By Shelby Huffaker, MPH | Chair of San Diego Americans for Safe Access
Social equity advocates were left stunned and enraged when San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria released his budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year. The funding cuts outlined include:
- Cannabis Social Equity and Economic Development (SEED) plan
- Climate Equity Fund
- Department of Race and Equity
- Office of Immigrant Affairs
- Homelessness Strategies and Solutions Department
- Funding for library programs, including community engagement initiatives, early learning and parent engagement programs, the Campaign for Grade Level Reading initiative, and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and cultural programming
- Office of Child and Youth Success (OYCS)
- After School and Teen Center Programs
- No Shots Fired (gun violence prevention program)
- SD Access 4 All (equitable internet access program)
Gloria justified the budget cuts due to funding shortfalls. However, with respect to the Cannabis SEED program, this logic falls apart under the slightest scrutiny. The program, which would create 36 additional cannabis retail permits reserved for social equity applicants, would more than pay for itself by generating tax revenue from cannabis sales (tax revenue that could be used to fund other social equity or community reinvestment programs). In addition, the City would be required to return $880,000 in state grant funding for implementing the program. Read here and here to learn more about the City’s fraught relationship with cannabis social equity.
Read on to learn more about the budget review timeline and ways to take action.
Budget Review Timeline
- May 1-7: City Council Committee Hearings on the Budget Proposal
- May 14: Mayor Releases Revised Budget Proposal
- June 7: City Council discusses Independent Budget Analyst’s budget recommendation
- June 11: City Council votes to approve or modify budget
- June 13-19: Mayor can veto budget modifications
- June 25: City Council adopts budget
Take Action
Remember that the impactfulness of your actions tends to increase with the amount of time invested!
Least Time
Take the Budget Survey (Open through June 7).
Sign the letter demanding Mayor Todd Gloria to restore funding for the Cannabis Social Equity and Economical Development (SEED) plan.
More Time
Attend the press conference on Wednesday, May 1st at 4:00 PM to rally in support of funding for social equity programs. Meet at the City Administration Building (202 West C St., San Diego, CA 92101) and wear black!
Write to your City Councilmember telling them why they should revise the budget to include funding for social equity programs.
Call into a City Council meeting to explain why social equity programs should be included in the budget. (Read A Step-By-Step Guide to Making A Public Comment in Support of Cannabis Social Equity for instructions on how to make a virtual comment. Instructions can be adapted to apply to social equity programs more broadly).
Write a letter to the editor in response to news articles about the budget. Each publication will have guidelines for crafting letters.
Most Time
Attend a City Council meeting in-person to demand funding for social equity programs. If you would prefer not to speak, you can cede your time to another speaker of your choosing. (Again, read A Step-By-Step Guide to Making A Public Comment in Support of Cannabis Social Equity for instructions on how to make a public comment).
Arrange a private meeting with your City councilmember or one of their staffers.
Write an op-ed explaining why it is necessary to restore funding for social equity programs. Each publication will have guidelines for op-ed contributors.
Collective Power Starts with Unity
While the focus of Americans for Safe Access is on cannabis, the proposed budget cuts to other social equity programs cannot be viewed as mutually exclusive issues. “It reminds me of Hunger Games,” said Melissa Hernandez, a community advocate with PHATCAMP, a San Diego non-profit that provides team-building opportunities to underserved women and girls, to ABC 10 News; “and it don’t need to be like that.” In advocating for social equity, it is vital to underscore that this is not a matter of pitting one group or program against another; this is a fight to prioritize social equity as a whole in the City budget. As the saying goes, there is strength in numbers.
Tell Mayor Gloria and the City Council: underserved communities cannot wait any longer. Investing in long-term, equitable solutions is not optional. Now is the time to show up for social equity.
