Our  Community Action Grants program  responds to the knowledge that our region is rich with a diversity of cultures and thriving industries, but every day, residents from Black, Indigenous, people of color, and immigrant communities face the harsh realities of inequities that are held up by a history of racist policies and practices embedded into our systems. With that in mind:

• We focus on supporting Black, Indigenous, people of color, and immigrant undocumented communities. These communities are the foundation of Silicon Valley, one of the most diverse regions in the country. But the system has and continues to fail them. Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, and other people of color are subjected to policies that are rooted in racial injustice and prevent them from achieving economic mobility, feeling financially secure, or building wealth.
• We invest in leaders and BIPOC-led organizations. Too often, the voices of community members who are most affected by the inequities in our region are excluded from conversations about how to address them. And as a result, the “solutions,” whether it’s a new policy or investment in a new program, fail to address the root cause of the issues plaguing our region and fail to alleviate the pressure on our communities. As a region, we must do better to ensure that these communities have a seat at the table and are not only included in conversations on issues that affect us all, but given agency to help shape any policies or solutions to address these issues.

Through this program, we:

• Invest in community- building efforts in targeted areas of support (including arts/culture, journalism, immigration, environment, health, faith and neighborhoods) with an eye towards movement-building in our region.
• Invest in movements – Invest in organizations that are deploying multiple forms of power to create systemic change on issues of racial injustice through strategies such as advocacy, public policy and community organizing.
• Invest in power-building by investing in BIPOC leaders and emerging leaders and supporting connections.

The Community Action Grants Program is comprised of two funds: Community Catalyst Fund and Capacity-Building & Leadership Investment Fund.

• SVCF is also managing the California Black Freedom Fund, a five-year $100 million effort to increase grantmaking to Black-led organizations.  We are also close to launching the Latinxcel fund, a $10 million three-year initiative to provide support to Latinx-led organizations.
• Public policy
  • SVCF has heavily engaged in policy advocacy for many years.  For 2021, we will focus our policy work on four issue areas: Housing, Financial Stability, Early Childhood Education and Civic Engagement. See here for more information (will be updated shortly).
  • We supported several propositions in the most recent cycle, including Proposition 15 (Schools and Communities First) and Proposition 16 (Opportunity for All). We expect to be similarly engaged in the future.

Silicon Valley Community Foundation Website