Read more >>

2011 is already shaping up as a promising year for efforts to reform California government. Voters, fed up with California's chronic budget crisis, demonstrated their eagerness to address the dysfunction by passing a set of substantive budget changes in the November election. And a new governor arrived in Sacramento pledging to shift governmental decision making "closer to the people."

Few organizations are better poised to harness this growing momentum for reform than California Forward, a broad-based, bipartisan group whose mission is to modernize the tools of government in California. Since its founding in 2008, California Forward has played a collaborative role in reforming the state's redistricting system and primary elections, while also framing much of the legislative debate around budget and fiscal reforms.

Now California Forward is launching its most ambitious effort to date — reaching out to local and regional leaders statewide and working with them to develop the details of policies that would restructure the relationship between state and local governments. In the process, it will be expanding the already substantial, broad-based coalition it has built to support these reforms through passage in the Legislature or at the ballot box.

Five of California's largest foundations, including Irvine, recently reaffirmed their commitment to California Forward and its reform efforts, pledging a total of $15 million over the next four years. The foundations continue to believe that without systemic improvements to state governance, progress in the areas they care about, whether it's education, health care, environment or another issue, will be harder to achieve.

To learn more, Irvine Quarterly recently talked with Jim Mayer, California Forward's executive director, about the organization's bipartisan approach, the successes to date and the opportunities ahead.

Read more >>

Dear Friends, The New Year always brings with it a sense of renewal and possibility for the future. And while it may be hard to muster a sense of optimism about the fiscal challenges that face California, there is plenty of evidence that 2011 presents an opportunity to make progress toward the kind of long-term, structural reforms that will begin to address our state's chronic fiscal and budgetary challenges. Toward this end, Irvine and four other major California foundations recently renewed our commitment to California Forward, the bipartisan reform effort our foundations helped establish in 2008 to seek long-term solutions to the state's underlying governance problems. As a group of funders, we continue to believe that without the kind of systemic reform that California Forward is pursuing, the outcomes our foundations care about — whether in education, health care, the environment or economic development — become more elusive. Since its founding, California Forward has advanced the cause of governance reform through its contributions to the passage and implementation of Proposition 11, the redistricting initiative, and in helping to frame the legislative debate around budget and fiscal reform. In its first three years, California Forward has established itself as a respected, bipartisan entity, and it is now launching a broad public outreach campaign aimed at informing policy development and building the coalitions that will help to push additional reforms forward.

Read more >>

San Francisco — The Board of Directors of The James Irvine Foundation has approved 31 grants totaling nearly $21.4 million in support of the Foundation's mission of expanding opportunity for the people of California to participate in a vibrant, successful and inclusive society. (For a list of approved grants, click here.)

Improving Sustainability of Leading Arts Organizations

Grants approved as part of the Arts program include nearly $3.8 million to 12 leading organizations in the Central Valley that are participating in phase two of the Arts Regional Initiative. Each grantee proposes projects that would address the dual challenges of building organizational capacities and financial stability, while improving programs to increase cultural participation. These grants are aligned with the goal of Irvine’s Arts program, which seeks to promote a vibrant and inclusive artistic and cultural environment in California.

Advancing Reforms to Improve California’s State Governance and Fiscal Systems

Grants approved as part of the California Democracy program include a $6 million renewal grant to California Forward that provides support for the organization to advance reforms to improve California’s state governance and fiscal systems. California Forward is a bipartisan organization bringing Californians together to advance governance and fiscal reforms that lead to a more responsive, effective and accountable government in California. The grant is aligned with Irvine’s California Democracy program, which seeks to advance effective public policy decision making that is reflective of and responsive to all Californians.

Read more >>

Five years after creating its California Perspectives program, the James Irvine Foundation recently conducted a systematic re-examination of its grantmaking in this area.

The goal was to understand how we could focus our grantmaking for greater impact, based on what we had learned over the previous five years and considering changes in the political and policy environment. As part of this re-examination, our program staff engaged in a series of discussions with our board, grantees and leaders in communities across the state.

The result of this process, announced in May, is a modified program design and a new program name — California Democracy. The program’s essential mission has not changed; it is still focused on advancing effective public policy decision making that is reflective of and responsive to all Californians. And the new name is simply a better description of the grantmaking that we had already been doing.

Irvine’s grantmaking under the California Democracy program will focus on two major areas: Governance Reform and Civic Engagement. And within these areas, we’ve targeted our grantmaking in ways that we think take best advantage of our resources and opportunities and will make the greatest difference for the people of California.

Read more >>

Dear Friends, As the global economic crisis continues to unfold, California faces ever greater fiscal challenges. To fill a budget deficit of more than $40 billion, lawmakers are contemplating cuts, such as a shorter school year, that once might have been unthinkable. Moreover, as is often the case with budget cuts, the contemplated reductions in services threaten disproportionately the very populations at the heart of the Irvine Foundation's mission: low-income and underserved Californians. If nothing else, what this recent round of budgetary wrangling makes very clear is that we not only need to address the deficit in the short term, but we also need long-term, fundamental restructuring of California's budgetary system and fiscal policies. It is for this reason that Irvine, along with four other major California foundations, invested together more than $15 million last year to create California Forward, a bipartisan reform effort established to seek long-term solutions to the state's underlying structural problems, including its chronic financial woes. The current crisis offers a unique opportunity for reaching bipartisan accord on significant reforms. Recently, California Forward began working with lawmakers and other leaders on a set of reforms that would result in smarter fiscal decisions and greater public trust. California Forward not only illustrates the value of philanthropic collaboration — likely to become even more important in an era of diminished resources — but it also underscores for its funders that, without systemic reform of this kind, the outcomes our foundations care about — whether in education, health care, the environment or economic development — become more elusive.

Read more >>

Every year, think tanks and blue ribbon task forces issue reports on various aspects of California's government in which pages of discouraging words eventually lead to the same question: How can California more effectively address the critical issues facing our state?

From left and right, political observers lament declining public services, chronic fiscal problems and a public perception that government is remote and ineffective. Californians see a Legislature paralyzed by political partisanship, unable to make progress on critical issues such as health care and education.

"What is needed is a persistent, creative, long-term effort to change the governance of California, and do it in a very public way." – James P. Mayer, California Forward's Executive Director

But tempting though it is, it won't do to lay all the blame on politicians. Study after study has concluded that even the best of them are stymied by underlying electoral, fiscal and management problems with California's governing system.

Read more >>