The Community Leadership Project is a joint effort funded by three California foundations to strengthen grassroots organizations that serve low-income people and communities of color. The David and Lucile Packard, James Irvine, and William and Flora Hewlett foundations have long traditions of supporting diverse and low-income communities and, despite the impact of the current economic downturn on their assets, believe that such grantmaking remains critical to their missions.

Underwritten with $8 million from the three organizations, the Community Leadership Project targets small and midsized organizations in three geographic areas: the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, Central Coast, and San Joaquin Valley. The foundations selected the three geographic areas for this grantmaking based on interviews with a diverse group of leaders across the state, an analysis of demographic shifts and poverty rates, as well as the geographic priorities of each foundation.