnership agreements for start-up investments, incubators and collaborations.

“As an anchor institution, RWJBarnabas Health leverages its long-term, place-based economic power, human capital, and intellectual resources in the communities in which it resides.”

GOAL 3
Enhance the capacity of Newark community-based organizations, to support workforce development and employment training, as evidenced by an increase in the number of CBOs able to execute job-training programs.

RWJBarnabas Health serves on the steering committee of the City of Newark, the practice’s prototype city, of Mayor Ras J. Baraka’s Newark 2020, an initiative to connect 2,020 unemployed Newark residents to living-wage jobs by 2020. The system has committed to hiring 350 Newark residents into livable wage jobs by 2020. As part of the Newark 2020 strategy, community hubs have been selected to conduct outreach and work readiness training for program applicants. The SICI practice, in collaboration with various RWJBH asset leaders, will provide technical assistance to ensure the success and effectiveness of these Hubs.

1. Contribute to the capacity building initiatives of Newark 2020 Community Hubs, as evidenced by the number of grants, in-kind support, skills-based volunteers, and technical assistance provided by RWJBH to community organizations, the institutionalization of processes and procedures that facilitate local hiring and procurement initiatives and the amount of annual grant dollars provided annually.
   • Leverage workforce development entities to help improve sustainability of local hire efforts such as, Hire Newark program to be more sustainable and appropriate for RWJBH facilities’ needs. Support the work of Diversity and Inclusion Department.
   • Contribute to capacity building of Newark 2020 Community Hubs model by collaborating with Newark Workforce on Wheels (WOW).
   • Identify RWJBH Newark community partners to supplement workforce development efforts (i.e. universities, community colleges, vocational schools, faith based organizations, community development centers).
   • Determine capacity building rubric and indicators to track.
2. Establish career ladders and workforce development programs at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center for Newark 2020 and Hire Newark hires, as evidenced by policy and procedural changes to support chronically unemployed and underemployed.
   • Leverage internal data, business needs and relationships of RWJBH with various stakeholders to develop career ladders and workforce development apprenticeship and internship programs for the most vulnerable populations.
   • Collaborate with various community stakeholders to ensure participants have access to the necessary wrap around services, education and job and competency training to foster success.
   • Modify the Hire Newark program to ensure the program’s participants are well prepared, trained, and/or certified in areas that provide them with opportunities for a career trajectory.
   • Work with Human Resources, the Workforce Development team and system departments to create career ladders that incorporate Newark 2020 and Hire Newark hires.
   • Identify Human Resource policy and procedure changes that will facilitate local hiring.

GOAL 4
Replicate the success of the workforce and employment efforts in Newark in a minimum of three additional cities or towns in the RWJBarnabas region, as evidenced by an increase in the number of CBOs able to execute job-training programs.

The corporate practice works with local sites and community-based organizations to enhance existing, and help establish new, workforce development and job training programs throughout the region, it is the goal of the practice to take lessons learned from the work in Newark and replicate it in other areas in the region. Municipalities will be selected based on need, readiness, and willingness of the RWJBH facility and community partners.