Program Director; TCWF

The California Wellness Foundation is launching a search for a Program Director to lead the foundation’s work confronting injustices related to race and gender that negatively impact community outcomes and health. The ideal candidate is an experienced social justice leader with deep and relevant content experience who is passionate about engaging directly, deeply and strategically with communities of color to advance equity and justice.

The Program Director will lead the “Leading for Power and Change” portfolio which aims to amplify the voices, leadership, and power of people of color, and other people who have historically been excluded from full participation in civic society. The portfolio will support systems, policy, norms/narrative and capacity-fielding building in the following areas:
1) non-profit sector equity,
2) movement and power-building, and
3) new models that address the social determinants of health and advance equity.

Reporting to the Vice President of Programs, the Program Director will play a key role in shaping the foundation’s grantmaking strategy in collaboration with the foundation’s other Program Directors, Executive Management Committee, President and CEO and the Board of Directors. The Program Director will be a member of a 14-person Programs team, will manage a Program Officer and have the support of a Program Coordinator.

The position can be based at the foundation offices in either Los Angeles or Oakland, California. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, work will initially occur remotely.

Leading for Power and Change

Leading for Power and Change is a newly crafted portfolio based on several of Cal Wellness’ long-standing program areas. The Program Director will have an opportunity to build and shape the way the strategy is implemented, along with colleagues at the foundation.

There is critical work to be done to address the deep-seated and long-standing impacts of institutional, structural and systemic racism. Philanthropy has a critical and unique role to play in better mobilizing and targeting resources to address this inequity, and to better address inequities in its own practices and approaches.

There are a variety of systemic factors re is a pattern of philanthropic neglect and under investment in the infrastructure of organizations of color. Foundations are beginning to realize that systemic and progressive change can only be achieved with a robust and strong infrastructure for social change led by people of color. Additionally, there is the need to address longstanding challenges in the nonprofit sector and test innovative and creative new models where social justice is front and center.

The COVID-19 crisis only further highlights and exacerbates this with many non-profits facing survival challenges and desperately in need of new operating and revenue models. As such, foundations are being challenged to do more to invest and scale organizations that are most proximate to needs in vulnerable communities and increase support for organizing and power-building strategies.

The overarching goal of Leading for Power and Change portfolio is to amplify the voices, leadership, and power of people of color, and other people who have historically been excluded from full participation in civic society, to improve their community outcomes and health. The portfolio will support efforts in the following areas:

• Non-profit Sector Equity
  . Support for stronger and more resilient organizations that advance equity and justice, with a focus on people of color-led organization.
• Movement and Power-building
  . Support for structure and supports for community mobilization of under-represented communities.
• Social Justice Re-Imagined
  . Support for new models, approaches, and strategies for addressing the social determinants of health and advancing equity.

The California Wellness Foundation is a private, independent foundation established in 1992 with a mission to protect and improve the health and wellness of the people of California. As one of the largest health-focused foundations in California, with over $900 million in assets, Cal Wellness is a nationally recognized leader for…