County Government
Accountability
A God who serves the interests of the rich is not the God we serve.
OUR FIGHT
We are ensuring our tax dollars are spent where they matter, to build better lives for all families. We do this through an increased awareness of the County’s role in funding programs, increasing accountability, transparency and community participation in the budgeting process, with particular emphasis on health and human services and justice system resources.
Our Major Victories
Along with partner organizations, SDOP advocated for the creation of the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs through the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. This office will serve as a centralizes hub, connecting immigrants to services and resources.
Leaders, clergy and partners helped pass the Immigrant Legal Defense Program through the Board of Supervisors. In a historic win, San Diego County became the first border county to establish a $5 million Legal Defense Program to protect the due process rights of immigrants seeking asylum or facing deportation.
One of our proudest accomplishments and greatest benefits of our partnerships is that San Diego County agreed to allocate $60 million for direct services to San Diego County residents, and invited SDOP and the Invest in San Diego Families coalition to the table to help direct how these funds will be used. This will ensure that our most vulnerable communities in San Diego County will receive the support, services and programs we desperately need. Through our relational efforts, we are slowly turning what could have been perceived as an adversarial interaction into a successful collaborative effort for all.
SDOP and the ACLU lead Invest in San Diego Families’ Smart Justice campaign, which met with City of San Diego officials to request several initiatives, including funding for restorative justice and restorative practice training, community engagement support training, funding for mental health crisis, funding for pre-trial services and several other items. We received a favorable response from the City along with a promise to use and allocate funds as we requested.
