Community Action Fund

The California Alliance of Academics and Communities for Public Health Equity (The Alliance) is pleased to announce its reinvestment of an additional $44,450 to its Community Action Fund. This supplemental funding provided to current CAF recipients aims to further support and bolster The Alliance’s commitment to increasing the capacity of community-based organizations statewide and advancing solutions that support the communities most impacted by health inequities.

*|MC:SUBJECT|*

California Alliance Awards New Community Action Fund Grants


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: info-alliance@phi.org
August 22, 2023


The California Alliance of Academics and Communities for Public Health Equity Invests $131,000 through its new Community Action Fund to strengthen the Capacity of Community Based Organizations Statewide.


Oakland, CA, August 22, 2023 – The California Alliance of Academics and Communities for Public Health Equity (The Alliance) is pleased to announce the selection of seven organizations that will receive grants totaling more than $130,000 from the Fund. The Community Action Fund is a new flagship funding program of The Alliance, whose mission is to advance health equity by growing the collective power of California’s academic public health programs in partnership with community based organizations.


“In the past twenty years there has been discussion in the field about the importance of directly supporting the work of communities most impacted by health inequities, but little has improved,” says Alliance Director Michael Rodriguez. “With the Community Action Fund (CAF) The Alliance aims to catalyze a social movement by investing in those organizations that know what works best for their communities.”


The seven CAF funded organizations use a health equity lens to impact change in one of the following three key areas: health workforce development, environment and health and violence prevention. Each project is a collaboration between a supported community organization and a California based School or Program of Public Health.


Grantees were chosen from a pool of 50 applicants in a competitive, open process managed by The Alliance. Selected projects cover a variety of regions throughout California and have a strong focus on historically excluded or marginalized communities and authentic community engagement. 

Participating academic partner institutions include California State University, East Bay; California State University, Bakersfield; California State University, Fresno; University of California, Berkeley; University of California, Los Angeles; University of San Francisco; and State Diego State University.


All applicants, as well as grantees, are invited to join The Alliance’s Action Groups on related themes to develop the organization’s symbiotic potential statewide.


About The Alliance:


The California Alliance of Academics and Communities for Public Health Equity is a new statewide policy, training, and research collaboration whose goal is to amplify the voice of schools and programs of public health in partnership with communities disproportionately impacted by health disparities. The Alliance aims to build a common agenda, to grow a workforce dedicated to advancing health equity and to catalyze substantive policy change on health equity.


The Alliance is funded by The California Endowment, California Health Care Foundation, Blue Shield of California Foundation, The California Wellness Foundation and is a program of the Public Health Institute (PHI).

Forward to a friend

Was this email forwarded to you?
Click here to subscribe to Alliance news and updates.

With questions, please contact: info-alliance@phi.org.

Spring 2023 Funding Round Closed

Applications closed on Friday, April 14 for the Alliance’s Community Action fund, a brand-new grant program that funds California community-based organizations to partner with faculty and students from California schools and programs of public health (which universities have a SPPH?) on projects around health equity. Click the button below to view the grant materials.

For our Spring 2023 funding round, we prioritized projects related to: building an equity-minded workforce, climate change / environmental justice, and violence prevention. However, community-based organizations working on other projects around health equity or the social determinants of health (housing, safety, etc) were also welcome to apply.

We had an exceptional outpouring of applications for our 2023 funding round. Grant applications were reviewed by a selection committee of Alliance staff, academics and community public health leaders. Decisions and announcements were made in June 2023.

Grant Logistics:

Award Amounts: $10,000-$25,000
Applications Closed: Friday, April 14, 2023 at 12PM
Notifications Made: June 2023
Award Term: July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2024

Who Can Apply:

California local or regional community-based organizations (CBOs) that are 501(c)3 nonprofits, or organizations with a 501(c)3 fiscal sponsor. CBOs must either already be working with, or hoping to work with, an academic partner from a California School or Program of Public Health (SPPH) on the proposed project. CBOs should be the primary applicant, but they are welcome to get assistance from their academic partner with the application.