Blurred Borders - International Community Foundation

Cross-Border Institutional Ties Need to be Strengthened:
All too often the ties that bind San Diego and Tijuana are highly reliant on inter-personal
relationships between elected officials and civic leaders interested and engaged in cross-border
issues. There is a need to further strengthen the institutional ties among the various
local/regional governmental and civic organizations, as well as the private sector, to ensure that
relations between our two communities remain strong and vibrant. As we have witnessed over
the past decade, political tides can changes, local priorities can shift and local border champions
can go away. If we are to promote a stronger binational civil society in the San Diego-Tijuana
region, institutions need to view themselves as part of a larger inter-dependent region to
ensure that adequate financial and human resources as well as political capital is proportionally
invested.
Greater Sensitivity to the Plight of the Poor is Needed:
San Diego and Tijuana are prosperous communities with tremendous opportunity. Yet, there
are growing pockets of poverty in both communities that are, in part, attributed to the region’s
high cost of living, lack of affordable housing and a dependency on migrant labor from migrantsending
regions in mainland Mexico. If the San Diego-Tijuana region is to maintain its
competitive edge and remain a livable community, it is critical that greater attention be placed
on the plight of the poor. Increased charitable giving, volunteerism and public policy aimed at
easing the burden of the region’s underclass should be a focus for local civic leaders and
businesses. Key issues that need to be grappled with include: affordable housing and living
wages to decrease the number of working poor.
Greater Binational Collaboration Among Non-Profits is Needed:
As illustrated in this report, several existing non-profits in the region are already providing
leadership on how to make effective cross-border collaborations work. However, there is a
growing need for more such collaborations on common issues of concern particularly on issues
of education and health for the region’s growing Mexican transnational communities. Also,
non-profit organizations should work across specific disciplines and get out of their traditional
“stove pipes”. As ICF’s survey of migrant-serving non-profits in San Diego County shows,
there is an interest in such collaboration but, because of the current demands placed on most
agencies, they are limited in both funding and staff to facilitate such alliances or partnerships.
Emerging opportunities also exist for US service providers to partner or align themselves with
Baja California-based non-profits or those based in other Mexican states to provide skilled
professionals with experience in addressing specific migrant needs. Curiously few Mexican nonprofit
professionals are currently taking advantage of the opportunities afforded them under
NAFTA to obtain professional services or TN visas to procure services in the United States.
Still the TN visa has been restricted to a mere 5,500 people per year. However this quota was
scheduled to be phased out effective January1, 2004. 348
348 The TN NAFTA Visa for "Professionals” is available only to citizens of Mexico and Canada. Under the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) a citizen of a NAFTA country may work in a professional occupation in
another NAFTA country provided that 1) the profession is on the NAFTA list, 2) the alien possesses the specific
criteria for that profession, 3) the prospective position requires someone in that professional capacity and 4) the
alien is going to work for a U.S. employer. The spouse and unmarried, minor children of the principal alien are
127