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
Love you, Bob! Keep killing the game!
You inspired me to keep endeavoring in education even when it's hard. Thank you.
Thank you for being a mentor and inspiration. You have truly made a difference in California and the world.
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 -
Wishing you abundance in this next chapter! Thank you for your infinite sacrifices for justice.
- Sonya Diaz
It’s been a blessing to us and the movement to have you. Wishing you lots of love in your next chapter.
Dear Dr. Ross,
We wish you the best in retirement although we know you will stay busy take time to enjoy family.
- From the Avilas
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
Wishing you health and happiness in your well deserved retirement.
Best wishes to you and your family.
Blessings,
Mykol Lewis
Brotherhood Crusade
Dr. Ross!
You are fantastic!
Dr. Ross -
I want to thank and appreciate you for being an advocate for our most underserved communities and our boys of color. It is with deep gratitude that I can say that your investments have given me a career and supported my healing journey.
- Omar Torres
Celebrate your new life!!
Our very best,
- Lew & Mary
You are a big inspiration for this world! Thank you!
For many years, I have known how special you are! Thanks.
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!
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.
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
Dear Dr. Ross,
Wishing you joy, peace, and more free time than you know what to do with. I love you!
- Marc P.
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