Purpose Statement
Foster a vibrant, engaging funder learning community that meaningfully increases the impact of individual and collective efforts to address adversity and build resilience in the Bay Area.
The science on childhood adversity has given us a powerful new lens to understand human health and development — with implications for how we raise our children; how we might prevent, treat, and manage illness; how we can support children to learn and thrive in school; and how we build resilient communities. Growing momentum around this topic - whether framed around adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), toxic stress, trauma (or otherwise) is apparent across our community. In many ways, Bay Area organizations are leading the way. As a funder, staying on top of research and best practice, navigating emerging debates, and better understanding how other funders are making sense of this field is a full-time job. That’s where this idea emerged: to create a quarterly forum for learning, debate, and relationship building across Bay Area funders working in the childhood adversity and trauma space.
