The San Diego region receives billions of dollars in federal aid and spending annually. So the Trump administration budget cuts and federal realignment are going to be felt far and wide here. There’s still plenty of gloom about that in the local outlook, but the initial shock has given way to effo rts to try to offset the impacts — a tall order for sure. But little steps that have been taken suggest more public, private and nonprofit collaboration may be in the offing. The immediate goal, of course, is to try to ease the coming pain from the federal reductions. But increasingly, civic-minded people are engaging in discussions about reimagining San Diego for the future, not just patching through until a new administration comes in, potentially with a more traditional approach to federal aid. That may never happen. The recent moves have received considerable attention, perhaps more for their concept than their size. San Diego County freed up $13 million in its next annual budget under a new partnership with the San Diego Foundation approved last month, according to Lucas Robinson of The San Diego Union-Tribune. Curebound, a San Diego-based nonprofit that fundraises for cancer research, spread $8.5 million in grants across the region to advance research for such things as cancer risk detection, immunotherapy and childhood cancers, reported the Times of San Diego. Yes, these are comparative drops in the bucket. The county says it is looking down the barrel of a $300 million hit next year to cover changes and reductions in Medicaid and SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Local cancer researchers and others seeking advancements in life sciences and technology face untold millions in reductions in federal grants, particularly from the gutting of National Institutes of Health programs. Foundations and nonprofits have always been involved in similar endeavors, and, understandably, the pressure is on to do more. But they also are being squeezed because they, too, are losing federal grants, with some nonprofits having to lay off employees. Such partnerships may help, but they aren’t going to balance the federal changes. Even before Trump’s second term, local governments and transit agencies with tight budgets sought tax increases that were narrowly rejected by voters. They plan to go back to the ballot again. But there are bigger thoughts afoot that go beyond grant and tax money. Some believe we’re at an inflection point where a restructuring of the region is needed on a grand scale. “To truly deliver on San Diego’s potential will require a ‘whole of region’ effort. San Diego leaders are already beginning to collaborate in new ways,” wrote Emily Wier, chief policy and strategy officer at the San Diego-based Policy Innovation Center, and Amy Liu, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C, in a Union-Tribune commentary published on Dec. 12. They noted that the San Diego Foundation, the Prebys Foundation and Price Philanthropies have joined together to step up support for vulnerable San Diegans. Also, along with the PIC and Brookings, they’ve begun exploring “other ways the region might collectively leverage emerging opportunities to its long-term benefit,” according to the commentary. “Folks are seeing the status quo isn’t going to work,” Wier said in an interview last week. “. . . Where do we go from here?” She said that during President Ronald Reagan’s administration, substantial cuts were made to various departments, including Housing and Urban Development, Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency. Even when administrations changed, funding was not entirely restored. “It’s really hard to bring back funding,” Wier said. County Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer, who took the lead in forging the partnership with the San Diego Foundation, earlier suggested something similar. “It’s very clear we cannot sit back and hope Washington comes to our rescue,” Lawson-Remer said when the board approved the agreement. The challenges can seem daunting. The federal social safety net built over the last century may look much different — and much smaller — in the future. Further, sweeping cuts to schools and public universities will be felt. If the massive deportation of undocumented immigrants occurs as Trump intends, that could affect the social and economic fabric of San Diego. It remains uncertain what impact Trump’s increased tariffs ultimately will have on San Diego, where the economy has a large international trade component. And the high price of housing and overall cost of living won’t make coping with those changes any easier. However, there may be some buffers for San Diego in the administration policies. Tax cuts for those with higher incomes and increased defense spending could stoke economic activity. Also, there appears to be a healthy reservoir of private capital for potential investment. Like elsewhere, San Diego can be resistant to change, but it has overcome that reluctance in the past. Amid sweeping defense job cuts when the Cold War ended, Wier and Liu said business leaders and other local officials helped facilitate new investments in science and technology. A similar collaboration took place to mitigate the devastating health, economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. They also pointed to successful investments in long-divested communities in Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul as the result of collaborative efforts by philanthropic, business, government, university and nonprofit leaders. In the interview, Wier said similar partnerships were taking place in Fresno and Tulsa, Okla. Getting a broad coalition with diverse interests together can be difficult; getting all parties rowing in the same direction even more so. But it can be done. Let’s get to it. ...read more read less