PRINCETON NJ Press Release

Princeton Awarded Healthy Town Designation

The Municipality of Princeton has been awarded a Healthy Town Designation in 2022. In the past year, the Municipality has added a focus on mental health and wellness. One of their most successful programs has been a book club at the local library to encourage education and discussion about mental health topics.

“The Municipality of Princeton is honored to be chosen by the Quality Institute as a Healthy Town for 2022. Throughout last year, our Mayors Wellness Committee team engaged over 500 residents in mental wellness activities that were rooted in increasing awareness, education, and incidence reduction. Princeton chose to address mental health because of the City Health Dashboard, which provides town-level data on a variety of health metrics, including those related to social determinants of health,” said Mayor Mark Freda.

A community health assessment survey was co-administered to gain resident feedback on pressing health challenges. Mental health was identified as a top health concern of Princeton both through the dashboard and community health assessment. In response to these findings, Princeton’s MWC team brainstormed a variety of evidence-based mental health wellness activities which included: gardening, watercolor painting, and book club discussions around mental health that were delivered throughout the community. “The success of our MWC in 2022 was driven by continued community partnerships with the Princeton Public Library, Arts Council of Princeton, Princeton Corner House, Garden Club of Princeton, Princeton Senior Resource Center, Trinity Counseling, and Princeton Care Center,” said Mayor Freda.