Transformative Engagement – Building Pathways for “for us by us” community-based organizations
This demonstration project is funded in part by Robert Wood Johnson Foundations Systems Alignment Innovation Hub’s Equity and Capacity Building Grant and the California Healthcare Foundation.
About The Initiative:
Restorative Community Solutions (RCS) exists to strengthen grassroots,“for us by us” organizations led by and for people with lived experience of incarceration. Our Transformative Engagement Initiative pilots a peer-led, cohort-based model that helps small and mid-sized community-based organizations become providers in California’s CalAIM system, including Community Health Worker (CHW), Enhanced Care Management (ECM), Community Supports, and the Medicaid Reentry Waiver.
Through this initiative, RCS builds capacity for culturally rooted organizations to access sustainable funding streams, improve health equity, and bring lived-experience leadership into decision-making spaces.
Key Activities:
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Weekly peer problem-solving and coaching in compliance, contracting, program design, and leadership.
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Hands-on technical assistance for CalAIM readiness and alignment.
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Collaborative grant development and braided funding strategies.
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Engagement with state, county, and health plan stakeholders to influence implementation.
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Development of peer leaders to sit on advisory bodies and decision-making tables.
Impact:
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Three Solano County partners (RCS, Peacemakers Alliance, Wotha Dabora) advanced in contracting with local Medicaid plans.
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Increased visibility and systems engagement for small CBOs.
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Strengthened partnerships with anchor organizations like La Clínica and Transitions Clinic Network.
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Positioned grassroots CBOs to bill Medi-Cal for ECM and Community Supports.