Convergence Partnership

Prevention Institute serves as strategic advisor for the Convergence Partnership, providing staffing and guidance on strategy development and policy analysis. The Convergence Partnership is a national funder collaborative working to transform policies, practices, and systems to advance racial justice and health equity.

The Convergence Partnership is led by a Steering Committee made up of representatives from eleven national, statewide, and local foundations and multifunder initiatives: The California Endowment, Chicago Community Trust with Elevated Chicago, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Health Forward Foundation, Foundation for Louisiana, Kansas Health Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, Nemours, Sierra Health Foundation with the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation. PolicyLink  is the program director and fiscal sponsor for the Partnership.

The Convergence Partnership envisions a just and inclusive society where all people—especially those most impacted by structural racism—are empowered to shape the policies and systems that impact their lives, are healthy, and can thrive. Convergence believes that community power is a key social, political, and economic driver of health. 

To achieve its vision, the Convergence Partnership invests in: 

• Amplifying Community Power: Investing in community power and agency to drive long-term structural change;
• Transforming Narratives: Elevating cohesive narratives and stories to shift public attitudes toward inclusion, belonging, and the dignity of all people; and
• Building Funder Capacity: Mobilizing and influencing funders to shift their practices, relationships, and investments toward racial justice and health equity.

The Partnership employs a core set of approaches to achieve its vision of racial justice and health equity: 

• Advocacy to advance equity-focused policy and systems change, informed and led by grassroots leaders and community voices. 
• Investments in efforts that increase community power to transform racist policies, systems, and narratives; with an intentional focus on leveraging other resources to add value and catalyze new efforts. 
• Partnerships that strategically connect grassroots leaders, advocates, policymakers, and funders to align multiple agendas and efforts  toward equity-focused policy and systems changes.
• Network Engagement to activate a national network of philanthropic leaders working to transform their investments, practices, and relationships toward racial justice and health equity. 
• Communications that both amplify the narratives, stories, learnings, and priorities from grassroots movements to inform and advance national strategies, as well as share impacts and lessons from our efforts.
• Strategic Assessment to consistently reflect, innovate, and iterate developing feedback loops that allow us to hold ourselves accountable to our core principles and vision and to apply learning to future efforts. 
   

Read more about the Partnership’s origins here.

Read more about the Partnership’s accomplishments here.