RWJF Power Building Projects
The Challenge
In 2020, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) responded to mounting calls to address systemic racism in America by launching a new three year multi-million dollar investment, known as the Supporting Community Power to Build Health Equity (Community Power) initiative. The calls arose in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, declining economic conditions, and nationwide racial uprisings – each of which drew attention to persistent racial disparities. The initiative provided one-time general operations funding to support intermediaries and organizing networks’ capacity to redirect funds to local organizations building community power to advance health equity and social justice in the areas of Birth Justice, Housing Justice, and Local Base Building. The purpose of this project was to examine and detail the funding structure of the initiative, the various actors involved in the ecosystem, and the successes, facilitators, and growth edges for philanthropy funding communities building power.
The Approach
The evaluation process for Base Building and Birth Justice was led by the joint collaboration between Social Insights Research and the Center for Evaluation Innovation (CEI) with subject matter expertise support and guidance from Dr. Margaret Post from Clark University and Dr. Gigi Barsoum from Barsoum Consulting. The evaluation design involved a two-phase approach. The first phase aimed to understand the initiative at the intermediary and organizing network level. The second phase aimed to understand the initiative at the local community-based organization level. In both phases, the evaluation utilized extensive literature reviews, document reviews, and learning conversations with the support and guidance of an advisory committee consisting of persons and organizations most invested and most impacted by the initiative. Additionally, the evaluation team launched an extensive case-study strategy to deeply understand how local community-based organizations conceptualize and build power in their communities. Throughout this process, the evaluation held close the values of centering and elevating the expertise of those deeply in the weeds of the work and ensuring that the usefulness of the evaluation is defined by those persons and organizations.
Highlights
1.
Recipients of this funding initiative at both the intermediary/organizing network level and the local community-based organization level welcomed the substantial infusion of resources into the field, recognizing its potential to advance critical work. At the same time, they also expressed apprehension about the eventual loss of funding and its potential impact on the sustainability of the field highlighting the need for long-term philanthropic support communities building power.
2.
In Building Power through Birth Justice, we highlight the unique and essential role of direct service organizations in driving systems change. Above and beyond clinical care and family support, these organizations play important roles in for example community education, outreach, policy advocacy, and training and workforce development. They also illustrate tangible examples of how truly person-centered healthcare could look.
3.
In Building Power through Base Building, we highlight the need to support multi-issue organizers in order to address the intersectional needs of populations and communities. Multi-issue organizers are able to break out of programmatic and funding silos and form cross-issue coalitions and policy agendas and electoral and legislative strategies.