With $20 million to support the development of our Maternal and Infant Health Innovation Center, our 2023 budget will help ensure every mother and baby in New Jersey, especially those in Trenton, get off to a healthy start. #NurtureNJ - First Lady Tammy Murphy

The quest to build a maternal health center in Trenton to continue ongoing work of improving birth outcomes and eliminating racial disparities received a big financial boost.

As part of the negotiated budget package Gov. Phil Murphy signed last week, $20 million will now go to planning, site work and initial construction costs for that maternal health center. The funding is part of $2.3 billion in federal pandemic funding Murphy and fellow Democratic legislative leaders agreed to in the final days of budget negotiation, with little public oversight, to pay for infrastructure efforts, public benefit programs and pet projects. In the draft state budget that Murphy presented in March, he asked the Legislature to approve $2.9 million for that work — funding left over from the previous year — which is also available for the project.

For the full story: NJ maternal health center gets financial boost | NJ Spotlight News