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
Mil gracias from planned parenthood! We love you!
Thank you, Dr. Ross, for all the love you have given to this world. You have paved the way to continue making change.
- Veronica
The force is strong in our family.
- D. Wash
Dr. Ross,
Thank you for all your hard work. Wishing you tons of reset and peace, Dr. Ross.
- Nancy Nunez
Bob,
Don’t be a stranger.
Love you,
- Ray
Dr. Ross,
The East Los Angeles Women’s Center sends you many blessings and gratitude for the support for our community & mujeres.
Love you my brother! My homeboy. Wish you all the joy & happiness.
- Hector V. (Homeboy Industries)
It’s been a blessing to us and the movement to have you. Wishing you lots of love in your next chapter.
Thank you for all of the years of big ideas and humble connection.
Best wishes to you and your family.
Blessings,
Mykol Lewis
Brotherhood Crusade
Thank you for all the great work bringing health and wellness to California.
- Alan Pullman
Job well done! Now it’s time to take some ‘bob’ time. We love and appreciate you!
- Arnold & Karen Perkins
Bob -
We’ll miss you so much. You’ve been a force of nature and a force of beauty.
Love you,
- Jim Mangia
Thank you, Bob! THis Center for Strategic Partnership thrives because you helped nurture the value of partnerships. I will be forever grateful to you and for you. Plus I love that you are not shy about spirituality.
We are forever grateful for your tireless work to make CA a beloved community for all! Si se puede!
With deep appreciation,
- Mayra Alvarez & The Children’s Partnership team
Dr. Ross,
You rock.
Dr. Bob -
Enjoy this next chapter in your life. I wish you joy!
- Jim Crouch
Dr. Ross
Thanks for your years of unwavering leadership. We are better for all your efforts.
- Craig Martinez
A tu salud! Con cariño y respeto.
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