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
Miyihah-Tlakilte Dr. Ross -
On behalf of Anawakalmekak and the Gabrielino shoshone nation. Much love on your journey.
Thank you for your leadership and keeping justice at the center of LA philanthropy!
Bob,
We can’t thank you enough. Our wish is that you take some time to do what you want to do.
You’ve done so much for others. It’s time to DO YOU!
God bless,
- Steve & Jenn
Thank you for believing in us and the opportunities your faith in us have afforded so many. We wish tenfold those blessings on you.
- Alf LaMont
Thank you for all that you’ve done! Please enjoy your retirement. You deserve it!
- Martha Dina Arguello & PSR-LA
Thank you for seeding so much change in the world, Dr. Ross!
All the blessings in the world for your much deserved retirement. Thank you for your commitment to equity.
- Pico California
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! Congrats on your transition. I am grateful for the opportunity to have grown up with your support. You inspired me to chase my dreams.
- Corleone (BMoC)
Thank you for all of the years of big ideas and humble connection.
Best wishes for the next act!
- Joel
Thank you for doing the true work of a doctor… HEALING! I heard you speak early in my career and was very inspired. Thank you!
- Leslie Johnson (Community Coalition)
Wishing you well in all things, Bob. Preach on!
- John F.
Bob,
Thank you for all the good trouble you made and extending a hand to join you.
With love,
- Hanh Cao Yu
Dr. Ross -
I learned so much from you and loved working together on op-eds, etc… After a break, I think you have a book in you.
Blessed to be a part of your celebration and life, Bob!
Bobbie -
May God continue to order your steps. He;s not finished with you yet.
Bob!
Sending love and thanks to you - a role model for the good.
- Robin
I wish that you receive as much as you’ve provided to so many.
Much love,
- Steve Delgado
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