About Us

The mission of the San Diego-Tijuana Border Initiative is to encourage closer collaboration among social and community service providers with the specific intent of promoting public health policy development for issues of importance to the border region.

Timeline

  • 1994 The San Diego-Tijuana Border Initiative is established as a collaborative project of the Daedalus Alliance for Environmental Education and United Way of San Diego County to improve coordination of social and community services in the border region.
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  • 1996 The San Diego-Tijuana Border Initiative publishes the Directory of Directories as part of its plan to improve coordination of social and community services in the border region.
  • 1997 The San Diego-Tijuana Border Initiative obtains funding from the Mott, Irvine, and Kellogg Foundations to continue coordination of social and community services in the border region and to provide technical assistance, planning and community organizing necessary to develop the organizational networks of border health providers.
  • 1998 The San Diego-Tijuana Border Initiative obtains funding from the Ford Foundation and the Alliance Healthcare Foundation and holds its first binational border health promotion conference in Tijuana, Baja California. Seven binational conferences ranging from substance abuse prevention to the maquiladora industry, to quality of life issues, to risk and protective factors would follow from 1999 to 2003.
  • 2000 With funding from the Drug Free Communities Support Program the Border Initiative begins working on substance abuse prevention among youth and adults in the border region. The Drug-Free Border Coalition is established in San Diego and Tijuana (Coalición Por Una Frontera Libre de Drogas).
  • 2001 The San Diego-Tijuana Border Initiative becomes a freestanding nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization; full-time staff expands for the first time since 1994.
  • 2002 Through funding from the Health & Human Services Agency, County of San Diego, Tobacco Control Resource Program, the Border Initiative begins working on its first policy advocacy campaign in tobacco control at the University of San Diego; full time staff expands for the second time.
  • 2003 With funding from the Community Technology Foundation of California the Border Initiative expands full-time staff for the third time.
  • 2004 Through funding from the Health & Human Services Agency, County of San Diego, Tobacco Control Resource Program, the Border Initiative continues working on policy advocacy campaigns in tobacco control. The Border Initiative achieves smoke-free parks and beaches policy successes in the cities of Imperial Beach, National City, the unincorporated community of Bonita and the Unified Port of San Diego.
  • 2005 The Border Initiative’s first Executive Director, Kaare S. Kjos retires on December 31st. The Board of Directors names Veronica Baeza as the new Executive Director.
  • 2006 The Border Initiative celebrates five years as a freestanding nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization.
  • 2007 The Border Initiative continues working on smoke-free parks and beaches, a smoke-free Port of San Diego. The Drug-Free Border Coalition continues its work in prevention and forges extensive partnerships with MADD’s Latino Action Committee and the South Bay Cinco de Mayo Con Orgullo Para La Familia Coalition.
  • 2008 The Border Initiative continues working the areas of smoke-free multi-unit housing and educational campaigns on tobacco cessation targeting the entertainment industry in addition to its substance abuse prevention work in the border region.