Community Empowerment/Education/Advocacy

When we show up, we win! MoGo along with other organizations and individual community members came together to demand that the proposed budget for the City of San Diego would center equity and reinstate several equity initiatives vital to our communities that were cut by the

mayor. With coordinated advocacy and effort, we collectively achieved a variety of important wins. As a community standing in solidarity, we provided valuable insights to our city representatives about the criticalness of the funding we demanded, attended every budget hearing and made over 350 in-person public comments, and met with city council members to secure their support! MoGo will continue to take the lead on equity-focused advocacy in 2025. We know the importance of showing our elected leaders that our communities are united and determined to hold them accountable.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson gives opportunity and legitimacy to local politicians’ current and cruel policy approaches to homelessness. MoGo strongly disagrees with SCOTUS: Imposing fines on impoverished people and packing our deadly jails with our most vulnerable community members constitute cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The only solution to homelessness is housing. We cannot criminalize our way out of homelessness. This ruling is a judgment and punishment to anyone who finds themselves housing insecure in our country’s most expensive city to live. We recognize that the already overpoliced Black community in San Diego, who despite making up 6% of San Diego County’s population is overrepresented in homelessness, is likely to be most severely affected. MoGo remains fiercely committed to combating the policy and moral failures of

criminalizing the unhoused. MoGo’s Deputy Executive Director Sebastian Martinez spoke to KPBS (and other outlets) about how the Grants Pass ruling will affect other cities in South Bay San Diego: Here’s what the Supreme Court’s homelessness ruling means for South Bay | KPBS Public Media

Although Prop 36 passed, the fight against its passage underscores the need for MoGo to lead the charge in safeguarding policy gains—because achieving victories is just the beginning; the real work lies in preserving them. Throughout 2024, MoGo was a leading, clear and loud voice against Prop 36. We did this through educating community members on how Prop 47 was a success for Californians.

You can read the op-ed featured in Voice of San Diego co-authored by MoGo’s Executive Director Geneviéve Jones-Wright and ACLU-SIDC Senior Policy Advocate Branden Sigua here.

We rallied against misinformation, participated in larger coalition efforts, and our ED Geneviéve presented facts about Prop 47 and its benefits and called out the disinformation campaign at the heart of the Yes on Prop 36 campaign at Voice of San Diego Politifest 2024. You can watch that debate in full here.

Vision 2025 Summit: Strength in Community, Resistance in Action (coming soon) is an initiative to educate the community on the impact and risks of Project 2025 and how to challenge the incoming administration and maintain our rights.