Across California, 2025 was a year defined by hardship and courage in equal measure. Communities faced fire, displacement, political hostility, and moments of profound uncertainty. Yet everywhere we looked, people showed up for one another. Neighbors organized relief when fires tore through rural towns. Families opened their homes when immigration raids left children without caregivers. Youth and elders marched side by side to demand dignity and safety. In a year that exposed deep vulnerabilities, Californians reminded us that solidarity is one of our state’s greatest sources of strength.
And it reaffirmed a core truth that guides our work: health equity requires racial justice. The outcomes we seek for communities cannot be achieved without confronting and dismantling the inequities that disproportionately harm Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and other communities of color.
The events of June 6 in Los Angeles made this clearer than ever. When mass deportation raids swept across the city, hundreds were detained and thousands took to the streets. People locked arms, chanted, documented, and demanded an end to the violence. Even as federal agencies deployed military support, communities organized legal aid, mutual support, and rapid-response networks to protect neighbors at risk. For us, that day underscored the urgency of supporting the people and organizations who stand between crisis and care.
Throughout the year, we committed a record $67 million to strengthen this ecosystem of care and resistance. We invested in clinics that continued providing essential health services under pressure. We partnered with immigrant-rights groups working around the clock to defend due process and keep families together. We supported wildfire recovery efforts, community safety initiatives, civic engagement strategies, and grassroots coalitions building long-term power in neighborhoods too often overlooked by traditional systems.
This year underscored that our grantee partners are often the first to respond and the last to leave when communities face crisis. They organized legal defense when families were torn apart, staffed clinics through smoke and power outages, led marches that made injustice impossible to ignore, and built networks of mutual aid that delivered food, medicine, and care long before government systems could. Many faced threats to their safety, cuts to their funding, and mounting pressure on their staff, yet they continued to rise to the moment with courage and clarity. Their leadership shaped our response and will guide the work ahead.
We also saw clearly how much was being asked of the people doing this work. Many were exhausted, grieving, or carrying trauma of their own. That’s why we built Wellness Together, which offers respite, connection, and resilience-building to the nonprofit and community-based workforce leading health and justice efforts across California. Through a series of virtual and in-person sessions facilitated by wellness practitioners, participants had access to tools like guided meditation, breathwork, and wellness coaching — experiences designed to help people manage stress, reconnect with purpose, and sustain the long haul of justice work.
In addition, under Wellness Together we launched the Be Well, Lead Well sabbatical program, awarding eight senior leaders from across the state with grants to rest, reflect, and recharge while their organizations remained supported in their absence. This is more than respite; it’s an investment in sustainable leadership for movements that serve historically underserved communities, where burnout is common and rest is rarely a priority.
We elevated community voice through the Health Matters Forum, which brought advocates, policymakers, philanthropic leaders, and everyday Californians into shared conversation about the future of health and equity in our state. It reinforced a truth our partners have voiced for years: health cannot be separated from housing, economic opportunity, environmental safety, or justice.
This year also marked the 60th anniversary of Medicaid, known in California as Medi-Cal, a milestone that underscored another pillar of wellness: access to essential care. Through Medicaid at 60, we joined partners across the state in lifting up the program’s legacy and the work ahead to protect it. For millions of Californians, Medi-Cal is the foundation for regular doctor visits, mental-health services, home- and community-based care, aging support, and preventive services that help families stay healthy. It remains one of the most powerful tools we have for advancing equity — and one we must continue defending as affordability, access, and long-term care needs evolve.
As 2025 comes to a close, we move forward with a strategic framework shaped by everything this year revealed: that wellness requires justice; that justice requires solidarity; and that change requires communities leading the way. We will continue using all our resources — grantmaking, advocacy, our endowment, and our public voice — to stand with those working toward a California where everyone has the ability to live healthy and well.
To our partners and communities across California, thank you for showing what solidarity looks like — and for reminding us what is possible when we move forward together. We shall not be moved.