Creating healthy and sustainable communities of opportunity requires changing systems and structures to center the priorities and well-being of low-income communities of color. Since 2007, the Convergence Partnership has pushed the boundaries of philanthropy to advance a vision of Healthy People, Healthy Places through the lens of health equity. The Partnership supports policy and systems change strategies to address gaps in community health outcomes linked to race and place. This approach has helped to catalyze innovations in the fields of transportation planning, community development, and food systems—and in philanthropy as a sector—to improve health outcomes for low-income people and communities of color.
This report chronicles the story of how the Convergence Partnership, after more than 10 years into its tenure, learned to lean into the leadership of local advocates and embrace the power of grassroots organizing. It illustrates how a small and “risky” investment in an early-stage organizing effort supported the priorities and needs of low-income people and communities of color across California. Drawing from a series of interviews with equity advocates and organizers in California, as well as affiliated funders with deep experience in supporting grassroots advocacy, this report includes recommendations for other funders seeking ways to strategically advance health equity through policy and environmental change. (author introduction) #P4HEwebinarFebruary2024