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A Portrait of California 2021–2022

November 10, 2021

A Portrait of California 2021–2022: Human Development and Housing Justice, the third volume in Measure of America's Portrait of California series, takes a human development approach to understanding the country's most populous and diverse state. Using the American Human Development Index (HDI), it presents a detailed picture of how Californians are doing on three key dimensions of well-being—a long and healthy life, access to knowledge, and a decent standard of living. In addition to an in-depth survey of well-being levels across the state, this volume in the Portrait of California series focuses on a central prerequisite to a good life, one that far too many Californians struggle to attain: access to safe and secure housing. The Covid-19 pandemic dramatically underscored the importance of stable, affordable housing when it comes to access to education, living standards, and health. A Portrait of California 2021–2022: Human Development and Housing Justice explores the impact of California's housing crisis on all three components of the index and outlines policies that can help the state address homelessness and housing insecurity to ensure that all Californians have a safe place to call home.This report presents HDI scores for the state overall as well as by gender, by race and ethnicity, by nativity, by metro area, and by neighborhood cluster. In addition to providing HDI scores for various groups and geographies, it also delves deeper into the underlying causes of the gaps in well-being between them—structural racism, discrimination, sky-high housing costs, among others—and offers recommendations for addressing these challenges and building a fairer future for the Golden State, one in which every Californian can lead a freely chosen life of value.

California Census 2020 Statewide Funders’ Initiative Final Evaluation Report

November 1, 2021

The 2020 census was among the most fraught in recent history, with threats to a fair and complete count posed by the global pandemic and the federal administration's attempt to limit the inclusion of immigrants. Fortunately, funders and other stakeholders built on the lessons of census 2010, and the California Census 2020 Statewide Funders Initiative coordinated investments with the state to maximize the number of Californians counted. This report documents learnings from the California Census 2020 Statewide Funders Initiative.

Building Capacity, Transforming Systems: A Summative Evaluation of The California Endowment’s Sons & Brothers Grantmaking Executive Summary

September 7, 2021

In 2010, The California Endowment began an ambitious 10-year initiative called Building Healthy Communities (BHC) – a $1 billion effort to "advance statewide policy, change the narrative, and transform 14 of California's communities most devastated by health inequities into places where all people have an opportunity to thrive."In the early stages of the initiative, The Endowment identified ten key outcomes for community health, including "health gaps for boys and men of color are narrowed." The health outcome was considered critical because "addressing the social, educational, and economic disadvantages faced by boys and young men of color is essential to community health. Success here means equity in schools, more job opportunities, more alternatives to incarceration, and new youth development approaches tailored to them.The drive to reduce health inequities evolved into a cross-cutting, population-focused effort to advance racial and gender justice. Sons & Brothers was launched in 2013 as a seven-year, $50 million investment to "help all young people of color reach their full potential, because when our sons and daughters succeed, we all succeed."The report from Equal Measure and Bright Research Group outlines the findings from a two-year evaluation of Sons & Brothers. It is a look back at what Sons & Brothers was, what it accomplished, and the challenges faced along the way – and a look ahead to how learnings from Sons & Brothers can help to chart a new course forward in challenging times.

Power Beyond Measure 2021

April 20, 2021

Power Beyond Measure: Reshaping the Research and Evaluation Landscape for Boys and Men of Color is a new research agenda that outlines six strategies for advancing equity and opportunity for Boys and Men of Color (BMOC) in the U.S.These strategies and recommendations lift up ways to ensure BMOC voices and perspectives are reflected in research and funding; to promote power and capacity-building in their communities; and to build more equitable, anti-racist research and evaluation systems.

Advocacy That Builds Power: Transforming Policies and Systems for Health and Racial Equity

April 1, 2021

Foundations that support advocacy historically have measured success by whether a policy "win" has been achieved–legislation was passed, a policy was funded, a program was scaled. These are important goals for sure, but we see time and again that wins can be vulnerable and, on their own, insufficient. Once achieved, they often face attacks. When political control shifts, wins can be reversed. In addition, wins are only as successful as their implementation. If they are not monitored and implemented effectively, they are just words on paper or empty promises. This report, and the evaluation that informed it, examines what it takes for advocacy to build power in addition to achieving wins.

For the Community, By the Community: The We Count LA Impact Story

February 10, 2021

Participation in the census is critical to the well-being of future generations of Los Angeles County. Census data plays an integral role in influencing the allocation of millions of dollars in federal funding for vital services and programs for our communities — from schools and hospitals to housing and roads. The census also determines the number of congressional members sent to the Capitol to represent our region, making an accurate count in Los Angeles County profoundly important.In a landmark effort, California Community Foundation (CCF) convened a powerful coalition of 115+ community-based organizations (CBOs) across the region to count historically under-counted populations, coordinated and united under one region-wide campaign: We Count LA. As trusted messengers with deep relationships and connections in their respective communities, these CBOs would be the faces and voices of the census, encouraging the diverse and vulnerable communities of Los Angeles County to participate in the 2020 Census. Amid the unforeseen global and national events of 2020, this task became seemingly impossible. Yet the unifying force of community resilience pushed the We Count LA campaign to become responsive, adaptive and innovative in trying to accomplish its goals.

Impact Investing for Health Equity: Lessons from The California Endowment’s ACA and Prevention Program Related Investments

January 1, 2021

The passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 brought with it countless opportunities, both to expand access to uninsured populations systematically excluded from the healthcare delivery system, as well as to strengthen and innovate beyond the existing system's status quo. The California Endowment became an early champion, providing over $350 million to support ACA implementation with a range of grantmaking strategies focused on outreach and enrollment, health workforce development, and systems change innovations. As part of its effort to understand the impacts of its ACA and prevention-related grantmaking, The Endowment contracted Engage R+D to develop a series of learning products between 2017-2020.In May of 2013, The Endowment's Board approved a $30 million program-related investment (PRI) commitment to expand community health centers in alignment with the foundation's Health Happens in Prevention and ACA campaigns. Program-related investments fall under the broader umbrella of impact investing and include loans, equity investments, or guarantees made by a foundation to advance its charitable mission. These investments seek to strengthen systems infrastructure in ways that benefit populations who are frequently excluded from or have limited access to a variety of critical resources, including quality health care, housing, and healthy food.This learning brief explores the ways in which The Endowment is leveraging this powerful strategy, provide case examples of two federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) receiving PRI financing, and identifies a set of key considerations for other philanthropic organizations interested in tapping into PRIs as a tool to advance health, racial, and economic equity.

Power, Equity, and Health for All: Lessons from The California Endowment’s Affordable Care Act Grants

January 1, 2021

The passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 brought with it countless opportunities, both to expand access to uninsured populations systematically excluded from the healthcare delivery system, as well as to strengthen and innovate beyond the existing system's status quo. The California Endowment became an early champion, providing over $350 million to support ACA implementation with a range of grantmaking strategies focused on outreach and enrollment, health workforce development, and systems change innovations. As part of its effort to understand the impacts of its ACA and prevention-related grantmaking, The Endowment contracted Engage R+D to develop a series of learning products between 2017-2020. With a focus on The Endowment's ACA grants, this learning brief explores the intersection between power building, racial equity, and systems transformation. It is based on the synthesis of various evaluation efforts over the last decade and more recent interviews with key stakeholders. We share important lessons from this body of work that can help inform efforts to transform mindsets, policies, practices, and systems in the years to come.Recognizing that deeply entrenched inequities exist and, in some cases, have been exacerbated by the very policies meant to reduce them, population-level health improvements will require a more explicit focus on racial equity along with substantial financial investment, time, political will, and cross-sector collaboration. 

Power Beyond Measure: Reshaping the Research and Evaluation Landscape for Boys and Men of Color

January 1, 2021

Power Beyond Measure: Reshaping the Research and Evaluation Landscape for Boys and Men of Color is a new research agenda that outlines six strategies for advancing equity and opportunity for Boys and Men of Color (BMOC) in the U.S. These strategies and recommendations lift up ways to ensure their voices and perspectives are reflected in research and funding; to promote power and capacity-building in their communities; and to build more equitable, anti-racist research and evaluation systems.

Toward Health and Racial Equity: Findings and Lessons from Building Healthy Communities

December 1, 2020

In this summary report, CSSP captures the what and how of the Building Healthy Communities (BHC) initiative, work funded by The California Endowment. In addition, the report highlights major lessons from BHC that contribute knowledge to philanthropy and to the ongoing racial justice and health equity movement in California and the nation.

No Going Back: Policies for an Equitable and Inclusive Los Angeles

September 9, 2020

Prior to the stay-at-home public health directive, civic boosters promoted Los Angeles as a metropolis that was confronting its problems and making progress. Local and state governments enjoyed budget surpluses, unprecedented investments were committed by Angelenos to respond to homelessness, and access to health care and high school graduation rates were at historically high levels, while unemployment and crime rates were at celebrated lows. But behind this glossy view of LA, a closer look at the data would have revealed a very different reality, where decades of structural and systemic racism resulted in significant social, economic, and racial inequality. Just a few months into a global pandemic, the cracks in the broken systems have become gaping holes, widening each day. Today, the calls for systemic change are loud, consequential and urgent.Early in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ten foundations wisely convened a diverse group of community, civic, non-profit, labor and business leaders to identify the systemic issues emerging from the crisis and to offer up a blueprint for building a more equitable and inclusive LA. Their past philanthropic work had made it clear that Los Angeles was becoming increasingly inequitable, and they feared the acceleration of disparate impact centered on income and race. The Committee for Greater LA was formed, and for the past five months, it has steered the analytical work completed by two of LA's leading institutions, UCLA and USC, supported by a team of consultants. The report that follows reflects our discourse, analysis and discovery.

Toolkit for Equitable Public Safety

July 3, 2020

Across the United States, community groups are working to improve public safety and promote greater equity, transparency, and accountability in their local law enforcement agencies. They prioritize different issues and use different strategic tactics, but they are united in their desire to build safer, more just communities through the slow, hard, but lifesaving work of law enforcement reform. If you are part of one of these community groups (or want to be), this Toolkit is for you.Law enforcement reform is challenging, uphill work. Inequities in law enforcement outcomes are often deep-rooted, complex, and perpetuated by multiple different factors. Institutional resistance to necessary change is frequently strong. Conversations about increasing law enforcement equity too often reach an impasse where advocates, and those they are negotiating with, simply do not agree about what the underlying facts are. Faced with complex problems and limited resources, it can be difficult for community advocates to determine where to focus their efforts.The ultimate goal of this document is to help you assess aspects of public safety in your community and create or refine a step-by-step plan for influencing relevant stakeholders and creating the change you want to see.