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
Dr. Ross,
I love you!! Thank you for being a servant to the people. Lives are better because you came into the world.
On behalf of Music Changing Lives, we want to extend our deepest gratitude for your unwavering support and dedication. Your commitment to nurturing and inspiring young minds through philanthropy is truly transformative. May you continue to touch lives & bring harmony to our communities. We are blessed to have you as a part of our journey.
- Josiah (Music Changing Lives)
Mil gracias from planned parenthood! We love you!
With deepest gratitude for all of your service, your love, & leadership. May you have abundant joy and connection and all good things.
- Sharon
Dang Bob! You really leaving? You really reading all this good stuff?! Ok man! Among so many of the things I already said, you baaaad, Dude. Much love!
Wishing you good health and lots of laughter!
You inspired me to keep endeavoring in education even when it's hard. Thank you.
Bob -
I love you and always will. Now come and join my board!
- Kim Lewis
Dr. Ross -
Thank you for all you’ve done for the community and have an amazing retirement!
Dr. Ross,
Wishing you all of the joy and relaxation you well deserve. Thank you for everything!
- Alyric Bell (UNITE-LA)
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
Thank you for all the great work bringing health and wellness to California.
- Alan Pullman
Dearest Bob,
I will forever appreciate how you have welcomed and vouched for me in philanthropy. And there’s still time for you to get us that $5mil!
- Shane
Dear Bob,
I have learned and grown so much during my time at TCE and with you. Thank you for everything.
- Karthik
Bob!
Sending love and thanks to you - a role model for the good.
- Robin
Enjoy & have fun. God bless you!
- Elizabeth Tabita
Dr. Ross,
You rock.
Hey Bob!
Best wishes for what’s next! Love you!
Thank you for all your support for the ACA, #Health4All, and everything else.
Dr. Ross,
You instilled so much confidence in me by choosing me to be on the board. You truly have no idea about the trajectory my life will go on. Thank you immensely and I wish you all the best.
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