Growing Diverse Communities to Give for Good

"Life-changing, "unbelievable," "a silent dream," "a miracle"—these are the words used by Kevan and Ritha Rowe, Tyshawn Cook, Jordan Daniels, and Liz and Josh Riley, respectively, to describe their experience as the inaugural beneficiaries of the San Diego Black Homebuyers Program at San Diego Foundation.

Launched in August 2021 with Urban League of San Diego County and LISC San Diego, the program was seeded with $1 million from the SDF Black Community Investment Fund, along with grants from the BQuest Foundation and the office of County of San Diego Board of Supervisors Chair Nathan Fletcher.

The program goal is to improve the racial wealth gap in San Diego by investing in generational wealth-building opportunities through Black homeownership. In San Diego, fewer than 30% of Black families own homes compared to 61% of white families. This year, the program met its goal by providing financial and homebuying assistance to 37 families.

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Partnering with Cities to Give for Good

As one of the country's most generous communities, San Diego County is home to more than 11,000 nonprofits. Unfortunately, many nonprofits continue to feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic due to increased demand and operational costs.

This year, several regional municipalities partnered with San Diego Foundation to extend COVID relief funding to the nonprofits operating in or serving their cities. In March, the city of San Diego and SDF announced $4.1M in grants to nonprofits as part of the City of San Diego Small Business and Nonprofit COVID-19 Relief Fund.

In May, the city of Escondido, SDF and the Escondido Community Foundation, a regional affiliate of SDF, launched the City of Escondido Nonprofit Relief Fund, offering $1.5 million in funding to nonprofits. In August 2022, the City of Chula Vista and SDF launched a similar program with $1.5M available to nonprofits.

By partnering with SDF, these cities relied on our network of nonprofit partners and grantmaking expertise to provide more than a collective $7M in relief funding to regional nonprofits, expanding their capacity and ability to give for good.

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Supporting Scholars to Give for Good

Meliya Russom, a recent graduate of The Preuss School, credits San Diego Foundation and the support of her family, teachers, community and mentors for her successful enrollment at University of California Los Angeles this fall.

Thanks to donors and volunteers, Russom—along with 982 other local college students—benefited from a record-breaking $3.5M in awards from the Community Scholarship Program this year. Investing in local students like Meliya is one of the most advantageous ways to advance equity in the region and increase access and resources for San Diegans facing barriers to realizing full and healthy lives.

Among the 2022–2023 scholarship recipients, 69% are first-generation college students, or the first in their immediate families to pursue higher education, and 93% of students are considered low-middle income, according to their Earned Family Contribution data. As the largest scholarship program in the region outside of the university system, San Diego Foundation has awarded $46.5 million to more than 12,000 college students since 1997.

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Expanding the Green Workforce to Give for Good

For San Diego opportunity youth—young people ages 16–24 who are not working or in school—the future got a little greener this year, thanks to a new grant program in partnership with the County of San Diego.

Earlier this year, the County and San Diego Foundation launched a pilot green jobs program targeting the estimated 31,000 opportunity youth in our region. Seven nonprofit partners stepped up to expand their services to help provide access and training for green jobs in urban forestry, environmental justice advocacy, science and conservation, and sustainable farming.

For the young people in the program, they've had access to internships, training and mentoring that will prepare them for jobs in the growing green economy and positions with County of San Diego Parks and Recreation, Environmental Health & Quality, and Public Works departments, among others. They've also helped their neighbors advocate for cleaner air and water through regional climate action plans that help prepare for a better, more resilient future for San Diego communities.

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