February 12, 2025
A Letter from Our CEO
Dear CivicWell partners and supporters,
Nearly twenty years ago, acclaimed author Alice Walker released a collection of essays entitled We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For: Light in a Time of Darkness. In compiling the stories and data in this Impact Report, my colleagues and I had an opportunity to reflect on how CivicWell has emerged from the challenges and setbacks of 2024. It is clear that over the past year, CivicWell and our partners have developed the skills and galvanized the relationships needed to address whatever lies ahead.
During my first year as CEO, I guided the organization to overcome challenges with our funding streams, fee structure, and financial model. In mid-2024, I took decisive action to substantially restructure the leadership and administrative teams to improve efficiency and save costs. CivicWell collectively re-examined our programs, paused some projects and initiatives, and migrated a number of impactful initiatives to new homes.
While these changes were difficult, the actions daylighted strengths and opportunities we may have overlooked otherwise. Employees were invited into higher levels of decision-making and enjoyed improved transparency and coordination. Coalitions committed to promoting adaptation and supporting sustainable energy have been able to achieve greater independence. And perhaps most importantly, in sharing our trials, we opened up dialogue with our partners for relationships with greater vulnerability and candor.
Elevating our employees, empowering coalitions, and engaging in candid dialogue have prepared us for the hurdles that face our organization and the rest of the country in the year ahead. During the weeks that we were finalizing this report, we faced another barrage of challenges, from devastating fires in California to unsettling policy proposals that threaten to undermine efforts that CivicWell has worked to advance for more than four decades.
Through our virtual and in-person events, we have held space for hundreds of civic, community, policy, and business partners to mobilize around good policymaking and advance promising innovations. Our resources have informed local, regional, and statewide leaders and provided the ideas and data necessary to promote livable, equitable, and sustainable communities. Our work has inspired new partners to join as Agency Members, Strategic Partners, and Directors on our Board. The community CivicWell fosters is one of idealists and pragmatists who transform local vision into action. We are the dreamers and the doers. We are indeed the ones we have been waiting for. Collectively, we are up to the challenges—and opportunities—that face us in the year ahead.
In community,
Bernadette Austin
