EMPOWER SAN DIEGO

Welcome to EMPOWER!

EMPOWER San Diego made its mark on San Diego in the 2011 Redistricting process by bringing a unprecedented breadth of community leaders into a unity coalition for greater representation of historically under-represented people in City, County, State, and Federal elected office. Our "Communities in Unity" Coalition ( click here for more on our efforts in the (2011 San Diego Redistricting process) became a major player in the San Diego region's Redistricting efforts.

This is the sort of community leadership San Diego can expect from EMPOWER and it is leadership we are looking to bring to bear on the City of San Diego's budgeting decisions next. Our "Budget for All" project, in collaboration with the Center on Policy Initiatives, will seek to bring the power of the community--families, workers, neighbors, and small businesses--together to make our City's budget decisions more equitable and sustainable.

We seek to educate, inform and inspire youth, students, families and workers to become active in local policy and decision-making. We believe that an informed public capable of engaging local government will make San Diego a more sustainable and equitable place to live.

Join us and participate by following and supporting Empower!¡Apoyanos!

Since assuming our nonprofit status in 2008, Empower has hired new staff, built an intern program (EMPOWERStudents!), and put our “house in order.”  We have expanded our previous civic engagement efforts and encouraged voter engagement and involvement in the 2011 San Diego Redistricting process.  We seek to educate, inform and inspire youth, students, families and workers to become active in local policy and decision-making. We believe that an informed public capable of engaging local government will make San Diego a more sustainable and equitable place to live.

Join us and participate by following and supporting Empower! ¡Apoyanos!

The Problem We Seek to Address

The San Diego region lacks opportunities for individuals and community-based organizations to work together to create policies that respond to the needs of students, families, and workers.

Disproportionately low voter participation in high-poverty zip codes renders certain communities, especially the southern areas of San Diego, less visible to public officials. Thus, mechanisms for community input suffer the absence of cultural as well as socioeconomic diversity, affecting a broad range of decisions from park allocations to 'food stamp' policies to school closures.

Insular governance and a lack of transparency or genuine mechanisms for community oversight have also helped San Diego become famous for gross fiscal mismanagement.

San Diego needs a grassroots organizing force focused on creating venues for inclusive collective action and meaningful public participation to combat these systemic inequities in our region's governance.

Ask about our work. 

Empower is:

> leading unified community participation in San Diego's budget decisions.

Juntos aumentaremos la participación local.

> working with students and teachers from universities, colleges and high schools to generate community-based research, organizing and advocacy related to local government and local issues.

Juntos los estudiantes podemos hacer cambios en nuestras comunidades.

> publishing a website and email newsletter that will provide up-to-date, online information and resources for community members to follow what is going on in local government and identify opportunities to participate and serve.

Juntos utilizaremos el poder del internet para aumentar el impacto politico de la comunidad.

>continuing to work with partner organizations and civically-oriented businesses to strengthen coalitions, community planning processes and regional visioning.

Juntos reenforzaremos las coaliciones y las esfuerzas de planificacion comunitaria.

Thank you for your support!
¡Gracias por su apoyo!