Community Economic Mobilization Initiative Evaluation Reports
The Community Economic Mobilization Initiative (CEMI) is an inclusive and equitable effort to build knowledge and capacity with California nonprofits and tribal partners, equipping them to participate in an unprecedented level of federal and state financial investment to strengthen climate resiliency, transportation infrastructure, and housing in California.
About the Evaluation
We contracted with Informing Change to conduct a three-year developmental evaluation of CEMI. The evaluation will inform improvements and adaptations to CEMI’s ongoing work, and aims to expand learning and hold us accountable for what we have set out to accomplish. Learning and evaluation activities focus on gathering feedback from funded partners through a survey, focus groups, an analysis of grant data, grant applications and interviews with CEMI participants.
Year 1 Evaluation Report
In the first year, more than $14 million was granted through a pooled fund administered by The Center and a donor-designated fund guided by The James Irvine Foundation. By early 2024, nearly two-thirds of funded partners, representing 42 different counties in California, were actively pursuing public funding. Key findings and lessons learned include:
- CEMI implementation has strongly aligned with the values articulated by The Center, and most staff, funding partners and funded partners have had positive experiences with CEMI to date.
- Most funded partners feel trusted by CEMI to use their grant well and nearly half are engaged in California Jobs First Collaboratives.
- Moving forward, there is a need to continue to uplift both the immediacy of leveraging unprecedented public dollars flowing to California and the longer-term shift required to move decision-making power to communities.
- As CEMI develops the power-building and advocacy strategy, it is important to plan for and provide the time required to build relationships and coalitions among funded partners and advocates with similar interest.
Year 2 Evaluation Report
CEMI’s north star of inclusive economic development remains steadfast. Despite changes in the federal environment, CEMI has not wavered in its focus on supporting marginalized communities, communities with historic underinvestment, organizations led by and constituted for the people of these communities, and BIPOC-led and -serving organizations.
In response to what we learned in the Year 1 Report, CEMI has adapted and refined its strategies and approaches to better address emerging needs. Key changes and findings include:
- Shifting the advocacy strategy to a power building strategy which better aligns with broader, more inclusive grassroots organizing efforts.
- Redesigning the technical assistance model to focus on regional cohorts and adding strategic partners to increase CEMI capacity to support 53 funded partners with policy, advocacy and power building tactics.
- Funded partners continue to pursue and win public dollars in support of inclusive economic development, with more than $66 million awarded as of January 2025.
- CEMI funded partners are engaged in some form of power building which they define as relational, shifts toward inclusive decision making, redistributes resources and is in service of equity.
In looking to the year ahead, CEMI will continue to explore what it will take to ensure that a long-lasting financial infrastructure for inclusive economic development work exists and is accessible to BIPOC-led and -serving community organizations in California.