Come to San Diego

• Visit Baja
• Site Sessions
• Nonprofit Marketplace
• Taste of San Diego Dine-Arounds
• California Perspectives
• More about San Diego

The San Diego Host Committee is excited to present the Nonprofit Marketplace! The Marketplace will feature local nonprofits and their goods, and will help raise money for their organizations in fulfillment of their mission. Merchandise for sale will include a wide variety of handcrafted items from jewelry to greeting cards and ceramics ranging from $5-$30. Please come by to learn about some innovative entrepreneurship–you will find great gifts and souvenirs that support our local nonprofits!

The San Diego Host Committee is excited to offer several opportunities to share the benefits and challenges of being a border town. Visit Baja California’s most dynamic cities, Tijuana and Tecate, and experience a diverse culture, shifting environment, and dedicated civic leaders. Please contact   Amy Carstensen, amyc@icfdn.org , 858/677-2914 for more information.

RSVP required by March 4 for pre-registration--based upon availability.

U.S. citizens require valid photo ID’s to travel to Mexico (passport or valid drivers’ license). Details are available at www.traveltobaja.net and www.usembassy-mexico.gov/tijuana/Tenglish.htm. The "Travel to Baja" site is a project of the Institute for Public Strategies & The Consulate General of the United States of America — Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.

Non-U.S. citizens should contact their consulate for travel requirements.

Saturday, April 9 5:00–10:00 p.m.

Tijuana Cultural Tour and Evening Event: The Third Nation: New Cultural Perspectives Along with a Blurring Border Evening includes a sunset tour of Playas de Tijuana. In addition, the tour features a visit/dinner to Tijuana’s Cultural Center, CECUT, highlighting local and visual artists. The event’s co-sponsor is inSITE-2005 (www.insite05.org). * Pre-registration required: $60, includes wine from regional wineries.

Sunday, April 10 7:00–9:00 p.m. (OFFSITE)

San Diego Host Committee Dine-Arounds

Take a moment to enjoy San Diego’s historical Gaslamp District within a short distance to the convention center and hotel. Sunday night, the San Diego Host Committee invites you to join us at one of a dozen of our favorite restaurants to include restaurants in Tijuana, La Jolla and the redeveloped Market Creek Plaza in southeast San Diego. Sign ups and details will be available online and onsite at the conference.

Monday, April 11 9:00 a.m.–12:30 P.M.

Poverty and the Environment in Los Laureles Canyon (MX) and the Tijuana River Estuary ( U.S.)—A Cross-Border Tour

Tuesday, April 12

Transnational Migration Issues along the U.S.-Mexico Border

OFFSITE 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

All day site tour will highlight issues of poverty, equity and human migration along the San Diego-Baja California border. Event Co-Sponsors: International Community Foundation, Fundación Internacional de la Comunidad, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees, Hispanics in Philanthropy and the Border Philanthropy Partnership.

*Pre-registration required: $75, includes lunch at Rancho La Puerta, Tecate. Limited to 50 people. 

San Diego Host Committee

San Diego Grantmakers has been integral to the support of the San Diego Host Committee activities.

Sunday, April 10

Faith Centers from Anglicans to Zen Buddhists Lend Their Support

2:00–5:30 p.m.

“Offering a hand-up not a hand-out” is the mission of Interfaith Community Services (ICS), a 25-year old nonprofit coalition of 456 faith members from Anglicans to Zen Buddhists who have created a full spectrum of programs designed to meet burgeoning community needs.

The session demonstrates first hand how this incredible organization engages over 2,200 volunteers with professional staff in a full continuum of care, nurturing people to achieve independence. ICS provides a full spectrum of housing options for low income and homeless individuals, employment services and behavioral health “wrap-around” care for hard-to-serve populations.

We will tour a remarkable partnership of Interfaith and the police department, which provides alcohol and drug detox and stabilization for chronic populations. You will meet clients who will tell you their stories of personal transformation. You will be amazed by the continuum of care, which honors their self-respect and helps them regain their independence.

Hometown Philanthropy: Moving Forward While Staying in Place

2:00–5:30 p.m.

Across the country, there are a small handful of foundation and investor funders who have decided to commit their time and resources to “placed-based” philanthropy in their hometowns. They make long-term, open-ended commitments to the “hometown” community with the belief that their “hands-on” approach will have greater impact if they are focused and involved. Join the Jacobs Family Foundation and the residents of the Diamond Neighborhoods as they share their own journey of learning with a place-based funder. Tour the new resident-designed and soon-to-be-resident-owned Market Creek Plaza and share in a dynamic panel discussion on public-private partnerships, business and employment development, housing and creative asset-building strategies.

• Market Creek Plaza

Crossing the Cultural and Economic Divide: Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians

2:00–5:30 p.m.

View the real life effects of economic development within the Viejas reservation. Explore how gaming and other business endeavors have been able to provide this sovereign tribe waste and water treatment plants, education and senior centers, a fire department and other necessities. We will have the privilege to converse with Tribal leaders and elders to discuss their mission, history, culture and economic outlook. We will dialogue about important national issues such as the journey from poverty to prosperity, the economic future beyond gaming and Native American philanthropy.

A River Runs Through It: Reconnecting People with Nature Through a Regional Parks and Wildlands Initiative

2:00–5:30 p.m.

Tour along the San Diego River, where over 50 neighborhood-based groups have organized to create the first ever state-chartered conservancy for this 52-mile river. Participants will learn how concerned citizens, nonprofits, businesses and government agencies at all levels have partnered to reclaim this once abused and neglected river for people and wildlife. They will also learn how this river forms part of a countywide effort that is leading the nation, with wildlife agencies, local jurisdictions and environmental groups working in collaboration, to create a regionally interconnected system of open space preserves.

Free tickets for Sunday site sessions will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning at 7:00 a.m., Saturday, April 9, at the Host Committee desk in Resource Central. Each site session is limited to 50 participants. If you wish to participate in a site session and have any accessibility requirements, please contact Julie Holdaway at 619/744-2180.

California Perspectives

5:30–7:00 p.m.

Northern California Grantmakers, San Diego Grantmakers, Santa Barbara Funders Roundtable, and Southern California Grantmakers invite you to join us in a collegial celebration of philanthropy. James Canales, President and CEO of the James Irvine Foundation, will join us to discuss California Perspectives: “population growth, economics, diversity, environment, agriculture, land use, immigration, even politics….” All the changes California is undergoing are happening in a concentrated way in all regions throughout the U.S. Join us for a reception and discussion about the changes each of our communities are facing. Meet your peers in family, community, corporate and international grantmaking in these programs and activities. Refer to the day-by-day conference schedule for more information.

Site Sessions

Monday, April 11, 2005

Paradigm Shift in Balboa Park: San Diego’s Cultural Campus 

9:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Visit historic Balboa Park, home of over 20 cultural institutions, including The Old Globe Theatre, The San Diego Museum of Art, The San Diego Zoo, the Fleet Science Center and the San Diego Natural History Museum. The Park is one of the largest urban parks in the U.S. and attracts over 12 million visitors a year. In 2001, the Executive Directors of several of the Park’s cultural institutions initiated a strategic planning process with the help and advice of community, government, foundation, business and education leaders. Today, virtually all of the Park’s Institutions are members of the resulting cultural partnership that evolve. Join us on a behind the scenes tour of special exhibitions with museum directors and learn how the institutions, have improved relationships with the City, reduced expenses, bolstered marketing and public relations, enhanced educational programming and facilitated broader sustainable funding. If you fund the arts, this visit is a must.

Good Charter Schools

9:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Journey through two unique San Diego neighborhoods—a local barrio and a reclaimed naval base—to visit two exceptional charter schools. King Chavez Charter School is a small, traditionally funded effort, whose home is a local church. High Tech High is a multifunded effort on the verge of becoming a national model. Both schools produce excellent students. Discover the core commonalities and strengths of these two models in a conversation with their leaders and funders.

• King Chavez
• High Tech High

City Heights : Neighborhood Transformation

9:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Eight years ago, Sol and Robert Price, the founders of the Price Clubs (now Costco), focused their philanthropic efforts in City Heights, an economically deprived and crime infested inner city neighborhood. Believing that a strong urban core of facilities and services is essential to a healthy community, the Prices leveraged funds from public sources to build an Urban Village. The neighborhood is booming with new schools, a recreation center, a library, a police substation, a Head Start facility, a community college annex, an office building housing nonprofits and a shopping center.

One of the mainstays of the initiative is improving educational opportunities. Price Charities partners with the San Diego State University School of Education, three City Heights public schools and the teachers union to create a learning laboratory. In addition, three “community schools” provide comprehensive family health and social services.

This visit will give you the opportunity to visit City Heights, hear from one of the directors of Price Charities, the Chair of the Board of the California State University system and the director of the Education Collaborative. They will candidly tell you what is working and not working in this effort to transform an entire neighborhood.

• City Heights

Poverty and the Environment in Los Laureles Canyon (MX) and the Tijuana River Estuary (U.S.)—A Cross-Border Tour

9:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

An arm’s length from the U.S-Mexico border, Los Laureles Canyon is an unregulated 54,000 person community. There is no sewage, water or power infrastructure. The Tijuana River Estuary is one of the few salt marshes remaining in Southern California, yet over 90 percent of its wetlands have been lost to development. Despite its environmental sensitivity and conservation importance, the estuary remains threatened from trash, sediment and storm water.

• Traveling to Mexico
• Los Laureles Canyon
• Tijuany River Estuary

Clean Air, Healthy Neighborhoods: Linking Community Redevelopment with Pollution Abatement

9:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Visit Barrio Logan, a predominantly Latino neighborhood that is surrounded by freeways and heavy industry and has the dubious distinction of being the most polluted neighborhood in San Diego County. Participants will learn how the Environmental Health Coalition has worked with Barrio Logan residents to develop a community vision that shapes the City of San Diego’s redevelopment efforts. As a result, they eliminated some of the most harmful sources of pollution in their neighborhood and improved the quality of life for area residents.

• Barrio Logan

Site Sessions

Monday, April 11, 2005

The Impact of Public Art

2:00–5:30 p.m.

With its temperate climate, dramatic vistas of beach, desert, cliff and mountain, and lively doings all over town, San Diego is a favorite year-round haven. New development throughout America’s seventh largest city has sparked a regionwide renaissance reflecting the sophisticated sensibility of this ocean-kissed Riviera. San Diego is also home to a collection of remarkable public artworks noted for engaging civic dialogue, attracting tourists and connecting artists with communities. In addition, this has enhanced the visual quality of the built environment, created a sense of place and improved a public appreciation of art. We will see contemporary graffiti murals by the emerging artists at Writerz Blok; the Chicano Park murals, a noteworthy collection of outdoor paintings spontaneously created by artists over the last 20 years; Crab Carillon, a pedestrian walkway turned musical instrument; Coming Together, one of the last major works by celebrated artist Niki de Saint Phalle; and ISIS, a recent temporary installation by renowned sculptor Mark diSuvero.

• Chicano Park

Educational Reform: San Diego City Schools—One Blueprint for Student Success

2:00–5:30 p.m.

The San Diego Unified School District, the largest in the county, serving the students of the city, has been undergoing a major reform effort for several years. One aspect of the “Blueprint for Sucess” is an institute for principal education and training that is funded by private philanthropy. Join us at the University of San Diego, a beautiful campus with lovely views of the region, to learn about this effort and to have a candid conversation with Alan Bersin, the superintendent responsible for the reform. Be prepared to learn about school reform, lessons learned, and what might be exported to other locations.

• San Diego Schools

 Conversations with Caregivers: Helping Those Who Help Others

2:00–5:30 p.m.

Alzheimer’s Disease is extremely challenging for family caregivers who spend an average of 87 hours per week providing care. Conversations with Caregivers is an innovative program developed to help English and Spanish-speaking family caregivers understand the psychological and emotional changes taking place in the person with Alzheimer’s, the physical limitations the disease takes, and everyday health and safety tips.

Join the site session at this South Bay center located in a predominately Latino neighborhood, for a tour and a moving and enlightening discussion with Latino families caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease.

Conversations with Caregivers has dramatically increased the quality of care received by dementia patients while simultaneously reducing the amount of care-related stress that caregivers experience. The program is so successful that the caregiver workbook will be published in May 2005 by Johns Hopkins Press.

• Elder Care Directory

Clean Water, Healthy Beaches & Bays: Mobilizing Citizens to Monitor and Advocate for Improved Water Quality

2:00–5:30 p.m.

Tour San Diego Bay , the second most polluted of 18 bays nationwide. Hear how local nonprofits teamed up with citizen monitors to advocate for higher standards of water quality. As a result of these efforts, San Diego County now leads the nation with the highest standards for storm water runoff regulations. Scientists are now joining activists and policymakers to reverse the contaminated status of San Diego Bay and ensure that all of our rivers, bays and beaches are swimmable, fishable, and surf-able. Learn how these groups successfully organized to attain such high standards for water quality and what are the opportunities and the challenges in implementing a comprehensive program to monitor and improve the region’s water.

• San Diego Bay

Research and Ethics: Can We Have Both?

2:00–5:30 p.m.

The scientific research area around the University of California at San Diego is home to one of the highest concentrations of biotechnology companies in the nation and is recognized internationally for the strength and depth of its neuroscience community. In this rich research environment, a new Ethics Center is developing to help scientists and stakeholders address the significant ethical issues arising from the new developments in science and technology. Join us for a guided tour of the research area and meet with the new Ethics Center leaders to learn how local funders, civic leaders, universities, research organizations, religious leaders, attorneys and other community members have worked together to address significant ethical issues and increase the public’s knowledge of these issues of vital concern to all.

• Ethics Online

Site Sessions

Tuesday, April 12

Transnational Migration Issues along the U.S.-Mexico Border Please go here for details on traveling to Mexico.

10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

As in other parts of the border region, poverty and equity do not often cross paths in Tijuana. The population growth rate of 5 percent annually, which reflects an in-migration of 100,000 people per year, stymies planning and infrastructure, while amplifying problems of poverty, sprawl and environmental health. Language and cultural barriers intensify these common challenges. This site tour will showcase at least four nonprofit organizations that are making a distinct impact in their neighborhoods using civic leadership and private philanthropy as the cornerstones of their success.

Participants will visit an environmental cleanup site in the heart of the maquiladora zone; housing, bilingual (Spanish-Mixtec) school, day care center, and health facilities in transition neighborhoods filled with migrants; and the site of a visionary urban river park. The Szekely Family Foundation will host a lunch at the legendary Rancho La Puerta spa outside of Tecate, and a panel of invited guests will discuss the unique challenges of transnational communities in Mexico and the United States.

Event co-sponsors: International Community Foundation, Fundación Internacional de la Comunidad, Border Philanthropy Partnership, Hispanics in Philanthropy, and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees.

Contact: Amy Carstensen, amyc@icfdn.org, 858/677-2914.

Pre-registration required: $75 (includes lunch at Rancho La Puerta, Tecate and transportation) Limited to 50 people.

Please register by March 4.

TRAVEL TO MEXICO

U.S. citizens require valid U.S. passport or a (DELETE: federal) government-issued birth certificate with government issued photo ID such as valid driver’s license or military ID; or notarized fax copy of the above birth certificate with government-issued photo ID to travel to Mexico.

Note: The following documents are NOT valid as proof of citizenship:

• voter’s registration card
• hospital-issued birth certificate
• affidavits of citizenship