During the 2021 San Diego City Council Redistricting process, we successfully pushed for higher University City to be moved into City Council District 6 to bolster the youth and API population.

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However, our work isn't done. Bridging the youth and API community will be fundamental to the success of the new City Council District 6. Strengthening this bond through community-building, outreach, and educational activities will provide a strong core of civic engagement and local participation for District 6.

 

Civic engagement takes on many different forms, whether it be attending city hall meetings, signing petitions, or reaching out to local representatives. However, API community members are underrepresented in many of the avenues of political participation, if they are even given a seat at the table, to begin with. The API Voter Engagement Project would like to assess whether community members as they exist today feel empowered to be a vocal part of the community. Do folks feel that their vote matters in San Diego? Are their language needs being considered? Are API members of the community being overlooked by politicians? Perhaps taken for granted? These questions about civic engagement and the API community of San Diego are worth answering.

 

After all, API political representation has come a long way in San Diego. Over the last few years, API members of San Diego have been fighting for increased representation in local politics. Certainly, an example of this broad effort can be seen with the newly redrawn City Council District 6, which includes the communities of Mira Mesa, University City, and Kearny Mesa. Has the API community noticed these efforts? Do these changes encourage even more civic engagement from the community?