By Kapish Kalita
LOS ANGELES, CA – PIVOT, which describes itself as a “first-of-its-kind partnership between community organizers and funders,” this week announced more than $7 million in grants to “14 organizations, coalitions and networks working to build political power among communities of color, advance racial justice, and win lasting systems change in California.”
PIVOT said it has a “three-year, $25 million initiative that raises and deploys resources for transformative innovations in year-round voter organizing across issues and geographies at scale,” resourcing “power-building at scale to engage and mobilize communities of color across issues and geography not just during election cycles – but also year-round.”
PIVOT claims it will forge “deep partnerships, developing grantmaking strategy, and collaborating to raise pooled grant funds and decide on the use of those funds” and shares decision-making power, “closing the gap between funder and organizing strategies, aligning priorities, and strengthening impact.”
The organization notes its presence in California is important because the state, as the “fifth largest economy in the world…holds significant influence over the nation” and “can lead the way in fostering organizing and movement-building across geography, race, and lived experience.”
However, in California, PIVOT said voters in California are unrepresentative of the state as a whole, with the research demonstrating that only “42 percent” of “California adults” voted in the 2018 election, with “Latinos” being significantly “underrepresented in the electorate.”
This inequity has been targeted by PIVOT, which explains its “pooled fund addresses chronic and severe underinvestment in year-round organizing and voter engagement, and galvanizes new and large-scale investments needed to build enduring political power for communities of color.”
According to a prepared statement, PIVOT is in “its first round of grantmaking,” awarding “multi-year grants to 14 regional and statewide organizations, coalitions, and networks reaching more than 70 organizations around the state” with the “14 grantees…engaging AAPI, Black and Latinx communities as well as young people, immigrants, and rural communities” in “California, from Orange County and Inland Empire to the Bay Area, as well as statewide.”
These grantees include the AAPIs for Civic Empowerment (AAPI FORCE), Bay Rising, California Black Power Network, The Central Coast Civic Engagement Table, Communities for a New California Education Fund, Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement (COPE), East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, OC Action, Gente Organizada (Gente), Orange County Congregation Community Organization, Million Voters Project, MOVE the Valley and PICO California.
Grant amounts range from more than $250,000 to $1 million over two years.
Overall, PIVOT’s work has been acclaimed by its associates for facilitating social progress with Kimi Lee, executive director of Bay Rising, noting the group is “excited to endorse PIVOT as a major advancement in support for power-building infrastructure.”
And, Miguel A. Santana, president and CEO, California Community Foundation (PIVOT fiscal), stating how “PIVOT is transforming how funders and practitioners work together to make California more equitable for communities of color through a meaningful investment in voter participation and civic engagement.”
“The PIVOT fund is an experiment in supporting the development of a more resilient ecosystem of power-building organizations, rooted in a deep partnership between practitioners and funders,” said Christina Livingston, statewide executive director of ACCE Institute.
Livingston added, “As a member of the PIVOT steering committee, I am betting that experimentation in mid-to-long term infrastructure will increase capacity and efficacy across the network of California power builders.”
Organizations receiving grants include AAPIs for Civic Empowerment (AAPI FORCE) will develop a first-of-its kind statewide AAPI Ethnic Media Hub, creating ongoing and integrated communications infrastructure to train community leaders. AAPI FORCE will also develop narratives through research-based methods, cultural organizing, and comprehensive digital and storytelling. More than half of the grant will also be regranted to eight regional organizations.
PIVOT said APEN won a grant as the “only statewide membership program dedicated to developing the political education of young Asian Americans around climate justice…APEN Action’s statewide membership pilot will build a membership base across wider demographics and a broader set of constituencies who want to support climate justice and follow the lead of frontline communities.”
Bay Rising, a growing alliance of over 30 community-led organizations across the Bay Area representing Black, Latino, and Asian working-class communities, also received a grant and will “kick off a groundbreaking fellowship to train lead organizers and civic engagement campaign leaders.”
California Black Power Network, a united ecosystem of nearly 40 Black-led and Black-serving grassroots organizations, is also included – it will manage a “multiracial coalition with a broad set of partners, communities and capacities to expand the conversation around reparations and mobilize community power and voice to urge California to introduce and pass reparations legislation. Nearly two-thirds of this grant will be regranted to 34 organizations.
The Central Coast Civic Engagement Table, a new collaborative of three power-building organizations and a community foundation in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, will, as a recipient, “mobilize tens of thousands of voters and a new wave of policymakers. The table will address key gaps in the civic engagement ecosystem, particularly in many rural parts of the state. 60 percent of the grant will be regranted to three organizations.”
Communities for a New California Education Fund uses “organizing and narrative power-building to mobilize Latina voters across California. This innovation is focusing on multi-propensity households, emphasizing Latina voters who can mobilize entire families to vote and participate in local issue-campaigns that impact their families.”
COPE, or Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement, will “grow civic and voter engagement among Black churches and community-based organizations in Inland Empire’s San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Two-thirds of the grant will be regranted to local partner organizations.”
PIVOT also granted East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy to “work with partners to organize and build neighborhood specific and citywide tenants’ unions in the Bay Area, Central Coast and Orange County to advance housing justice, with a particular emphasis on immigrants, youth of color and likely voters. More than two-thirds of the grant will be regranted to four partner organizations.”
PIVOT notes OC Action will “build a pipeline and infrastructure for community leaders to step up into co-governing and leadership roles in Orange County, the third most populous county in California and the sixth largest county in the country. A portion of the grant will be regranted to seven organizations.”
Another grantee, Gente Organizada (Gente), builds “intergenerational power for youth and immigrant families in Pomona, East San Gabriel Valley, and Inland Empire, will create a street team that will reach over 10,000 voters, fund grassroots leadership development for youth and parents, incubate policy campaigns, and form a 501c4 organization.”
Orange County Congregation Community Organization will shape strategic narratives to advance inclusion, belonging, and community voice to advance immigrant rights and build community power as a counterweight to corporate influence. More than 60 percent of the grant will be regranted to three organizations.
Million Voters Project will launch a “narrative power academy to grow the pipeline of movement-based narrative strategists, develop a framework and dashboard to measure and track communications and narrative power, and evolve and deepen alignment among partners in its race-class messaging project to increase support for a government of care, multi-racial solidarity, and corporate accountability. Seventy percent of the funds will be regranted to MVP partners and local affiliates.”
PIVOT said, “MOVE the Valley will create and own community centered data, ensuring more linguistic and cultural responsiveness in data gathering. It will also bring accountability to local government leaders in how they enact policy, and build a bench of organizers to ensure all families can thrive and belong in San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys. A portion of the grant will be regranted to up to five organizations.”
PICO California is investing in “narrative strategies to mobilize, activate, and persuade faith-based and spiritually-centered Californians. These innovations include moral-based framing and messaging of racial, social, and economic justice issues, voter modeling for electoral and digital engagement, and deep integration with research, organizing, and communications aimed at critical ideological shifts undergirding systemic change in the target audience over time.”
PIVOT explains its grantmaking “focuses on three big bets – organizing, narrative change, and independent revenue projects – supporting new and innovative efforts to build power-building infrastructure, rather than existing work.
“In this round of grantmaking, it sought submissions from c3, c4, and fiscally sponsored organizations or coalitions doing regional or statewide work in low-income communities and communities of color.”
