By TFN Staff
TFN’s annual conferences offer insight on a range of issues at the intersection of equity, environment and economic opportunity — and not just within the confines of the conference venue. Our mobile workshops offer a chance to explore and engage with the communities in our conference city. Our San Diego Mobile Workshops will delve into topics such as gentrification, environmental justice, immigration, transit and growth and development. TFN’s 2020 Annual Conference: Bridge the Divide, takes place March 16-18.
All mobile workshops take place Tuesday, March 17. Read below for more information on this year’s offerings. To learn more about our conference, including an updated agenda, click here.Registration for mobile workshops will be available on site during the conference. Be sure to sign up early, as space is limited!
Food for Power
Our Food for Power mobile workshop will explore ways urban agriculture and food systems can fight isolation, displacement and gentrification and help communities become more empowered, vibrant and healthy. One in every seven San Diegans is food insecure. This figure includes the one in five children in the county that are food insecure. The data is abundant on the long-term effects of lacking nutritious food, especially for young and growing minds and bodies. Growing inequity and food deserts limit the financial resources and access families have to healthy foods. In a region that is one of the nation’s top refugee resettlement destinations and with a high percent of immigrant families and communities from throughout the world, food takes on an important cultural and social significance that can underlie New Americans’ transitions to life in this country. This site visit will take participants through a fascinating, and tasty, tour of the food access activism in this region.
The Border, Climate Change, and People on the Move
U.S. federal policy has always impacted the San Diego-Tijuana border region. More recently, larger groups of migrants, problematic U.S. immigration policy and a lack of permanent infrastructure for responding to how people move through this dynamic region, have fueled a harmful narrative. This narrative serves the rhetoric around a border wall that threatens the interdependence of border communities and critical habitats in a biodiversity hotspot. See the border — explore the connections between climate change, ecological resiliency and immigration. Hear from experts on extirpation and extinction pressures to native flora and fauna. Learn about the migrant experience and what the changing legal landscape means for people on the move. Learn why, no matter where you live, the border matters to you.
Please note: In addition to this mobile workshop, TFN is presenting a post-conference tour in partnership with the International Community Foundation and Hispanics in Philanthropy that will take funders across the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday, March 18. There is a $100 fee for the Post-conference Tour: U.S.-Mexico Border, so be sure to indicate if you plan to attend when you register for conference.
The Rising Seas & San Diego Bay
Within a mere 12-mile span, San Diego Bay’s waterfront boundaries are home to five independent city jurisdictions and some of the region’s most important military installations. These bayside communities are also facing the twin pressures of rising seas and massive growth and development. Join a multi-modal site visit that will take you around San Diego Bay and through communities grappling with the implications and politics of managed retreat in response to rising sea levels and coastal flooding, as well as the potential impacts of a large-scale waterfront development that would include a 1,600-room hotel and 400,000-square-foot convention center.
Environmental Justice, Gentrification & Reclaiming Communities
San Diego County is home to communities that are among the most vulnerable to pollution in the state. This mobile workshop will take us through two such communities, Barrio Logan and National City, both examples of how low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately affected by poorly conceived, and often racist, planning approaches. These communities equally exemplify the power of organizing for environmental justice — efforts that celebrate a vibrant cultural identity and achieve healthy, art-filled, reclaimed communities. We’ll experience the highlights of these communities, as well as learn about the impacts of industrial zoning in densely residential neighborhoods and transit measures slated for the 2020 ballot. We’ll also examine how the forces of gentrification are changing these long-standing environmental justice communities.
Housing, Transit & Inclusive Economies
According to The Housing and Transportation Affordability Index San Diego, moderate-income families pay an average of 67 percent of their household income towards housing and transportation expenses alone. This rate rises sharply for low-income San Diego households. The 2020 ballot may likely contain both transit and housing measures that can radically change the region’s capacity to respond to a growing housing crisis and need to build a future-facing transit system. This mobile workshop will take participants through rapidly gentrifying communities that are currently home to much of the county’s immigrant and refugee communities, including City Heights and El Cajon in East County. We will explore how housing and transit efforts are trying to better connect where people reside and work — and how inclusive economic growth strategies connect, or don’t, to how San Diegans live and move through the region.
Registration & Lodging
TFN’s annual conferences bring together leaders in philanthropy from across the sector who are committed to creating communities that are sustainable, prosperous and equitable — and who are looking to grow their network and deepen their professional relationships.
Join us to learn ways to increase the impact of your grantmaking and connect with a network of national and place-based funders and leading practitioners.
Our conference will offer thought-provoking speakers, breakout sessions and mobile workshops. Registration is open to staff, directors, and trustees of all grantmaking organizations.
(Discounts available for members of San Diego Grantmakers, Southern California Grantmakers and Northern California Grantmakers.)
TFN’s 2020 Annual Conference takes place March 16-18 at the US Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego.
The landmark hotel is nestled in the city’s vibrant Gaslamp Quarter, known for its rich Victorian architecture and history. (And there are several local attractions and landmarks to enjoy nearby.) Be sure to book your room early in order to secure our TFN Annual Conference Rate.
Stay Tuned!
Please be sure to check out our conference webpage for more information on registration, events, and updates on speakers and sessions, as well as updates on pre- and post-conference events for those who may want to lengthen their stay with us in San Diego. (And be sure to follow us on Twitter @funders_network for more #TFNSanDiego news.)
