Community Development System
We’re working to ensure every community has the conditions people need to flourish—like a safe, affordable place to live, and easy access to healthy food, clean water, and good job opportunities.
RWJF believes every community in every ZIP code should be a place
where the people there can live their healthiest lives. While there is no
single vision for what a healthy community looks like, community
development—the work of creating the conditions so all residents can thrive—is key to reaching this vision.
To get there, we must uproot the structural racism firmly planted in the ways our country develops, governs, and finances community conditions, from water to broadband and beyond.
Community Development Evolution
What happens when the health and community development sectors realize they’re working toward the same goal of enabling people to live their healthiest lives?
Watch this video to learn how the field of community development evolved in the past decade to help communities meet residents’ needs and address the effects of racism embedded in policies and practices.
The Future of Community Development
What are opportunities for the future of community development? We asked six experts.
Featured Initiatives
TEST RWJF funds many initiatives to create opportunities that improve health equity. For this area of focus, these initiatives were selected to demonstrate grantmaking that is helping us achieve the greatest impact.
Impact Investments for Community Development
The community development finance system (infographic)—made up of mission-driven lenders (infographic)—is a main driver of capital for essentials like affordable housing, clean water, and small businesses that create jobs and generational wealth in communities that historically have experienced a lack of investment, especially communities of color and those with low incomes. Our impact investments and related grants focus on strengthening the community development finance system.
Increasing Economic Opportunities—Supporting Financial Institutions
1-min read
Investing in Latino Communities
3-min read
Advancing Financial Inclusion by Strengthening Credit Unions
1-min read
Increasing Investments in Underserved Communities
2-min read
Creating Economic Opportunity in Central Appalachia
2-min read
Increasing Lending to Small-Business Owners of Color
3-min read
Improving Community Water Infrastructure
3-min read
Improving Quality of Life in New Jersey Through Local Investment
3-min read
Catalyzing Finance for Racial Equity
2-min read
Supporting the Indigenous Finance System on the Mountain Plains
4-min read
Increasing Community Resilience for Climate-Related Events
2-min read
Resources from Grantees
Related Content
How a Community is Turning Hope into Action to Reclaim Their Future
5-min read
Reaffirming Our Shared Vision
6-min read
Using Impact Investments to Boost Economic Growth in Latino Communities
3-min read
A Future Where Health Is for Everyone
What if Our Systems Actually Served ALL of Us
Lauren Smith, RWJF’s vice president of Strategic Portfolios, explains how together we can rebuild systems so they work for us all, leading to a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right.
5-min read
Achieving Health Equity—Faster and Together
We take bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime and pave the way, together, to a future where health is for everyone.
1-min read
Infrastructure
1-min read
Impact Investing
2-min read
Building Community Power
1-min read