return to our work

Juntos educaremos sobre los cambios en los limites de los distritos locales.

EMPOWER worked to ensure increased participation in the San Diego Redistricting processes (City, County and Statewide), educate San Diegans about its local implications, and ensure that genuinely representative districts are drawn.

A Year’s Work

EMPOWER San Diego acted as a leading voice on redistricting in San Diego.  Our objectives where to insure that historically under-represented communities have a fair opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice and that the members of these communities are aware of and participating in the process. Starting in the Summer of 2010, we did extensive community outreach to educate people about the redistricting process (from City to State to School Board and County) and the opportunities for public participation.

For more information about Empower's action with the passage of Proposition D, visit our blog and Youtube video here

The Communities in Unity Coalition, with participation from its allies achieved the two fold successes of accomplishing much of the goals set by the coalition while uniting a broad spectrum of people to work in tandem to support eachother.  

Here are a few of the key successes: 

·      In the City of San Diego, the final map reflects strengthened empowerment for African-American, LGBT, and Latino communities--including a new 9th District with City heights as its center. 

·      At the County of San Diego, the Board of Supervisors was forced to recognize the voting rights of communities of color and will be creating a 'majority-minority district' in the South Bay.

·      The San Diego Unified School Board is currently redistricting their sub-district boundaries and the Communities in Unity Coalition continues to follow their progress.

The Coalition also succeeded in:

·      Advocating for transparency in the City process

·      Hosting collaborative map drawing sessions, and uniting to support a single city-wide map

·      Turning speakers who voiced the coalition’s unity talking points

·      Collaborating with the Foundation for Change grantees to extend the coalition’s work into State and Federal redistricting

·      Collaborating with the ACLU for legal support and to effect the County redistricting process

·      Continually updated community allies on redistricting developments and important moments for action via constant monitoring of Commission meetings

·      Supporting the goal of an API empowerment district from the beginning of the process

View an Action Alert! here

Final City of San Diego Redistricting Map

Redistricting Commission Members

The members of the San Diego Redistricting Commission:
• Anisha Dalal, the principal of the School of Communication Investigations in a Multicultural Atmosphere at San Diego High School.
• Frederick Kosmo, Jr., a partner and attorney of his own law firm.
• Carlos Marquez, III, the director of Community Programs and Public Affairs for the San Diego LGBT Community Center.
• Ani Mdivani-Morrow, the founder of an organization that helps orphans in the country of Georgia and owner of an online art gallery.
• Arthur Nishioka, the manager of planning at Kyocera, a high-tech manufacturing company.
• David Potter, a former member of the city’s planning department who now works as a consultant.
• Theresa Quiroz, a community advocate who currently serves as the co-chair for the Affordable Housing Coalition, vice president of City Heights Community Development Corporation and the vice president of Empower San Diego.

Of the 51 applicants for the Commission, EMPOWER San Diego directly helped recruit and support seven applicants.
 

The ReDistricting Game

from the USC Annenberg Center, is a great way to refresh our civic minds wih a visual and hands on approach to redictricting education.

check it out! play the game!

return to our work