California Funders for Boys and Men of Color: A Call to Action for Philanthropy

• In Event: 64.019 - Leveraging Resources: A Statewide Perspective of Boys and Young Men of Color in California

Abstract

Background: The California Funders for Boys and Men of Color (CFBMoC) brings together CEOs from the state’s leading philanthropic institutions—from family and private foundations to corporate and community funders—with the goal of improving opportunities for African American, Latino, Asian Pacific Islander and Native American boys and young men throughout the state of California. CFBMoC is driven by a vision that all boys and men of color should enjoy full inclusion in all of the opportunities California has to offer and engages in collaborative efforts to remove systemic barriers and create pathways that enable our boys and men of color to achieve their dreams. This theoretical paper aim to provide a template to other foundations and funding agencies about the need to work across issues and in partnership for deeper collective impact to support BMOC to flourish.

We approach this paper from a life-course perspective, which means we seek to improve outcomes for BMOC over the course of their lives so that California’s boys and men of color. We fund and support efforts that prepare BMOC to begin school and learn; become proficient in reading and math at appropriate levels by third grade; earn high school diplomas; face fewer arrests, convictions, and recidivism; graduate from college, and secure meaningful and stable careers with sufficient pay to support their families. These focused efforts are grounded in the vast literature about the multiple barriers and systems that prevent BMOC from reaching their individual and collective potential.

Conclusion and implications: To accomplish these outcomes, we use a three-pronged strategy—place, policy, and communications—to ensure measurable, population-level progress in root-cause issues facing boys and men of color. We have made investments in three regions in California—the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento/San Joaquin, and Los Angeles County—with plans to expand to nine areas across the state in the coming years. Implications for other foundation is to focus on specific areas of need for Boys and Young Men of Color, career and economic opportunities, youth development, dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, and access and success in higher education.

Author

• Sergio Cuellar, Sierra Health Foundation