Copyright San Diego Union-Tribune
The San Diego Foundation, one of the city’s most deep-pocketed philanthropic groups, could start paying some of San Diego County’s bills under a new plan from Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer. The chair of the county Board of Supervisors is calling for an unprecedented partnership between county government and philanthropic interests, in which tax dollars would get leveraged with private resources to boost social safety-net programs. New work requirements for people who get Medicaid and food assistance, passed by Congress in the summer, have supervisors increasingly worried over what they say could be up to $300 million in new costs each year and serious impacts on people who rely on those programs. Those impending new costs also have Democratic supervisors eyeing a potential ballot measure next year to bring in more revenue for the county. “It’s not just the federal government shutdown we’re dealing with right now. It’s much bigger and much broader,” Lawson-Remer said in an interview. Under her plan, the foundation would spend $18 million to help the county pay for existing social services contracts. How many providers would be paid by the foundation instead of the county is still being finalized. But the contracts would deal with food access, seniors, behavioral health, homelessness and other safety-net programs, according to Lawson-Remer’s legislation. Such a move could free up that $18 million in the county’s budget. For its end of the deal, the county would contribute $4 million of it to the foundation’s San Diego Unity Fund, a community grant program to which anyone can donate money. The county’s contribution comes with a $900,000 grant administrative fee charged by the foundation. The arrangement also calls for the foundation to contribute a matching $4 million into its fund. Lawson-Remer expects the board to vote on the proposal next Tuesday. New collaborations A partnership between county government and philanthropists isn’t the only new way organizations are working together to stave off disruptions to food and health care access. Three of the region’s most prominent philanthropic organizations — the San Diego Foundation, the Prebys Foundation and Price Philanthropies — are collaborating to pump millions into nonprofit organizations and other causes through an initiative called United for San Diego. That effort resulted in the San Diego Foundation’s launch of its Unity Fund, a secondary program to United for San Diego. In an interview, San Diego Foundation CEO Mark Stuart contrasted the current moment with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, in the final year of the first Trump administration, the federal government spent billions of dollars supporting local governments and propping up the social safety net. That era is now over, Stuart said. “There is no cavalry coming to our rescue,” Stuart said. “It’s upon us to be that cavalry and be there for one another.” In North County, nonprofit Interfaith Community Services recently partnered with Price Philanthropies as part of the United for San Diego initiative. Price Philanthropies will match up to $1 million in donations, funding that will go toward providing basic needs, housing and access to health care in low-income and immigrant communities. “I think a lot more people are struggling than the larger community realizes, and I do think there’s a stigma around asking for help,” said Greg Anglea, Interfaith’s CEO. On Monday, the San Diego Foundation announced $250,000 in grants through the Unity Fund for two local organizations that provide health care to children and refugee families who have been affected by federal funding cuts. Iliana Molina, director of UC San Diego’s Shiley EyeMobile for Children, said the $100,000 her organization got will allow it to provide eye screenings and exams to 5,000 children through the end of the school year. Half attend schools in lower-resourced areas such as San Ysidro and National City; the other half are in Head Start, the federally funded program that provides services and education for low-income children. The effort’s funding had previously been in doubt due to proposed federal funding cuts to Head Start. “Programs like ours are really feeling the effects of decisions made elsewhere,” Molina said. County angles for ballot measure For the county, a new arrangement with local philanthropists could give it some modest fiscal relief. Bu it would do little to offset new costs the county could bear because of new costs to administer federally funded programs like SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Medicaid, administered as Medi-Cal in California. The county has previously estimated that the combination of hiring new staff and potential local cost-sharing for SNAP could cost the county as much $300 million each year. Those concerns helped push supervisors to overhaul the county’s reserves policy in August. The move was estimated to have freed up about $380 million in new spending. But those are one-time funds, and Lawson-Remer has long said the county needs new revenue to balance its budget in future years. The county is already maneuvering to see what kind of ballot measure voters might be willing to back. In October, the county issued a request for proposals asking firms to identify the county’s revenue options and help draft a ballot measure ahead of launching a public relations campaign to sway voters. “We’re one of the shining economies of our country,” Lawson-Remer said. “I think we have the opportunity to kind of dig deep in our own pockets and look for additional revenue.”
