Building Healthy Communities
Building Healthy Communities (BHC) successfully built community power across the state with the goal of working towards a California where all people have the opportunity to thrive.
As a signature program of The California Endowment, BHC combined 10 years of continuous funding in 14 historically disinvested communities with state-level and regional policy campaigns and coalition building.
During this time, we learned it begins and ends with people power. This is the most important lesson we’ve learned in and over a decade of BHC evaluation, and is the guiding north star from which we continue to do our work.
This wasn’t our initial hypothesis. Yet 10 years of listening and responding to our partners, questioning and testing our assumptions, and being flexible as we learned is what ultimately brought us here.
BHC shifted the narrative toward a deeper understanding of systemic inequities and the potential of people power to transform them. As we worked in local communities, we gathered data to evaluate in real time and sought feedback on our role as a funder and change-maker in order to become a more effective leader.
The lessons learned help us be more provocative in our questions, and more confident in our assumptions about how change happens.
All in all, BHC was a novel approach to health improvement that encompassed the social determinants of health and led to our focus on power building to promote systems change and advance racial equity.
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14
Communities Transformed -
1,526
Policy, System & Physical Wins -
$1B
Invested Over 10 Years
“Racial injustice, structural inequality are made by the human hand. Which means that they can be dismantled by the human hand. Dismantled by human leadership, human action, human voice, human advocacy, human activism.”
DR. ROBERT K. ROSS President & CEO, The California Endowment
Browse Other Changes Planted by Dr. Ross
Health4All 38.6 million lives impacted
Youth Awards 37 total awards given
Schools Not Prisons & BMOC Millions reached since 2016
Farmworker Health $50M initiative
TCE Grant Making 2023 $381M awarded
Parks for All Hundreds of millions leveraged for parks investments in CA
Youth on the Board 1st of large foundations in US to have youth on the board
Childhood Obesity & Freshworks $272M to expand access to fresh and healthy foods in low-income communities
CHIS 20,000 households interviewed annually to find health gaps in CA
Kids Health Coverage Campaign $4M to help enroll children in health programs
Cultural Competency/Health Workforce/PRIME $78.2M to CA organizations working to boost the size and diversity of the state's healthcare workforce
TCE Headquarters 125,000+ use our facilities every year
Wishing Wall
Best wishes, Dr. Ross! I hope your days are filled with all the things that make you happy.
Dr. Ross,
Thank you for all that you have done to advance justice and equity in our communities.
Congratulations on a wonderful 24 years of impact! May God bless you and keep you!
Bob -
With huge appreciation for an example of excellence, humility, and grace.
Best wishes.
Dr. Ross,
Thank you for your unwavering support of the HCA and the BHC. You made a difference in the world, and supported us to do the same.
In gratitude,
- Yvonne Maria Jimenez
NLSLA
Bob -
I love you and always will. Now come and join my board!
- Kim Lewis
Love you my brother! My homeboy. Wish you all the joy & happiness.
- Hector V. (Homeboy Industries)
All the best to the world’s greatest boss & mentor. Thank you for your leadership, advice, and support these last 16 years!
- Dan DeLeon
Dr. Ross,
Deep gratitude for your leadership and commitment to equity and justice.
Happy times and thanks for all you have done for me.
Best wishes for the next act!
- Joel
Dear Bob,
Thank you for your incredible and bold leadership for equity and justice! It has catalyzed so much and the ripple effects will be felt for longer than you can imagine. Thanks also for being a personal inspiration to me and our organization’s work. We’ll all try to carry on the pathway you forged. Best wishes in all your next endeavors.
Yours,
- Alex Rossides
Love you brother!
Celebrate your new life!!
Our very best,
- Lew & Mary
Bobbie -
May God continue to order your steps. He;s not finished with you yet.
Blessings upon blessings! Looking forward to all your journey takes you!
Dr. Ross,
Thank you very much for all your efforts. You’ve planted many seeds and tended greatly to your community. I’m immensely grateful for your work. Take a moment to appreciate yourself. Thank you!
Dearest Dr. Ross,
May you be happy in the next phase of your life.
- Susan
Dear Bob -
It was an honor to be part of TCE. I wish you all the best in life and love in your retirement. Hope to see you in Pasadena.
Best wishes!
- Melinda Smith and the Helpguide team
Unveiling Our
2025 Annual
Report
The California Endowment is proud to present our 2025 annual report. Read about the work we are supporting and our partners who are changing California to a state of belonging and inclusion.
View Report