Supported philanthropic partnerships in embedding racial justice and health equity into their practices

In our role as long-term strategic advisors for the Convergence Partnership, we launched the Convergence Partnership Podcast Series in partnership with PolicyLink and Working Narratives. The Podcast Series stands out as an innovative philanthropic approach to disrupt conventional grantmaking norms by replacing written grant reports with a non-extractive and mutually beneficial process. Each episode centers the leadership of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color communities in developing solutions towards a just recovery from the pandemic, advancing housing justice, strengthening democracy and civic participation, and securing safe housing for LGBTQ and gender non-conforming people. We also facilitated the California Funder's Workgroup on Prevention and Equity comprised of Blue Shield of California Foundation, The California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundation, St. Joseph Community Partnership Fund, and Wellbeing Trust. In 2021, the funders' collaborative advised the California Surgeon General on opportunities to accelerate progress on community-based strategies to protect children from adverse experiences and foster supportive environments that help children and families to be more resilient in response to adverse childhood experiences and heal from trauma that has occurred. Their advice built on work we partnered on in 2020, Beyond Screening: Achieving California's Bold Goal of Reducing Exposure to Childhood Trauma. In the latter part of the year, the Funder’s Workgroup intensified its focus on budget accountability, identifying opportunities to advance health equity and racial justice in the context of California’s budget surplus and ARPA allocations to the State. Our Convergence Partnership work was supported by PolicyLink as the program director and fiscal sponsor for the Convergence Partnership. Our coordination of the California Workgroup on Prevention and Equity is funded by The California Endowment and Blue Shield of California Foundation.