Hoover High School students in City Heights are determined to ensure that young people are prioritized in decisions about transportation and community development because a great transit system should be affordable, safe, efficient, and of course, FUN!

May was National Bike Month and dockless bike company, OFO, recognized the student leaders of City Heights’ newly-formed Hoover Improving Transportation City Heights (ITCH) Club with a donation of 22 bikes for their campaign to fund no-cost transit passes for youth. The bikes were awarded to the student leaders of Hoover ITCH and to the writers of exceptional essays about the positive impact of bike ridership on the environment and the community. Local advocates for active transportation, climate action, and community development were present to support the youth-led program.

• Video: Hoover Cardinal NEST reports on Hoover ITCH club
• Video: San Diego Bike Coalition and City Heights CDC join Hoover ITCH club for Bike Education & Safety Training

April's Community Convening launched the planning process for the final three years of City Heights Building Healthy Communities (BHC). The upcoming planning process will run from May through December—stay tuned for the detailed timeline—and will build new strategies for current campaigns and define a community vision for the post-building healthy communities period.

The Sons and Brothers Summer Camp and the Sisterhood Rising Leadership Retreat take place at the end of July and serve as spaces where youth of color can experience healing, meaningful growth, transformation, and empowerment as they develop into the next generation of young leaders. The camps are inclusive of youth who are gender non-binary.

Click here for more information and to apply to Sisterhood Rising Leadership Retreat. 

Click here for more information and to apply to Sons and Brothers Camp.

At the upcoming Budget Teach-In, we'll review what's on the mayor's proposed budget and will prepare for the evening budget hearing. Click Here to RSVP

Making sure all youth can grow up to be happy, healthy, contributing adults is everyone's responsibility. Transportation is crucial to youth development and state and local elected officials are responding to advocacy across California for affordable, efficient, and safe transit systems.

"I request $50 million to be allocated from the FY 2018- 2019 State Budget to fund a Student Transit Pass Pilot Program, as described by AB 17 from 2017. The funding for this program would foster a new generation of transit users, help underserved students, and reduce the number of cars on the road," wrote Assemblymember Holden to the California Assembly Committee on Budget in December 2017.

Holden's request for $50 million to reintroduce a Student Transit Pass Pilot Program comes a year after the first version of the bill, AB 17, made the long legislative journey to the governor's desk, but was vetoed. If signed by Governor Brown, the new version of the youth transit pass program,  AB2304, "will provide students and schools the opportunity to partner with regional transit providers to develop innovative student transit programs," explains Assemblymember Holden.

Equity, youth opportunity, and the environment are at the core of the Mid-City CAN's Improving Transportation City Heights' (ITCH) effort to fund Youth Opportunity Passes, our local version of no-cost student transit passes. "We call them Youth Opportunity Passes because mobility is about getting to the opportunities we need in order to grow and develop," said Alondra Guzman, President of the newly-formed Hoover ITCH student club at a recent press conference.

Check out our Youth Council Instagram to stay up to date with the youth's organizing work. Please contact Laura Baeza, Youth Organizer, at [email protected] to learn more about Youth Council and how youth build power in City Heights.

Click here to apply to be a Neighborhood Captain and work with Mid-City CAN's innovative Civic Engagement team building power block-by-block in City Heights.

---

"If you're reading this, you should attend. It's open to the public and encouraged to anybody who lives in City Heights, who works here, who cares about the environment, the policies that affect City Heights, and opportunities for residents. Anybody who has that commitment is encouraged to attend," Steve Eldred.

On Monday, February 26, Assistant Chief David Nisleit was confirmed by City Council as the new chief of SDPD. Mid-City CAN recognizes the year of community-led advocacy to create an open and transparent process in the selection of the new chief. From the allocation of $100K by the city for a nation-wide police chief search to the creation of six community forums, the search process was more transparent and inclusive than ever, thanks to you!

“Equity is just and fair inclusion into a society in which all, including all racial and ethnic groups, can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. Equity gives all people a just and fair shot in life despite historic patterns of racial and economic exclusion,” explains PolicyLink. Fair inclusion in our region means prioritizing City Heights, a community that for long, has been excluded from the resources and opportunities we need to prosper.

SAN DIEGO – Today, Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced in a press conference his choice of Assistant Chief David Nisleit as the City of San Diego’s next Chief of Police.

The Coalition for Police Accountability and Transparency (“CPAT”) released the following statement:

After a year of grassroots advocacy for an open, transparent and community-centered selection process for determining the next Chief of the San Diego Police Department,  CPAT looks forward to both the public hearing and confirmation hearing mandated in Council Policy 300-08. 

2017 was a big year for Mid-City CAN. From the district-wide adoption of our Peace Promotion's School Climate Bill of Rights to the opening of the City Heights Skatepark, we worked hard to create a safe, healthy, productive City Heights. Click below to check out our infographic:

The School Climate Bill of Rights was adopted unanimously by San Diego Unified on July 11, 2017. Authored by Mid-City CAN’s Peace Promotion Momentum Team after years of organizing, the bill of rights is a significant step towards dismantling the school to prison pipeline. To address this system of criminalization leading many youth out of their school and into prisons, the bill of rights grants students, parents, staff, and community members six core rights.

“Students, staff, administrators, and parents/guardians have a right to a positive, collaborative, healthy, healing school environment. Schools should strive to be sanctuaries for students and parents/guardians,” reads the first right.

So, what’s next?