Taking on Hate: Centering Community-Driven Solutions in California’s Stop the Hate Program

Following a dramatic surge in hate crime across California, local nonprofits are leveraging an ambitious statewide funding program to take on a hate and empower communities most impacted by hate in our region. Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial Counties is proud to partner in this effort, working closely with these organizations as they roll out bold new programming tailored to meet the needs of our local communities.

Earlier this spring, we shared that Catalyst had taken on the role of regional lead for San Diego and Imperial Counties as part of a new statewide funding initiative, Stop the Hate. Following the rise of COVID-19, hate crimes against Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and other populations increased dramatically. The California Department of Justice reported an increase in overall hate crime events of 32.6 percent in 2021. Hate crime events specifically involving anti-Asian bias increased by a shocking 177 percent during this time.

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS), in partnership with the Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs, initiated Stop the Hate to support all victims of hate crimes/incidents and their families, and to facilitate hate prevention measures in communities across California. As regional lead for San Diego and Imperial Counties, Catalyst works with CDSS to support the organizations funded during the pilot year. Through an additional two-year continuation of the program, Catalyst is advocating for greater levels of funding in our region and conducting outreach and application support. We aim to ensure more eligible organizations are considered for future funding, particularly in Imperial County.

The next Stop the Hate grant application opens December 19, 2022. Keep reading to learn more about the dynamic work of our local Stop the Hate partners, how organizations can apply for the next round of funding, and recommendations for local funders to leverage this statewide initiative.

PROGRESS IN OUR COMMUNITIES

In our region, community-based organizations have been hard at work addressing anti-Asian and anti-LGBTQ hate and other anti-hate needs through youth development, mental health services, cultural experiences, and more:

• Asian Solidarity Collective is providing trauma-informed mental health forums for community healing, wellness workshops to increase coping skills and destigmatize mental health. Their youth-led Co-HEART program weaves together art and healing, while the bystander intervention program is training community members to effectively support potential victims of hate crimes or incidents.

• North County LGBTQ Resource Center is providing direct services for homeless youth to heal from trauma and disrupt the cycle of hate. They are a critical service provider in North County, a region where direct service nonprofits supporting the LGBTQ and at-large community are notably under-resourced. The Resource Center is also increasing awareness and reach of services through community forums, partnerships, and trainings with other community organizations and local businesses.
• Pacific Arts Movement is developing arts and cultural experiences that prompt challenging conversations and increase understanding across communities. For example, the Reel Voices program focuses specifically on education and building an increased sense of belonging through youth filmmaking.
• San Diego LGBT Pride is empowering youth to build skills for development, coping, and resilience; and supporting youth leaders to become agents of positive change in their own communities. The Youth Leadership Academy served more young people in 2022 than ever before, due in part to expanded outreach and marketing efforts directed toward underrepresented communities and non-English speaking households.
• Somali Bantu Association of America is offering case management, legal services, and cultural experiences, as well as bilingual community workshops for refugee communities to better understand how to report hate crimes and hate incidents.
• Union of Pan Asian Communities is increasing access to mental health services by piloting community mental health workshops as a culturally competent complement to their existing direct services.

Transformative Grantees: Under a separate statewide grant opportunity designed to complement and amplify Stop the Hate efforts, select organizations working with priority populations —and which have demonstrated a capacity for transformative impact — were invited to apply for larger funding awards over a three-year period.

• • CAIR San Diego is providing legal services, legal advice workshops, and case management for the Muslim community, as well as conducting data collection on hate crimes and hate incidents.
  • TransLatin@ Coalition is deploying bilingual case workers on the ground to address violence prevention, case management, re-entry, and more, with the aim of reducing high suicide and homicide rates within the Transgender, Gender nonconforming, and Intersex (TGI) community.

After months of learning and collaborating with grantees, Catalyst’s Stop the Hate program Tuyen Nguyen is continually inspired by what each partner has accomplished so far, and excited to see these efforts grow: “These are amazing organizations with passionate, motivated leaders – each with the ability to impact real change in the region through direct services, systems change, and community-based solutions. Like many nonprofits, our Stop the Hate partners experience capacity challenges that slow down growth and progress. Catalyst is exploring ways to leverage the State’s nearly one million dollars invested in the region to bolster the growing momentum of anti-hate efforts in our communities.”

We encourage Catalyst members and other funders to reach out to us for specific ways to help Stop the Hate partners end hate in San Diego and Imperial Counties.

 

WHAT’S NEXT?

For everyone: Leverage your personal and professional networks to spread the word about the next round of Stop the Hate grants opening December 19, 2022.

Learn more about hate crimes and hate incidents and the Stop the Hate Program Funding on the California Department of Social Services’ website.

For nonprofits: Organizations working across the California border region (San Diego and Imperial Counties) that provide anti-hate direct services, intervention, and prevention services can attend one of three upcoming webinars for potential partners, the first of which is on December 22^nd.

Apply for Stop the Hate funding on the California Department of Social Services’ website.

Contact Catalyst’s Stop the Hate program manager Tuyen Nguyen with questions about the program or eligibility.

For funders: Support this effort by helping to fully fund Stop the Hate projects in our region and/or providing additional operating support to partner organizations. Organizations and projects serving Imperial County specifically are needed in this statewide effort. Contact Tuyen Nguyen for more information.