UC SAN DIEGO-CASA
Community Station
Arts & culture can change hearts and minds, and increase community capacity for political action
The UC SAN DIEGO-CASA Community Station is a public space that anchors a mixed-use affordable housing project in the U.S. border community of San Ysidro, with cultural, social and economic programming co-curated between UC San Diego and the community.
Location + Partnership
San Ysidro, San Diego, CA
The UC SAN DIEGO-CASA Community Station is located in the border neighborhood of San Ysidro, next to the busiest land crossing in the Western hemisphere and adjacent to the Tijuana River Estuary. 90% Latinx, with high unemployment, low median household income and dangerous air quality, the border neighborhood of San Ysidro is among the most marginalized neighborhoods in San Diego County.
Casa Familiar
The UC SAN DIEGO-CASA Community Station is a partnership with Casa Familiar, a robust 30 year-old community-based, social service organization, whose vision is to organize and empower the residents of San Ysidro and South San Diego to take an active role in the civic, environmental and quality of life issues affecting their region. Casa Familiar provides over forty programs spanning a variety of areas—from health and immigration services to job training and arts & culture, to address the vital economic and community development issues faced by residents in this border community.
Physical Infrastructure
The UC SAN DIEGO-CASA Community Station lives inside of Casa Familiar’s new mixed-use social housing project called Living Rooms at the Border.
Social Infrastructure
Educational programming at the UCSD-CASA Community Station focuses on pedagogical processes that increase public knowledge and community capacity for political and environmental advocacy and action.