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