What was Civic Health Assessment & Planning?

Jul 9

Three adults stand together chatting and smiling with other visible around them, though out of focus.

Civic Health Assessment & Planning (CHAP) took place during the first three months of 2020. Northwest Health Foundation convened CHAP for two reasons: (1) helping interested organizations assess whether they are a good fit for our upcoming four-year Civic Health initiative and (2) gathering information to help us create a funding structure for Civic Health.

NWHF granted 21 BIPOC-led organizations $8,500 to $10,000 depending on how far they had to travel to participate in CHAP. The 21 organizations included culturally-specific and cross-racial organizations; organizations led by Black, Native, Latinx, Asian American and Pacific Islander, immigrant and refugee, and disabled leaders; organizations from across Oregon and Southwest Washington; and organizations with various types of experience and strategic approaches. All of the organizations expressed interest in building capacity for civic engagement and electoral organizing.

NWHF hired Black-led, Southern Oregon-based political consulting firm Dancing Hearts Consulting to facilitate CHAP. They met with the CHAP organizations four times as a group and met with each organization separately. They also assigned homework between meetings, which included readings, videos, and conversations among organizations’ board, staff and community members.

During the meetings, participants built relationships with each other, learned about and discussed electoral organizing and other types of civic engagement, and engaged around movement building. They also talked about anti-Blackness, Native erasure, and ableism in social justice spaces.

Thanks to CHAP and the participating organizations’ reflections and input, NWHF and Dancing Hearts Consulting have come up with a tiered funding structure. Emerging organizations with less experience in civic engagement and electoral organizing will receive larger general operating support grants than more experienced organizations. We’ll also provide support in the form of additional infrastructure development and field supplement grants, coaching, technical assistance, access to voter data file development, convenings and peer-to-peer exchanges. In addition, we will only accept organizations committed to developing a common understanding and approaches to building power, with a focus on addressing anti-Blackness, Indigenous erasure, and ableism.

We’re prioritizing organizations led by Black and Indigenous communities. Public policies have harmed these communities the most. So when they lead political and policy change, all of us come out ahead.

While we expect most Civic Health organizations to have participated in CHAP, we know there may be organizations who missed the CHAP call for applications or who have emerged since. We are particularly interested in meeting organizations led by and serving Black and Native communities. Culturally-specific or cross-racial organizations led by and serving Black and Native communities are a funding priority for the Civic Health Cohort. We encourage them to contact our Senior Programs & Operations Associate Stephenie Smith for a conversation before applying. Please contact her at stephenie@northwesthealth.org.

Readings and Videos

NOTE: We also have Spanish translations of these readings. Please email stephenie@northwesthealth.org if you would like us to send them to you.

“10 Key Elements of Movement Building” - Manuel Pastor

Manuel Pastor Video

"10 Key Elements of Movement Building" Reading Online

“10 Key Elements of Movement Building” Accessible PDF

“Why We Need to Stop Saying ‘People of Color’ When We Mean ‘Black People’” - Joshua Adams

"Why We Need to Stop Saying 'People of Color' When We Mean 'Black People'" Reading Online

“Why We Need to Stop Saying ‘People of Color’ When We Mean ‘Black People’” Accessible PDF

“Invisibility is the Modern Form of Racism Against Native Americans” - Rebecca Nagle

"Invisibility is the Modern Form of Racism Against Native Americans" Reading Online

“Invisibility is the Modern Form of Racism Against Native Americans” Accessible PDF