About
The Priority Communities Learning Hub serves as the central gathering place for the Priority Communities Learning Agenda, supporting organizations working across Fresno, Merced, Salinas, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Stockton.
The James Irvine Foundation's Priority Communities (PC) initiative invests in community-led efforts to build local economies that work for all residents. Through this learning agenda, grantees, partners, and community leaders have opportunities to learn from one another, strengthen relationships, and exchange practical strategies that advance community-driven economic development.
Rather than offering one-time trainings, the PC Learning Agenda creates an ongoing space for collaboration across communities. Participants explore common opportunities and challenges, share lessons from their work, and connect with peers who are organizing around worker power, community-led economic development, equitable investment, and other issues shaping local economies.
This Learning Hub brings those opportunities together in one place by providing access to resources, in-person convenings, peer networks, and learning experiences that support organizations throughout the initiative.
Our Mission
Our mission is to strengthen the capacity of organizations across the Priority Communities network by creating meaningful opportunities for shared learning, peer exchange, and collaboration. Through accessible resources, cross-community relationships, and practical learning experiences, we support community leaders working to build more inclusive and equitable local economies.
Our Vision
We envision a learning community of practice where organizations across California are connected through shared knowledge, and collective action. By learning with and from one another, participants strengthen local leadership, advance community-driven solutions, and contribute to more equitable economic futures for the communities they serve.
We believe that every community has the potential to thrive, and together, we can create lasting impact.
How We Learn Together
Learning Sessions
Virtual learning sessions bring together practitioners, researchers, and community leaders to explore topics identified by participants as most relevant to their work. Sessions provide practical tools, emerging practices, and opportunities for discussion with peers across California.
REAL Visits
Reciprocal Exchange & Applied Learning (REAL) Visits are place-based learning exchanges hosted by Priority Communities throughout California. Each visit offers participants the opportunity to experience a community firsthand, learn from local organizations and residents, and explore how different communities are advancing inclusive economic development within their own local context.
Resources
The Resource Library extends learning beyond individual events by curating publications, toolkits, recordings, case studies, and examples shared throughout the initiative. Resources are organized around themes emerging from the Learning Agenda and continue to grow as participants contribute new ideas and promising practices.
