Low-income communities often lack quality housing, safe public spaces, basic services, and access to opportunities for economic and individual growth. Yet people in these communities too often have limited avenues for influencing the policy decisions that affect these and other aspects of their lives. Our work seeks to overcome these conditions and build vibrant, prosperous, safe and inclusive communities and regions.

Our grants support organizations that develop policies and approaches that can lead to and sustain social, racial and economic equality. We emphasize equitable collaboration among all sectors in a community, including the marginalized, and the development of approaches to community development that are sustainable over the long term.

Key Strategies

We focus on two primary strategies:

• Enabling people to initiate and participate in social and economic change within their own communities with models that promise durable results
• Building strong community institutions to amplify the power of marginalized people and establish working relationships that cross geography, identities and sectors