San Diego, CA
Report finds experiences differ widely across AANHPI subgroups in San Diego County
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.
With one week remaining in the regular season, San Diego Padres fans are hoping 2025 is the year the team finally wins a World Series.
After an 85-plus win season, the Padres clinched a spot in the National League Playoffs for the fourth time in the last six seasons.
With Padres fans hopeful for another deep postseason run, the time is now to secure playoff tickets. Check back as San Diego’s playoff scenarios, and ticket prices continue to update during the final week of the MLB season.
Shop 2025 SD Padres MLB Playoff tickets
San Diego Padres 2025 MLB playoff tickets
Padres postseason tickets are available for every scenario. If you purchase a ticket and San Diego doesn’t play in that round, tickets will be refunded. See below for all the potential Padres playoff scenarios.
San Diego Padres 2025 MLB playoff scenarios
The Padres have already clinched a playoff spot, but could still end the season as the No. 3, No. 4 or No. 5 seed. If San Diego overtakes Los Angeles for the NL West crown and the No. 3 seed, they will earn homefield for at least the Wild Card round. If the team ends as the No. 5 seed, they will play the No. 4 seed and be the road team in the best-of-3 Wild Card series and beyond.
San Diego Padres 2025 Wild Card Tickets
The Padres’ most likely scenario is to finish as the No. 5 seed and play on the road for the Wild Card round, but if they rise to the No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the National League, they will host all three potential games in a Wild Card series. Here are the ticketing options for each Wild Card home game:
San Diego Padres 2025 NLDS Tickets
Should the Padres win their Wild Card matchup, they would advance to the National League Divisional Series. If the With San Diego entering as the lower seed, they would host Game 3 and a hypothetical Game 4 as long as the series doesn’t end in a sweep.
San Diego Padres NLCS Tickets
If the Padres advance to the National League Championship Series, it becomes a best-of-seven game series with the winner heading to the World Series. If the Padres are the favorite, they will host Games 1, 2, 5 and 7. In the more likely scenario that the Padres are the lower seed, they will start the series on the road and would host Games 3, 4 and 6.
San Diego Padres World Series tickets
Should the Padres make the World Series, homefield advantage goes to the team with the better regular-season record. While that’s not a likely scenario given the team’s current record, it’s not out of the question. If the Padres did have the better regular-season record, they would host Games 1, 2 and hypothetical Games 5 and 7. If not, they would host Games 3, 4 and then Game 6 should the series require it.
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This spring, Helen Woodward Animal Center Education Center opened the doors on its new Sharron Lee MacDonald Humane Education Campus, named for MacDonald, a Rancho Santa Fe philanthropist. The $7.5 million project in Rancho Santa Fe features classrooms, animal enclosures and playgrounds, a special place for the more than 13,000 children that visit the center each year to learn and foster a forever love for animals.
The new center, which encompasses two buildings totaling 10,500 square feet with 20,000 square feet of accompanying outdoor space is the new home for Critter Camps, interactive exposure with animal ambassadors, educational programs with schools and Scouts and even birthday parties.
Haylee Blake, the center’s associate director of education, said what she loves most about the new facility is “just having a really intentional space for the kids”. From the floor to ceiling, whimsical wooden tree sprouting in the corner of the lobby to the playful classroom spaces and many opportunities to get up close and personal with an animal, she said they wanted to create a space that was inspirational, fun and engaging, a place to spark curiosity and empathy for animals and the natural world.
Humane education has always been a focus for Helen Woodward, teaching compassion and care for all animals. Blake said the new center will continue to be a place for kids to encounter animals, learn about science and debunk myths about certain animals that they may be fearful of.
When kids are able to interact hands-on with an animal, learn its name and personality, they might become interested in learning more and about how to protect it—even the less cuddly animals like insects and snakes: “They all matter when it comes to a good, healthy ecosystem,” Blake said. “We believe strongly that having live animal presentations is important….It creates a personalized experience.”
It took a long time for this dream campus to come to life.
In 1972, Helen Woodward, a native Californian and Del Mar resident for 40 years, bought a 12-acre farm in Rancho Santa Fe that was covered with weeds, a little house and a falling-down barn to establish what was then known as the San Dieguito Animal Care and Education Center. Many of the center’s structures were built after her death in 1983 and the center was renamed in her honor in 1986.
For many years, the old house on the property was used for the children’s education programs. When construction on the new and improved adoptions center started in 2018, the education program moved into trailers under the covered riding pavilion. Their old stomping grounds became the temporary “Adoptions Village,” and the center’s therapeutic riding program moved to an arena on the back of the property.
Planning for the new humane education campus started at the end of 2019 and was slowed by the pandemic. After breaking ground in the fall of 2023, construction took a little longer than expected to get going, after months of moving dirt around to lift the property out of the flood plain. During the year-long construction, the educational programming didn’t miss a beat. As soon as they snipped the ribbon at an opening ceremony in May, summer camps started rolling in the next week.
While funding for the project came mainly from MacDonald, the Jack and Marilyn McManama Charitable Trust, the Selander Foundation and the LaureL Foundation, donors contributed to the project in a variety of ways, from pitching in $5,000 to pledging $25,000. Throughout the new center, donors and supporters are recognized with names on features of the building or on colorful, animal-shaped donor plaques.
One of Blake’s favorite donor features is the concrete dog on the playground, which was auctioned off at their annual Spring Fling fundraiser. The winning bidder, the Viterbis, were able to get the dog painted to look like their beloved dog Lou—the climbing feature that sits sweetly on the playground even has a dog tag with his name on it.
Making it even more special, Lou was a Helen Woodward alumni: “Now he has been immortalized and will provide a lot of fun for kids,” Blake said.
The education center now has six classrooms for programming, all meant to be very fun and immersive spaces, themed around different animal habitats including the Desert Room, the Jungle and Woodland Room ( a larger room that can be split in two), Ocean Room, Tundra Room and Pets Room.
Graphic artist Brise Birdsong created all of the art in the rooms digitally—about 220 different are animals are depicted all of them native to the habitat featured, including the polar bear in the Tundra Room and the California mule deer in the Woodland Room, based on the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The Pets Room features more domestic animals in a park and home environment—dogs and cats, a bearded dragon and goldfish. Birdsong painted one dog in memory of her dog Pepper who passed away at the end of the project.
As the focus of the classrooms was on making them easy to clean, there are a lot of hard surfaces which Blake can create a lot of echoing, not conducive to instruction or lots of excited talking. The acoustic panels were incorporated into the design—in the Pets Room they are clouds and in the Ocean Room it’s as if you’re submerged underwater with a whale swimming overhead. The constellation painted on the ceiling panels in the Desert Room is based on the actual constellations in the night sky on the day the center was founded on August 8, 1972.
Inside, all of animal ambassadors, from the bunnies to the birds to the lizards and snakes, all have new safe and spacious enclosures with lots of enrichment. New outside enclosures currently house chickens, goats and the newest arrival, an adorably fuzzy baby doll harlequin sheep yet to be named. One enclosure is currently vacant with plans for possibly a mini cow or alpacas—Blake said it’s all about finding animals with the right temperament for the educational programming.
Outside, two animal enrichment patios include bleacher seating with enclosures to keep larger animals like horses during an outdoor presentation.
The center’s outdoor space also features two new playgrounds, which they never had before beyond some bean bags, hula hoops, balls and donated playhouses. Now the younger kids ages 2-5 have a woodsy, nature-themed playground with logs for kids to climb on and through, with animals scattered throughout including a raccoon, bear, the beloved dog Lou and an eagle perched up high.
The playground for ages 5-12 on the other side of the center has a pollinator theme—the play structure is topped by a monarch butterfly and one of the climbing obstacles mimics a giant spider web. There’s a giant beehive and bee to climb, and a pretty hummingbird slide.
Each playground is connected to a large room specifically designed to host birthday parties, craft activities or camp lunches, each outfitted with two long tables.
The new building also includes offices for the staff and spaces for instructors and volunteers to work and collaborate, with room to grow.
Future phases of work at Helen Woodward Animal Center could include remodeling of the center’s equine hospital and the Club Pet boarding facility. Plans are still up the air for the old covered pavilion, it may revert back to therapeutic riding program or converted to parking.
To learn more about the education campus offerings or more at Helen Woodward, visit animalcenter.org
Overview: Crusaders Soccer Club
Director of Coaching Victor Melendez noted, “Between our competitive and recreational teams, we have nearly 1,500 players wearing Crusaders uniforms. Of those players, 483 are on one of our 40 competitive teams, and 12 of those teams are now playing at a national level.”
On Sept. 2, the Crusaders Soccer Club held our annual Competitive Team Captains ceremony in the sanctuary of the Mission Trails Church.
The sanctuary was packed with the families of the players as they received their official team captain arm bands for the 2025/26 season.
Assistant Director of Coaching for the soccer club’s Competitive Program, Seth Tunick, was the master of ceremonies and coordinated this special event.
Tunick commented, “Each of our 40 competitive teams has two captains. This is a significant reward for these players. These players continually show dedication to the game of soccer and their team, while maintaining a positive attitude and, of course, demonstrating their leadership qualities. These young men and women are now responsible for demonstrating these abilities throughout the season for their team and the club.”
Director of Coaching Victor Melendez noted, “Between our competitive and recreational teams, we have nearly 1,500 players wearing Crusaders uniforms. Of those players, 483 are on one of our 40 competitive teams, and 12 of those teams are now playing at a national level.”
The first games of the 2025/26 were played Sept. 6-7. Among the competitive and recreational divisions, there were 64 games that weekend.
Nearly 1,000 recreational players on 88 teams also played the first of their 11 Saturday games that weekend. The slate continues through Nov. 16.
“Because of the advanced level of play of our recreational division, our competitive coaches will be scouting our recreational teams, looking for the next group of competitive-level players for future teams,” said Director of Coaching for the Recreational Program, Modesto Gardiniello.
He also wished “to sincerely thank all our volunteer recreational team coaches and coordinators, who ensure the complicated puzzle of assembling teams and ensuring everything goes smoothly throughout the 11-week season. Come out and watch a game. Our teams will be playing. Stop by just about any grass field on a Saturday in the Navajo area and enjoy a soccer game.”
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