THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION AWARDS OVER $450,000 TO THE FIRST BAPTIST COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

Funding Will Provide Support to a Family Resource Center in the Renaissance 2000 Community

Franklin Township - February 28, 2001: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently awarded a grant in the amount of $454,118 to Franklin Township's First Baptist Community Development Corporation ("FBCDC"). The initial installment of $226,xxx has been received by the FBCDC. The grant will be used to provide continued maintenance of the FBCDC's neighborhood family support services program over a 12-month period.

"The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is a vital partner to FBCDC's effort in Rebuilding A Community, One Family at a Time. FBCDC's Family Resource Center will utilize this funding to provide family support strategies within the Renaissance Community. We benefit greatly from this partnership not only fiscally, but the knowledge and technical assistance that is provided leverages our capacity to help families help themselves," says Sharon Tucker-Brown, Executive Director, First Baptist Community Development Corporation.

The FBCDC was formed in 1992 to improve social, educational, and economic conditions in the community surrounding the First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens by leading an effort to connect people and resources. Through the Renaissance 2000 Community Revitalization Initiative, FBCDC leads a community-wide effort to improve the quality of life for the 4,000 residents and 12,000 employees in specified areas in which Franklin Township meets the City of New Brunswick. The FBCDC operates a Family Resource Center, which is the core mechanism for addressing the human services component of the Renaissance 2000 project. The FBCDC is guided by the premise that all communities possess tremendous resources, and given an opportunity, assistance and access, will tackle and resolve their own social and economic problems. The FBCDC's mission is "the redevelopment and revitalization of both human and physical aspects of the Renaissance 2000 community."

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, NJ, is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. It concentrates its grant making in three goal areas:
• To assure that all Americans have access to basic health care at reasonable cost;
• To improve care and support for people with chronic health conditions; and
• To reduce personal, social, and economic harm caused by substance abuse - tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs.