With $3.6 million, Foundation invests in key partners and strategies to prevent domestic violence and make California the healthiest state
SAN FRANCISCO – In a unanimous vote at their second meeting of 2024, the trustees of Blue Shield of California Foundation approved 22 grants benefiting communities across the state with nearly $3.6 million.
“We are focusing on the core partnerships and strategies that enable progress toward our mission: making California the healthiest state and ending domestic violence,” said Debbie I. Chang, MPH, president and CEO of the Foundation. “Our grantee partners are well positioned to bring equitable solutions to as many people and communities as possible, especially the communities of color with low incomes that are most affected by health inequity and domestic violence.”
This latest package of grants represents one part of the Foundation’s leadership in domestic violence prevention, a sustained and multifaceted effort that also integrates the Foundation’s work in policy, research, and communications.
Strengthen economic security and mobility: total grants of $990,000
Because economic security helps prevent domestic violence and is tied to overall health, the Foundation’s strategies include strengthening it for California families. The child care sector is critical to allowing parents to work, yet its own workers receive low pay and few benefits. Research also shows that Black and Latinx educators earn less than their white colleagues. A renewal grant of $200,000 to the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment will help researchers uncover and widely share the issues facing workers in early care and education (ECE).
Executive Director Lea Austin said, “California is facing a child care shortage that is only going to get worse. It is driven by insufficient wages and lack of respect, and leads to staff burnout, high turnover, classroom closures and more work for current early educators. In turn, this impacts access to services for children and families. Increasing compensation and benefits for early childhood educators is key to solving this crisis,” she said. The center’s most recent study demonstrated the impact of policy on California educators. “The new support from [Blue Shield of California Foundation] enables us to continue that important work, inform public policies, and assess the impact of policy changes over time,” Austin said.
Align systems with community priorities: total grants of $700,000
The Foundation works to help public systems, such as county public health departments, build health equity for all communities across California. Grantee partners facilitate connections between public systems and their communities; ChangeLab Solutions ($200,000) and the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network ($175,000) are two examples.
“The California Pan-Ethnic Health Network believes that equity is fundamentally about power,” said Executive Director Kiran Savage-Sangwan. “Support from Blue Shield of California Foundation allows us to deepen our partnerships and build power with communities of color across the state. Our Organizing for Public Health Leadership Academy is a co-learning space that leverages the lived experience of community leaders to catalyze racial equity efforts and bring governments into closer alignment with the communities they serve.”
Break the cycle of domestic violence: total grants of $600,000
More than 15 million Californians, including about half of the state’s children, receive health coverage through the Medi-Cal program. This represents a huge opportunity to spread and scale domestic violence prevention strategies. Some of the Foundation’s partners in Los Angeles County are exploring partnerships with managed care plans and training Medi-Cal providers on the prevalence, impacts, and prevention of domestic violence.
A $500,000 grant will support the continued efforts of one such partner, the Culturally Responsive Domestic Violence Network (CRDVN). This network, a collective of leaders of color, grew out of Foundation-supported research that identified immigrant, Black, and Indigenous women as the most underserved when it comes to domestic violence. CRDVN has become a trusted policy leader in violence prevention and in supporting public systems to be more responsive to community needs.
“The new grant will enable CRDVN to focus on educating policymakers on how California can build a more culturally responsive and survivor-centered network of services that ensure that every person from every community can thrive,” said Karen Earl, CEO of member organization Jenesse Center. “Too often, domestic violence is put in a silo and not connected to issues like economic empowerment or housing and homelessness. We need legislators to begin to connect the dots, to listen as they lead, and to partner with advocates on the front lines to build a better boat.”
Other grantmaking to advance our mission
The Foundation’s evaluation and data strategy team supports community-based, participatory research, and also works to build a stronger, more equitable pipeline of research and evaluation professionals in California. One of that team’s new grants, of $225,000, will support the Social Interventions Research and Evaluation Network to improve access to domestic violence and social medicine research.
Other grants this quarter extend the Foundation’s partnerships in the philanthropic sector, with such organizations as Latino Community Foundation, Asian Pacific Fund, and Grantmakers in Health.
“None of us can do this work alone. Achieving our mission requires deep, sustained relationships,” Chang said. “With these grants and with the strength of our partners, continuing to spread and scale our impact, we will get there.”
For a complete list of current grants and more information on all the Foundation’s grantmaking, please see our grants database. We also support grantees on social media (find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram), and feature their work in our newsletter, Intersections.
To support the Maven Collaborative's research, advocacy, and narrative change work to advance narratives and policy change that will lead to a more inclusive economy that centers women of color in California.
To provide general operating support to the California Work & Family Coalition, to advance paid and job protected leave through education, outreach, and advocacy.
To plan the establishment of a domestic violence and homelessness coalition in Alameda County to prevent and address homelessness among survivors of domestic violence.
To generate and disseminate statewide data on the economic security, health, and well-being of the early care and education (ECE) workforce to inform policy strategies and public funding resources that can improve the wages and working conditions of early educators and address their needs.
To support the Leadership Council for Domestic Violence and Health Care of Los Angeles and the Culturally Responsive Domestic Violence Network to broaden strategic partnerships and systems change efforts that improve prevention and health care services for domestic violence survivors in Los Angeles County.
To improve child welfare systems response for families experiencing domestic violence in Los Angeles County through practice and policy changes and adaptation of promising practices in 10 department offices.
To provide general operating support to California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, whose mission is to bring together and mobilize communities of color to advocate for public policies that advance health equity and improve health outcomes in California.
To build local and state public health departments’ capacity to implement and institutionalize equitable, community-driven law, policy, and systems change.
To provide general operating support to PICO California, one of California's leading grassroots organizing organizations dedicated to power building and systems transformation among low-income communities of color through a faith and racial justice lens.
To provide general operating support to Urban Habitat, whose mission is to democratize power and advance equitable policies to create a just and connected Bay Area for low-income communities of color.
To provide general operating support to the National Academy of Sciences to facilitate dialogue, inform action and disseminate science, resources and policy needed to transform the conditions for equitable health and well-being in communities.
To expand and elevate domestic violence and other violence-related literature in the social intervention research and evaluation network (SIREN) evidence and resource library and bring lived experience to social determinants of health research practices.
To provide general operating support for Asian Pacific Fund, whose mission is to strengthen the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in the Bay Area by increasing philanthropy and supporting the organizations that serve the most underserved community members.
To provide general operating support to Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial Counties, whose mission is to connect and activate funders to learn, lead, and invest in our communities.
To provide general operating support to Center for Effective Philanthropy, Inc., whose mission is to provide data, feedback, programs, and insights to help individual and institutional donors improve their effectiveness.
To provide general operating support to Center for Effective Philanthropy, Inc., whose mission is to provide data, feedback, programs, and insights to help individual and institutional donors improve their effectiveness.
To provide general operating support to GEO, whose mission is to transform philanthropic culture and practice by connecting members to the resources and relationships needed to support thriving nonprofits and communities.
To provide general operating support to Grantmakers In Health, whose mission is to foster communication and collaboration among grantmakers and others, and to help strengthen the grantmaking community’s knowledge, skills, and effectiveness.
To provide general operating support to CHANGE Philanthropy, a coalition of philanthropic networks working together to strengthen bridges across funders and communities, while advancing philanthropic equity, and the investment of social and financial resources in policies, practices, and actions that produce equitable access, power, and outcomes for all communities.
To provide general operating support to Latino Community Foundation, whose mission is to build a movement of civically engaged philanthropic leaders, investing in Latino-led organizations, and increasing political participation of Latinos in California.
To provide general operating support to Northern California Grantmakers, whose mission is to mobilize philanthropy to build healthy, thriving, and just communities in Northern California.
To provide general operating support to Southern California Grantmakers, whose mission is to mobilize philanthropy to learn and take bold actions by fostering an inclusive community of members and partners.
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