Creating a bright vision for the Inland Empire’s future is one of the driving forces behind the Inland Empire Community Foundation’s annual Policy and Philanthropy Summit: Investing to Thrive.
Tomiquia Moss, secretary of the state Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, with microphone, speaks Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, during the Humane Housing for the Inland Empire panel at the Policy and Philanthropy Summit: Investing to Thrive.
The event took place Aug. 1-2 at the Riverside Convention Center and featured diverse speakers and attendees eager to work together to benefit the Inland Empire. Attendees included those in the nonprofits sector, funders, philanthropists, and state and local leaders.
One key focus at the summit was emphasizing “Vital Conditions for Health and Well-Being,” which include reliable transportation, a thriving natural world, basic needs for health and safety, humane housing, meaningful work, and lifelong learning.
Those in attendance, including panelists and breakout meetings, discussed core issues facing the region and how to advance a vision through the vital condition’s framework.
The word “shared” is key, raising the question: How does the government prioritize what the region needs rather than pushing a random agenda? It takes cues from those who live here.
“We are now at this crossroad,” said Graciela Moran, manager of Inland Empire Community Foundation’s Office of Policy and Community Engagement. “Our first summit that we had several years ago was made possible by, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, supporting us in building the infrastructure for policy and advocacy here at IECF for the region. It started off really with, ‘Let’s see if this works out. Let’s have a conversation, let’s bring elected officials and community together.”
It worked.
“Day two of the Policy and Philanthropy Summit showed us that community was ready for their day,” Moran said. “Day one really was a focus on content, having our state appointed representatives present, having those dialogues and having hard questions asked. Day two really was practitioners coming together, reflecting on day one and how to put it into practice.
“Having a place of belonging was important,” she said.
Attendees network in the lobby during the Policy and Philanthropy Summit: Investing to Thrive, held Aug. 1 and 2, 2024, at the Riverside Convention Center.
“Our breakout rooms were really unique.” Moran said, pointing out one with the Interfaith community.
“It was one of the most interesting conversations and dialogues I had experienced,” she said. “The interfaith community came together, and they were like, ‘We have a problem. We’re so divided.’ Politics right now, are at the center of the community, so it was coming together and faith leaders saying, ‘How can we bridge the divide that we have right now in the region?
“There was a lot of bridge-building,” she said.
State Sen. Richard Roth (District 31) and IECF president and CEO Michelle Decker were among the speakers.
Other speakers included: Tomiquia Moss, secretary, and Sasha Kergan, deputy secretary of the California Business, Consumer Services & Housing Agency; Elena Chavez Quezada, senior adviser for social innovation for Gov. Gavin Newsom; Joe Shea, senior cabinet secretary in Newsom’s office; Arima Kozina, deputy secretary of the state Department of Food & Agriculture; Michael Wiafe, assistant deputy cabinet secretary in the Newsom’s office; Assemblymember Corey Jackson; Eloise Gomez-Reyes, assembly majority leader emeritus; and Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes.
Local leaders from both Riverside and San Bernardino counties also participated, including Joe Baca Jr. from the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran, and Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson.
“We’re not going to tinker around the edges and just working on one thing. We’re going to bring everyone in,” Dora Barilla, IECF board member and president and co-founder of HC2 Strategies, said. “We’re going to really look at how do you transform communities by partnering, by knowing that if we’re working in silos, it’s not going to happen.”
“The Inland Empire is the future of the state of California,” said Greg Bradbard, president and CEO of Inland Empire Health Plan Foundation in a news video of the event. “If you look at where the growth is coming, if you look at where the diversity is coming, this is the place. And we need to invest in the future here and know that it’s going to drive many of the outcomes across the state as well.”
To that end, unity and collaboration became one of the summit’s key points.
This story originally appeared in the Press Enterprise, August 2024.
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