$85 Million Historic Investment in Community Organizing in California

The California Endowment's largest grant in history will create power among disadvantaged communities

LOS ANGELES, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The California Endowment announced a historic investment of $85 million to community organizing throughout California. The grant is to the Movement Innovation Collaborative, a first-of-its-kind statewide organization to create increased organizing among disadvantaged communities who have been living in the margins in the state. The grant is also expected to accelerate the field of power building in California. Over 500 of California's community organizers and movement leaders took part in the creation and design of a new intergenerational, organizer-led model, a necessary ingredient to creating a more inclusive, belonging, and equitable state.

"This historic and unprecedented grant is our big bet on community organizers because their job is vital to the future for improving the health outcomes of disadvantaged communities, who have been pushed to the margins in the state," said Dr. Robert K. Ross, the California Endowment's outgoing President and CEO. "As funders, we must aggressively fund community and grassroots organizing, and be unafraid to center system change and racial equity.  People power is how we will overcome attacks on our democracy and continue the progress of health equity and racial justice." 

Power building movements led by young people, immigrant, refugee, Black, Indigenous communities and communities of color have historically lacked investment.  The California Endowment, after decades of investment and partnerships with community groups, recognized the inextricable link between race, health and power. The foundation's leadership listened to community leaders who expressed that greater investment in community organizing and infrastructure is needed to address critical issues such as the growing unhoused population, health inequity and the climate crisis. All of this led The California Endowment to its historic investment and the creation of the Movement Innovation Collaborative.

The Movement Innovation Collaborative exists to catalyze a robust and connected power building ecosystem across the state. Created by organizers, for power builders, the organization will be amplifying the strength, leadership, and innovation of local movements to grow transformative power in California.

"Movement Innovation Collaborative is led by the voices of local communities to cultivate and grow our current power building efforts," said Miya Yoshitani, co-director of the Movement Innovation Collaborative. "In ten years, California will have more abundant and powerful grassroots base-building organizations, greater connection between underrepresented regions, and empowered leaders with the support they need to take bold risks, expand their reach, and build community power."

Movement leaders and community organizers from urban to rural to tribal communities, from inland areas to the coast, and the north to the south of the state were involved in the vision, planning and design of the Movement Innovation Collaborative. The new organization intends to align and scale up movements to better meet community needs with core strategies including movement strategy and innovation, intergenerational leadership development, healing justice and sustainable work culture, and a network of virtual and physical organizing centers throughout the state. 

The $85 million investment to Movement Innovation Collaborative is the largest in The California Endowment's 28-year history as well as the biggest investment to date toward community organizing and power building in California. The grant is from The Endowment's $300 million Social Bond, an initiative launched in 2021 as a response to a worldwide reckoning on racial equity and the disproportionately negative impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on communities of color. 

"The COVID-19 pandemic and the worldwide reckoning on racial equity revealed our broken and disjointed government systems," said Kirk Chilcott, Chair of The California Endowment's Board of Directors. "As a Board, we were guided by the practice of trust-based philanthropy and the recognition that people closest to the problem have the best understanding of the solution. The investment towards the Movement Innovation Collaborative is about philanthropy stepping up because this moment calls for unprecedented action for systemic transformation." 

To achieve racial justice, health equity and social transformation for California, The California Endowment will continue to focus grantmaking on areas of greatest need, where inequity is the highest, and to align with the community on goals and needs. Learn more about The California Endowment's goal to amplify people-power in this video.

About The California Endowment

The California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation, was established in 1996 to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. Headquartered in Downtown Los Angeles, The Endowment has regional offices in Sacramento, Oakland, Fresno, and San Diego, with program staff working throughout the state. Learn more at www.calendow.org.

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SOURCE The California Endowment