The Binational Resilience Initiative (BRI) advances a collaborative, community-driven fund focused in the Cali Baja region. The Initiative invests in high-impact, multi-benefit projects that help our communities adapt to the region’s most pressing challenges.
As a border region, San Diego inherently has an interdependent environmental, economic and cultural relationship with Baja Norte of Mexico – the coastal landscape between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California that includes cities like Tijuana, Rosarito and Ensenada. Altogether, this binational coastal region is home to more than 22 million people, hosts a wide range of industrial, military, and recreational activities and is considered one of the most productive coastal ecosystems in the Americas.
It is also the site of some of the largest environmental concerns. Despite these challenges, we also have the opportunity to harness our region’s substantial philanthropic, private sector, academic, and nonprofit resources and institutions to invest in the highest impact projects that will build a more resilient region over the long term. Too often, forward-looking resilience projects face barriers in financing and advancement. In response, the San Diego Foundation and International Community Foundation assembled a coalition of partners across the region to launch BRI: a community-driven fund that spurs funding and implementation of projects that provide multiple benefits for our communities.
Despite these challenges, we also have the opportunity to harness our region’s substantial philanthropic, private sector, academic, and nonprofit resources and institutions to invest in the highest impact projects that will build a more resilient region over the long term. Too often, forward-looking resilience projects face barriers in financing and advancement. In response, the San Diego Foundation and International Community Foundation assembled a coalition of partners across the region to launch BRI: a community-driven fund that spurs funding and implementation of projects that provide multiple benefits for our communities.
BRI emerged from a year-long community-driven process, stakeholders and leaders across local philanthropies, nonprofits, the private sector, and government have come together to collaborate around developing a bioregional model that will build resilience across political boundaries and catalyze funding for the most impactful projects.