Outcomes in health, education, economics, representation and more for San Diego County’s diverse Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) population differ widely when that data is clustered, a report published by the San Diego Foundation recently found. The report sought to highlight areas in which the county’s AANHPI population needs more attention and recommendations for action to meet those needs.

NBC 7 spoke with an Asian American member of San Diego City Council, the San Diego County Health and Human Services Department, and a community leader from the Asian Pacific Islander Initiative following the report’s findings.

Gabriela Stone with the San Diego Regional Policy & Innovation Center, spoke with NBC 7 about what her team found most surprising from the research.

“We knew that there would be disparities between the communities, but we were surprised at the size of some of them. The Cambodian community in particular has high disability rates, the lowest incomes of an AANHPI group, and are more than five times as likely as White, non-Hispanic San Diegans to not have health insurance,” Stone said.

📊 Findings on demographics and immigration

Currently, the county’s AANHPI community represents 16.2% of the county’s population. Compare that with Latinos, which represent 35% of the county’s population, according to the State of San Diego Latinos Report, also by the San Diego Foundation. 

Filipinos remain the largest single-race AANHPI group in the county (4.4%), followed by Chinese (1.8%) and Vietnamese (1.7%), the report states. The second largest group is multiracial AANHPI residents (4.3%).

Just over half of those Asian American residents are first-generation immigrants (51.1%). Compare that to Latinos in the county, most of which are U.S.-born (69%), according to report.

NBC 7 asked Stone on what’s most unique about the county’s AANHPI community.

“You might know that 16.2% of San Diegans are Asian. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We talked to people who are Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander—and that’s what we mean by ‘AANHPI.’ It turns out there are 21 different single-race nationalities and 71 multiracial combinations within the AANHPI community—and that’s just Census-recognized groups, so it doesn’t include folks like the 2,000 or so Karen [kuh-REN] people who are refugees from Burma. And each of these communities have different strengths and face different challenges,” Stone said.

Summing up the report, Stone said these areas represent the greatest barriers for the county’s AANHPI population:

• Limited access to to linguistically and culturally appropriate mental health care, combined with a mental health stigma
• The county is large. Overcoming geographical barriers and developing community events and spaces for cultural preservation, elder support, mentorship, community building and belonging is a challenge
• Expanding leadership development programs for AANHPI-led organizations as current community leaders are overextended

🔎 Areas of concern

Issues of critical concern? Mental health. A leading cause of death among Asian American youth (15-24) is suicide. 

For context, suicide ranks as the leading cause of death for AANHPI boys ages 15-19 in California, and the second leading cause of death for AANHPI girls in the same age group. 

For White non-Latino boys and girls in the same age group, suicide is the third leading cause of death, researchers found.  

San Diego County’s Health and Human Services Agency pointed out a discrepancy between California’s suicide-related data and that of the county.

“The suicide death rate for Non-Hispanic API youth ages 10-24 is comparable to the overall SD County rate for youth ages 10-24,” a spokesperson with the agency told NBC 7.

“In 2023, the suicide death rate for the overall API population (i.e., all ages) was lower compared to other racial/ethnic groups,” according to the agency. In 2023, the county’s rate of suicide was 11 per 100,000 residents compared to 5.4 per 100,000 for the overall API population, the agency added.

Most of the county’s Asian American residents have their health insured below or near the county average, according to the report. Meanwhile, 23.9% of Native Hawaiians and 20% of Cambodians lack health insurance. 

San Diego City Councilmember Kent Lee is the city’s only Asian American member on the council and one of the few holding a leadership role in the city. He oversees District 6, which encompasses Kearny Mesa (including the Convoy Asian Cultural District), Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch, Sorrento Valley and University City. His district is also a community with a large Asian American population. NBC 7 spoke with Lee following the report’s publishing.

Lee told NBC 7 he can’t speak to the mental health and health insurance struggles of the AANHPI community, but his office focuses on bringing different voices to the table to have conversations within the community. 

He did remark that other Asian American and Pacific Islander-focused organizations in the city, such as the Pacific Arts Movement, the San Diego Asian Pacific Islander Coalition and the Lao Advocacy Organization of San Diego, work to hold events such as the San Diego Lao Food Festival and the SD Tet Festival, to bring folks together and “give voice to some of the challenges that we [are] facing.”

🏘️ Homeownership

In San Diego County, 60% of non-Latino White residents own their homes, while only 17% of “Other Pacific Islanders” own their homes and 74% of Thai residents own their homes, according to the report. 

“Owning one’s home is a historically effective way to build wealth, stabilize housing costs and put down roots in a geographic community,” the report states. 

San Diego City Councilmember Kent Lee is the city’s only Asian American councilmember and oversees District 6, which encompasses Kearny Mesa (including the Convoy Asian Cultural District), Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch, Sorrento Valley and University City. The district is also a community with a large Asian American population. 

NBC 7 spoke with Lee to discuss what he is doing to increase the rates of homeownership among the county’s AANHPI community. 

Lee is looking to create more homeownership and more housing opportunities within District 6 specifically. 

“District 6 in particular has some of the most significant amounts of new housing opportunity within our area, and not just for rent” Lee told NBC 7.

The Convoy Asian Cultural District in Kearny Mesa has been known as a hub for food and entertainment in the city. 

“We’re seeing the first residential units being built in Convoy and within some of the surrounding communities,” Lee said. 

🗣️ Language barriers

The AANHPI population speaks 67 distinct dialects. Language barriers could keep residents from getting the services they need. 

Lee said that residents in need of language services in relation to things like city council meetings can go to the City Clerk. “One of the biggest barriers for people getting politically engaged can sometimes just be language. And so the city clerk’s office helps to provide translated materials in multiple languages,” Lee said. 

If someone wants to speak at a city council meeting but is not confident in English, they can request an interpreter at city council free of charge. 

JoAnn Fields with San Diego’s Asian Pacific Islander Initiate spoke to NBC 7 about language barriers the community faces. She says people have missed important messages related to the COVID-19 pandemic, wildfire and flood warnings and surveys on the Tijuana river sewage crisis.

According to Fields, during the historic flooding in parts of San Diego in January 2024, she asked former County Supervisor Nora Vargas for emergency notices to be translated into Tagalog.

🤸‍♂️ Recommendations for action

Following the report, the foundation recommended these actions:

• Investing in cultural and linguistic services for mental health, social connection for AANHPI elders, leadership and business development
• Developing community events and spaces to facilitate cultural preservation, elder support, mentorship, community building and a sense of belonging
• Expand leadership development programs and for AANHPI-led organizations
• Address geographic barriers to services by strategically locating resources and transportation, especially for elders
• Further expand data collection to better understand and address disparities in the AANHPI community

To address issues facing the AANHPI community, Stone specifically suggests investing in disaggregated date collection and measuring the impact of interventions. “For example, disaggregated data on Cambodian and Laotian populations could guide tailored educational and workforce interventions,” Stone said.

Stone also recommended providing services that address cultural nuances and language diversity. “The geographic analysis in the report offers data that will help organizations locate resources well, too,” she added.

🤝 Resources and groups for San Diego County’s AANHPI community members

The report was commissioned by the San Diego Foundation and developed in partnership with the San Diego Regional Policy & Innovation Center. How was the research conducted? Stone sent the following statement to NBC 7:

Research was conducted over a period of about 4 months using both primary data collection and secondary data analysis of data between 2021-2024. Wherever possible we used the 2022 American Community Survey (ACS), conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. We also analyzed data about youth mental health among San Diego Unified School District high school students from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, a regular survey of high school students conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). To better understand these and ground our analysis more effectively in the San Diego community, we attended a Community Ambassador Session and conducted nine interviews with leaders in the San Diego AANHPI community.