While San Diego and Tijuana have many collective assets, all too often, the communities treat each other as distant neighbors. This is especially true since 9/11 as border delays, heightened security concerns, and increased binational tensions over U.S. immigration policy have increased the divisions between our two neighboring communities.

Because the region’s binational issues are increasingly becoming intertwined, there is a critical need to have state and local governments and the non governmental sector from both sides of the border working together. If the San Diego-Tijuana Region is to be successful in strengthening its social capital, there are several critical ingredients.

Prejudices and perceptions must be overcome: As important as trans-border issues have become in the San Diego-Tijuana border region, prejudices and false perceptions of the border continue to impose artificial barriers that divide our communities and make binational collaboration more difficult. More often than not, there is a tendency among San Diegans to focus only on the problems of the border such as drug trafficking, illegal migration, public safety concerns of traveling in the region and trans-boundary health and environmental issue, as opposed to the positive strides that are being made by our two communities. On one hand, because of the perceived "fear factor," the majority of San Diegans rarely go across the border to Mexico. On the other hand, since 9/11 a growing number of Tijuanenses are increasingly viewing their proximity to San Diego with apprehension and growing concerns over excessive border delays. If progress is to be made, such prejudices and perceptions must be overcome.

Beyond the San Diego-Tijuana region, there is an erroneous perception in our respective capitals (Washington, D.C. and Mexico City), and among some major funders, that our border region is somewhat unique and privileged given its lower unemployment rate and incidence of poverty relative to other border sister cities along the U.S.-Mexico border. While it is true that in general terms the indices of unemployment and poverty are much higher in Texas border counties, what is often overlooked are the growing pockets of urban poverty across San Diego County in mostly Mexican migrant communities as well as the prevalence of squatter communities in Eastern and Southern Tijuana, again, attributed to migration from regions of extreme poverty in Central and Southern Mexico.

Cross-cultural human connectors bridge the gap: To overcome the existing divisions, cultural and language barriers must be overcome and, here, bilingual, bicultural individuals serving as cross-cultural connectors are becoming vital. Yet, today the number of cross-cultural "connectors" in positions of civic leadership in the San Diego-Tijuana region remains limited. Here an investment needs to be made in promoting emerging new leaders who understand the uniqueness of the binational region and who can think across cultures and political boundaries.

While there are several important business, academic, governmental, and non profit organizations in San Diego County which serve as cultural interpreters today, the demands for culturally competent services in the areas of health, human services, education and the environment is also growing exponentially. And the fact remains that today across San Diego County linguistically and culturally competent social service providers remain in short supply as evidenced by a recent survey taken by ICF of migrant serving non- profits in San Diego County. Heightened security concerns on the border make the need for these cultural interpreters even more pertinent.

Cross-border civic ties need to be strengthened:
All too often the ties that bind San Diego and Tijuana are highly reliant on inter-personal relationships between elected officials and civic leaders interested and engaged in cross-border issues. While this is the current reality along the San Diego-Tijuana border, there is a need to further strengthen the institutional ties among the various local/regional governmental and civic organizations to ensure that relations between our two communities remain strong and vibrant. As we have witnessed over the past decade, political tides can change, local priorities can shift and local border champions can go or pass away. If we are to promote a stronger binational civil society in the San Diego-Tijuana region, institutions need to view themselves as part of a larger binational region that is highly inter-twinned and inter-dependent in order to insure that adequate financial and human resources as well as political capital is proportionally invested in the border region.

Greater sensitivity to the plight of the poor is needed. San Diego and Tijuana are prosperous communities with tremendous opportunity. Yet, there are growing pockets of poverty in both communities that are, in part, attributed to the region’s dependency on migrant labor from regions of extreme poverty from the mainland of Mexico. If the San Diego-Tijuana region is to maintain its competitive edge and remain a livable community, it is critical that greater attention be placed on the plight of the poor. Increased charitable giving, volunteerism and public policy aimed at easing the burden of the region’s underclass should be a focus for local civic leaders and businesses. Key issues that need to be grappled with include more affordable housing and living wages to decrease the number of the working poor.

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