Since 1983 progressive San Diegans have been helping local leaders and activists launch grassroots groups that are part of larger movements giving shape to a more just and humane world – the movements for human rights, for economic justice and for environmental sustainability.

The Foundation for Change partners with forward-looking philanthropists to support leaders and organizations working for social justice in the San Diego-Tijuana region.

We are a member fund of the Funding Exchange, a network of publicly supported, regionally-based community foundations committed to “Change, not Charity”. We envision a “bi-national garden” of grassroots groups working for social, economic and environmental justice. We are growing grassroots movements on both sides of the border.

Change Happenings

IMMIGRANT RIGHTS & JUSTICE THE FOCUS OF $150,000 IN GRANTS FOR 2009
Foundation for Change Celebrates Partnerships Old & New

The Foundation for Change is pleased to announce plans to award $150,000 in grants to organizations working for Immigrant Rights & Justice.  The grants will be awarded through three “Focus Funds” made possible through partnerships with The California Wellness Foundation (http://www.tcwf.org/), Planned Parenthood of San Diego, Riverside and Imperial Counties (http://www.planned.org), and the Media Justice Fund at the Funding Exchange (http://www.fex.org). 

Workers Health and Justice
With support from The California Wellness Foundation, the Foundation for Change will work to develop an Immigrant Workers Health and Justice Network for organizations committed to social justice for immigrants working in the informal sector of our region’s urban labor market.  The urban equivalent of the migrant farmworker, these workers – caregivers, housekeepers, gardeners, day laborers and so on – face tremendous cultural, legal, institutional and economic obstacles to gaining access to all kinds of health and social services.  Furthermore, they face ongoing threats to their health and well-being owing to unfavorable terms of employment, unsafe working conditions, constant exposure to toxic substances, and other environmental hazards in both their places of work and residential communities.  By creating a lasting and vibrant network, we hope to address the ongoing health-related needs of San Diego’s urban immigrants. In 2009 the Foundation for Change will award $74,000 in grants to community-based organizations working for Workers’ Health & Justice

Reproductive Justice
In an effort to ensure a greater degree of justice in the exercise of reproductive “rights, respect and responsibility,” the Foundation for Change and Planned Parenthood of San Diego, Riverside and Imperial Counties are pleased to announce a new partnership for promoting Reproductive Justice. The Foundation for Change's grant-making and network-building, coupled with Planned Parenthood's resources and voice, creates a partnership that will expand the capacity of community-based organizations working in our region’s most under-resourced communities to engage in advocacy and organizing around issues of reproduction.  A strengthened network of organizations engaged in this work will make a powerful difference in the lives of women, men, children and families living in high need communities. In 2009 the Foundation for Change will award $40,000 in grants to community-based organizations working for Reproductive Justice.

Media Justice
With support from the Media Justice Fund at the Funding Exchange, the Foundation for Change will work to enhance the capacity of community-based organizations working with immigrant communities for social justice in media and communication technologies, especially as these affect media accountability, infrastructure and policy change.  The intent of this Focus Fund is to promote a greater degree of justice in the control, production and distribution of media in San Diego and Tijuana. In 2009 the Foundation for Change will award $40,500 in grants to community-based organizations working for Media Justice.

Immigrant Rights & Justice Network
All organizations receiving funding through the Focus Funds 2009 will be invited to join our new Immigrant Rights & Justice Network, which will offer ongoing opportunities for dialogue, capacity-building and peer support.  Through the Immigrant Rights & Justice Network the Foundation for Change will bring together a broad range of actors in strategizing collectively around the issues facing our region’s migrant and immigrant populations.