ANNOUNCING 2024 COLLABORATIVE CHANGE INITIATIVE GRANTS TO FOUR PROMISING PARTNERSHIPS
Supporting Public-Private Collaborations in the Bay Area that will Improve Birth Justice, Increase Health Equity, Counter Sex Trafficking and Exploitation, and Break the Cycle of Youth Incarceration
The Hellman Foundation announced $2.66M in new funding for the latest awardees of the Hellman Collaborative Change Initiative, which supports partnerships that are advancing solutions to some of the most entrenched issues in the Bay Area. The 2024 grantees were selected by a Community Panel of local Bay Area leaders.
“We are proud to announce our support for four powerful collaborations that are tackling complex problems and scaling promising solutions across San Francisco and Alameda counties,” said Pedro Arista, Senior Director of the Hellman Collaborative Change Initiative. “These partnerships are addressing both the symptoms and root causes of systemic injustices in our communities.”
Since 2014, the Initiative has awarded over $15 million in multi-year, flexible funding and capacity building resources to 20 cross-sector collaborations in the Bay Area to solve disparities and equity gaps in health, education, and opportunity. This round’s awardees are:
- Alameda County Health: Maternal, Paternal, Child, and Adolescent Health Unit’s Birth Worker Capacity Building Project — In Alameda County, birthing people from under-resourced communities experience significantly worse health outcomes. The collaboration will address these disparities by increasing the doula workforce by 25% to support birthing families experiencing health disparities. Led by the Alameda County’s Public Health Department, additional key collaborators include Diversity Uplifts, Black Women Birthing Justice, Beloved Black Birth Centering Collaboration, Roots of Labor Birth Collective, First 5 of Alameda County, Asian Health Services, and Alameda Alliance for Health. The goal of the project is to increase healthy births, healthcare access, community engagement, and improve the economic security of participating doulas.
- Alameda County Health: Recipe4Health (R4H) Collaborative — Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities in Alameda County are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity, a critical risk factor for chronic conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The R4H Collaborative will scale its Food as Medicine program across the county to improve public health, economic health, environmental health, and racial and health equity. The collaborative is comprised of the R4H Training and Administrative hub, Farm Fresh To You, Open Source Wellness, Alameda Alliance for Health, five health clinics in Alameda County, and an evaluation and research team from Stanford School of Medicine and UCSF. The program’s goal is to serve as a proof point for legislative change to make equitably sourced Food as Medicine a covered Medi-Cal benefit.
- Freedom Forward: The Helping Young People Elevate (HYPE) Center — San Francisco youth—particularly females, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ individuals—face systemic challenges that make them more vulnerable to sex trafficking and exploitation. The HYPE Center combats sex trafficking in the San Francisco Bay Area by providing support to high-risk groups and those with backgrounds in the foster care or juvenile justice systems. This collaborative is led by over 20 partners representing local nonprofit, public, and private sector partners, including SF Department on the Status of Women, Planned Parenthood, Bay Area Legal Aid, West Coast Children's Clinic, Youth Leadership Institute, Sacred Roots, CASA, SF Human Services Agency, CA Department of Social Services, Seneca Family of Agencies, DropBox Foundation, and more. This pilot project will provide critical needs for at-risk youth, including financial stability, hygiene, food, housing, therapy, educational workshops, and peer support services.
- Young Women’s Freedom Center: Beloved Youth Collective — Young people of color are overrepresented in California’s youth incarceration system. For youth on probation, there is an excessive reliance on institutional care and a lack of dependency on family settings, such as foster families. The Beloved Youth Collective aims to reduce the use of institutional placements for girls and young women by providing stable housing alternatives and peer-led community support services. The collaborative is led by five partners, including the Alameda County Probation Department/Juvenile Services, Alameda County Public Defender, Beloved Community Housing, Alameda County District Attorney, and Youth Women’s Freedom Center. This pilot project focuses on providing successful re-entry to break the cycle of incarceration for impacted girls, young women, and trans youth, and supporting families through peer-led services and financial stipends.
“In 2022, the Hellman Foundation Board shifted decision-making power for the selection of Collaborative Change Initiative awardees to local leaders, putting our values for community-led solutions into action,” said Tricia Hellman Gibbs, MD, Board Member of the Hellman Foundation. “We are deeply appreciative of this year’s Community Panel for sharing their time, wisdom, and expertise to select our latest collaborative partners.”
The Community Panel included local leaders who contributed their diverse experiences to the selection process:
- Jordan Akerley, Strategic Director, End Hep C SF
- Steven Chen, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Recipe4Health - Alameda County
- José Corona, Founder, Rebozo Ventures
- Kym Johnson, CEO, BANANAS, Inc.
- Bonnie Kwon, JD, Policy Officer, W. K. Kellogg Foundation
- Zea Malawa, MD, MPH, Director, Expecting Justice
- Sonia Mañjon, PhD, Chief Academic Officer, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
- Agnes Ubalde, Senior Vice President, PNC Bank
- Laney Whitcanack, CEO, Coro Northern California
“The selection process was truly a labor of love on behalf of our communities,” said Jordan Akerley, Strategic Director, End Help C SF. “It was a transformative experience to collaborate with my fellow panelists to select awardees that will create profound and lasting impact in the Bay Area.”
Full bios of this year’s exceptional Community Panel can be found here