The California Wellness Foundation Community Well-Being Grants 2025–2026: Building Healing, Safety & Equity Across California
For more than 30 years, the California Wellness Foundation (Cal Wellness) has worked to build a healthier, safer, and more equitable California. Through its Community Well-Being portfolio, the foundation funds organizations that confront the root causes of community violence, youth incarceration, and environmental injustice, especially in communities of color most affected by disinvestment.
As of late 2025, Cal Wellness continues to award multi-year grants that strengthen local partnerships and advance systemic change across the state. While new Letters of Interest (LOIs) closed on July 31, 2025, a refreshed 2026 grantmaking strategy is expected soon.
About the Community Well-Being Portfolio
The Community Well-Being portfolio of the California Wellness Foundation (Cal Wellness) invests in the health, safety, and resilience of communities of color most affected by gun violence, youth incarceration, and environmental injustice.
Its mission is to dismantle systemic inequities and uplift community-led solutions rooted in healing, justice, and local power-building.
1. Violence Prevention & Healing Justice
Cal Wellness envisions communities where safety rather than violence defines everyday life. This focus area:
- Supports violence interrupters and interventionists working to break cycles of harm.
- Promotes trauma recovery and healing justice grounded in community cultures and traditions.
- Funds research, advocacy, and policy reform to reduce gun violence and address racially biased policing.
2. Youth Justice
To transform the youth justice system, Cal Wellness invests in opportunities rather than punishment. This focus area:
- Expands community-based alternatives to incarceration.
- Prioritizes organizations led by people of color that center youth empowerment and healing.
- Supports gender-responsive programs for young women and girls of color impacted by the justice system.
3. Community Environments
Personal wellness depends on healthy, safe, and civically engaged communities. This focus area:
- Strengthens environmental justice efforts in communities of color.
- Funds organizing, civic engagement, and policy advocacy for clean air, safe water, and vibrant neighborhoods.
- Helps local organizations build power and capacity to shape the environmental conditions that affect daily life.
Eligibility and Funding Approach
With these priorities in mind, Cal Wellness supports organizations that share its vision for community-led change.
To be considered for Community Well-Being grants, organizations should meet the following criteria:
- Be a California-based nonprofit, public agency, or coalition working to improve community conditions.
- Address one or more of the following focus areas: community violence prevention, youth justice reform, or environmental health equity.
- Demonstrate leadership by people of color and strong connections to the communities most affected by inequity.
When Letters of Interest (LOIs) are open, Cal Wellness reviews submissions and invites selected applicants to submit full proposals.
Grant Funding Overview: Community Well-Being 2025
Grant awards from The California Wellness Foundation (Cal Wellness) vary based on each project's scope, community focus, and alignment with portfolio priorities.
In 2025, most Community Well-Being grants ranged approximately from $250,000 to $500,000 over two to three years.
These awards generally provided core operating or project-specific support for organizations advancing community healing, youth justice, and environmental equity.
| Type of Support | Typical Amount | Duration | Example (Publicly Reported) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core Operating Support | $250K – $450K | 3 years | Advance Peace – Peacemaker Fellowship (Sacramento, Stockton & Fresno) |
| Project Support | $250K – $300K | 2–3 years | The Guardian – Community-based reporting on gun violence |
| Advocacy / Research / Capacity Building | $200K – $300K | 2–3 years | CF Leads – Peer learning and data analysis for community foundations |
| Environmental Justice / Community Environments | $300K – $500K | 3 years | Leadership Council for Justice & Accountability; Community Water Center |
Note: Grant ranges and examples are based on publicly listed awards from CalWellness.org (2025) and are intended only to illustrate common funding patterns. Actual grant sizes, terms, and eligibility criteria may vary depending on Cal Wellness's evolving strategies and funding priorities.
Example Grantees & Community Impact
The following examples of past grant recipients show how community-led organizations across California have strengthened safety, healing, and equity through the Cal Wellness Community Well-Being portfolio. Each reflects the foundation's long-term commitment to supporting local leadership and sustainable change.
Advance Peace – $425,000 / 3 Years
Advance Peace runs the Peacemaker Fellowship in Sacramento, Stockton, and Fresno to reduce gun violence through relationship-based outreach. The organization trains “Neighborhood Change Agents," trusted community members who step in to prevent conflicts, mentor youth at highest risk, and promote healing in their neighborhoods.
Black Organizing Project (BOP) – $250,000 / 3 Years
Based in Oakland, BOP helps communities reimagine public safety and address racial bias in policing. By organizing parents and students, the group successfully pushed for the removal of the Oakland Unified School District's police department and its replacement with restorative, community-led safety programs.
Flourish Agenda – $250,000 / 2 Years
Flourish Agenda supports youth-serving organizations with training and healing-centered programs. Its Healing-Centered Engagement model helps young people of color process trauma, reconnect with their goals, and strengthen their sense of belonging within their communities.
Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI) – $300,000 / 3 Years
HAVI strengthens hospital-based violence intervention programs across California. By placing peer interventionists in emergency rooms, HAVI connects survivors of violent injury to counseling, housing, and ongoing care, helping to prevent future violence and support long-term recovery.
Together, these grantees show how Cal Wellness's Community Well-Being portfolio supports grassroots leadership and healing justice to strengthen safety, health, and equity across California.
How to Prepare for the 2026 Community Well-Being Grants
Although new LOIs were closed after July 2025, this period offers organizations an opportunity to strengthen partnerships and refine their readiness for the 2026 funding strategy.
Here's how to start preparing:
- Align with existing priorities Continue developing initiatives that support violence prevention, youth justice transformation, and environmental health improvements.
- Center community voice Design programs with residents most affected by inequity using community meetings, surveys, or collaborative planning platforms to ensure authentic participation.
- Demonstrate real-world impact Track progress through shared data and feedback. Tools like GridSocial by SocialRoots.ai can help partner organizations coordinate efforts, gather qualitative stories alongside data, and document outcomes such as reduced trauma, stronger local partnerships, or community-led policy change.
- Stay informed Subscribe to updates at CalWellness.org to receive notifications when the 2026 funding strategy and new LOI window are announced.
By combining community-driven planning with transparent coordination tools, California organizations can enter the 2026 cycle ready to show collective progress toward health, safety, and equity.
How GridSocial by SocialRoots.ai Can Support Collaboration
Winning grants like those from Cal Wellness often depends on showing clear outcomes, maintaining transparent reporting, and strengthening coordination among partners.
GridSocial by SocialRoots.ai helps healthcare and community organizations:
- Coordinate referrals and services across multiple agencies, tracking progress from intake to closure.
- Bring together stories and data to reflect how programs improve community safety, well-being, and other social determinants of health.
- Simplify reporting and communication through shared dashboards that reduce manual work and make progress visible to partners and funders.
- Highlight equity impact across networks, helping teams collectively understand where change is happening and where more support is needed.
By using shared tools for data, storytelling, and collaboration, organizations can more easily demonstrate the kind of long-term, systemic progress Cal Wellness seeks to fund.
Conclusion: Investing in Healing and Resilience Across California
The California Wellness Foundation's Community Well-Being Grants continue to strengthen organizations that are reimagining what safety, health, and equity look like in California communities.
Although new applications are currently paused, this period offers nonprofits an opportunity to reflect, realign, and prepare for the foundation's upcoming 2026 strategy. By grounding their work in Cal Wellness' equity-focused priorities such as violence prevention, youth justice, and environmental health, organizations can deepen their impact and readiness for future funding.
Digital collaboration tools like GridSocial by SocialRoots.ai can further support this process by helping partners coordinate across sectors, track community outcomes, and communicate progress transparently.
Together, these efforts create the groundwork for lasting community healing and resilience, ensuring every neighborhood in California has the opportunity to thrive.