State officials plan to build New Jersey’s maternal health center next to a busy primary care clinic and across the street from a building being renovated by a faith-based organization to house a separate program offering support for mothers and babies.
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority on Wednesday approved the purchase of three lots near the intersection of Pennington Avenue and Warren Street, near the Trenton Battle Monument, where it wants to place the state’s Maternal and Infant Health and Innovation Center.
The state has set aside $75 million for the facility and plans to spend $2.6 million on acquiring the property, roughly 2.6 acres of mostly vacant land now owned by the Trenton Board of Education.
It’s a location that makes sense to Trenton residents and creates new opportunities for collaboration, according to those involved.
“For far too long, Trenton has existed without adequate maternal health care access and the social determinants of health needed to simply have the opportunity to (be) healthy. I am so grateful to all those who helped us select the Battle Monument site so that as many mothers as possible would be able to easily access the innovative and first-in-class health care services, community-based organization programming, and more that will be provided,” said first lady Tammy Murphy, according to remarks prepared for the EDA meeting Wednesday.
Seeking improved outcomes
Murphy launched the Nurture NJ campaign in 2019 to improve New Jersey’s dismal maternal mortality rate and reduce racial disparities in these outcomes. Death rates have since declined, but Black women in New Jersey remain nearly seven times more likely than white mothers to die before, during or after childbirth, according to state data.
The maternal health center is slated to continue this work by hosting academic research and connecting families with support services. It plans to eventually offer a clinical space where women with low-risk pregnancies can deliver babies, according to the agreements with partners, something that doesn’t currently exist in Trenton.
In April the development authority announced “anchor tenants” for the center would include Capital Health, a Mercer County hospital system, Rutgers University’s School of Nursing and the nonprofit Trenton Health Team, which links residents with medical and social services.
Location is key
The proximity of the planned state center to existing health care infrastructure and the separate project now under development by Greater Mount Zion AME Church, also allows for partnership possibilities, according to those involved. Mount Zion is currently renovating a building it owns on Pennington Avenue that is also envisioned to offer a birthing center, plus support programs for mothers and babies, along with a community justice component. A timeline on its opening was not immediately available Tuesday.
The location is also near three New Jersey Transit bus stops — an important point to Trenton families who struggle with transportation — a community garden and park space, Tammy Murphy noted in her remarks, in which she praised Greater Mount Zion and other partners.
“Thanks to all of you, our center will not be just another government building,” she plans to say. “It is my great hope this Center will become the heart of Trenton, as mothers are the hearts of our families.”
Lisa Asare, president and CEO of the state authority created to oversee the center, agreed this location could result in “a true community health hub,” according to materials provided in advance of Wednesday’s meeting by the EDA. “Part of what makes the MIHIC so special is how we engaged with the community from day one,” she said, including work done by Kean University’s John S. Watson Institute for Urban Policy and Research to gather public input on the project.
Future coordination
Rosalee Boyer, who leads Greater Mount Zion AME along with her husband Rev. Charles Boyer, agreed the site was a “perfect location” for the new state facility, although it was too soon to say how the two projects might coordinate more. Boyer — known as the church’s first lady — is one of six public members on the board of the Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Authority, the state agency created to operate the center championed by Tammy Murphy.
“We have our project,” Boyer said of the Mount Zion initiative, which is focused on serving families in the community and Black mothers in particular, she said, “because Black women are the ones that are dying at the highest rate.”
“The (state’s) maternal center is another project,” Boyer continued. “If we collaborate, there could be cohesiveness.”
Nearly 100,000 births are recorded each year in New Jersey and nearly 26 mothers died annually before, during or after delivering a baby, according to the most recent federal data available, from 2018 to 2021. While these rates are an improvement from previous years, they remain higher than those recorded in neighboring New York and Pennsylvania, as well as the nation at large. The vast majority of these deaths are preventable, studies show.
Steps taken
New Jersey has taken multiple steps to improve birth safety, such as extending Medicaid coverage for pregnant women and boosting reimbursement rates for maternal-health doctors and nurses. An army of culturally competent doulas, or non-clinical birth coaches that advocate for mothers particularly during delivery, has also been trained.
In January, the state launched a free, voluntary home-visitation program for new mothers, which dispatches nurses to perform at-home health checks and connect families with social services. NJ Spotlight News featured the program, Family Connects NJ, in launching The Change Project, a series that examines ways to address long-standing economic and social challenges.
But the maternal health center, under development for at least four years, is designed to carry this work forward after the Murphys leave office in early 2026.
The agenda for Wednesday’s EDA meeting outlines a three-year agreement with the Trenton Board of Education and the state School Development Authority in which the state would purchase three largely vacant lots, a portion of which is now used as parking for the Trenton Senior Reading Center. It was not clear how the School Development Authority is involved or why the agreement is only temporary.
According to Mercer County tax records, the three-lot parcel is bordered on the north by Pennington Avenue, with Warren Street to the east and Titus Avenue to the west. Ringold Street forms its southern boundary. Together, the lots are valued at $114,400 for tax purposes, records show.
