Members of Alliance San Diego recently visited Thrive Public School to speak with students about the importance of social justice, voting and immigration issues. The 5th and 6th graders are working on a project to become more aware of social issues that impact their communities. In preparation for their Social Justice Showcase, our Immigration Integration Manager, Itzel Guillen, shared her story as a Border Dreamer. The students will be sending letters to Congress about why they think Dreamers should stay in the U.S.

If you’d like someone from Alliance San Diego to speak to your students or at your next event, please contact us atinfo@alliancesd.org

While the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC), which is a program of Alliance San Diego, waves a see you later to Christian Ramirez, who is going on a temporary leave, we welcome Vicki Gaubeca as the Interim Director.

Vicki currently serves as SBCC's Policy and Communications Strategist and is a former SBCC co-chair. She brings her lived experience as a longtime border resident, living on both sides of the border in multiple cities, and her expertise as a longtime advocate in the region. We are thrilled to welcome her to the new role.

To stay current with SBCC, subscribe to our weekly newsletter border_lines.

The San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium (SDIRC), which is convened by Alliance San Diego, has been busy advocating for immigrants and refugees at the local, state and even international level.

• Members of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium have mobilized in support of local Border Dreamers. Organizations such as the Jewish Family Service of San Diego and Catholic Charities are holding workshops to help DACA recipients renew their status. Find out about our efforts here.
• The SDIRC team recently joined regional immigrant rights coalitions from across California in Oakland to strategize and collaborate on work for the upcoming year as part of the California Immigrant PolicyCenter’s Regional Capacity Building Project.
• Members of SDIRC also met with the Consul General of the Netherlands to discuss policy and immigrant issues in the southern border region.

Learn more about SDIRC by visiting immigrantsandiego.org.

Alliance San Diego has been partnering with organizations across the state of California with the hope of one day fixing commercial property taxes. Our goal has been to close the loopholes that allow a small group of wealthy property owners to avoid paying their fair share in taxes. These loopholes have starved our communities of the resources necessary to sustain the safety net programs we need to protect the most vulnerable in our community. We are excited and proud to be a part of the work that led up to the  "Schools & Communities First" ballot proposal. Learn more about the proposal here. 

Today, March 5th, is President Trump’s artificial deadline to end protections for the young undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers. Last September he announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that provided temporary protection for Dreamers, and he gave Congress until today to enact a more permanent solution.