Keith Da Costa

Since 2017, New Jersey executive Keith Da Costa has served as managing director of CareSparc Consulting, Inc, overseeing business operations and advising the board on strategic issues. As part of its mission to develop impactful community engagement programs, Caresparc operated the Sustainable Health and Wellness Village at the Lincoln Park Music Festival in Newark, New Jersey, from 2017 - 2019.

The Sustainable Health & Wellness Village® Festival (SHWV) is a 3-day community-based health and wellness event that provides participants with ready access to healthcare and community resources within a culturally relevant festival-like atmosphere designed to promote meaningful engagements between communities of color and regional providers. Informed by the CDC’s Social Determinants of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Culture of Health Action Framework, the SHWV’s innovative, evidence-based model integrates acute care services and screenings with wellness education and lifestyle activities designed to address the full spectrum of determinants to overall wellbeing.

Additionally, to address the pandemic-related hunger crisis in Newark, NJ, Caresparc Consulting, Inc. activated its existing network of corporate and community partners to produce the COVID-19 Emergency Response Food Distribution Effort. With the assistance of its SHWV partners, the Caresparc team was able to develop and deploy a real-time response to Newark’s hunger crisis only 10 days after New Jersey’s stay-at-home orders took effect.

Since its inception in April 2020, the program has delivered over 1.4 million pounds of food to the homes of roughly 2000 residents. By serving the same local seniors and families week after week, the program can adapt to the community’s evolving needs, proving itself to be critical to Newark’s COVID-19 response and representing a vital bridge to the end of the pandemic for the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Under Keith Da Costa’s leadership, He also headed a partnership with a small nonprofit named Kids in Business to include hand-written notes of encouragement in each bag of food delivered every week.

In recognition of his contributions to the community, Mr. Da Costa received a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from former Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen and the Man of Distinction Award from the National Association of Negro Business & Professional Women’s Club Inc.