Foundation awards $650K in binational grants for Tijuana River projects

The San Diego Foundation Tuesday awarded more than $650,000 in grants, many of which are focused on fighting pollution in the Tijuana River watershed.

The 2025 Binational Resilience Initiative grants were given to 18 nonprofits in the United States and Mexico. The awards include six binational partnerships and three general support grants to address environmental challenges such as water quality monitoring and watershed restoration.

Foundation President and CEO Mark Stuart called the Tijuana River watershed “one of our region’s most urgent and complex environmental challenges.”

“Through the Binational Resilience Initiative, San Diego Foundation is helping organizations on both sides of the border advance practical, community-based solutions, from watershed restoration to coastal resilience, that strengthen the environment and improve quality of life for San Diegans and our neighbors in Baja California alike,” Stuart said.

Projects include:

• San Diego Coastkeeper and Proyecto Fronterizo de Educación Ambiental, $102,250 to develop a joint water quality monitoring system and expand a public data platform for the Tijuana River watershed’s One Coastal Community.
• Universidad Autónoma de Baja California and 4 Walls International, $103,000 to create a binational hydrological model of the watershed to improve water quality and stormwater management.
• Institute of the Americas and Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental, $99,977 to “advance water re-use literacy” and policy collaboration across the border.
• Tijuana Estuary Foundation and Fundación La Puerta, $101,065 to promote green infrastructure and small-scale water treatment solutions in the upper Tijuana River basin in Tecate.
• Reef Check Foundation and Ecologia, Cielo, Mar y Tierra, $100,000 to assess the health of kelp forests in San Diego and Tijuana as natural defenses against climate change and ocean conditions around the water treatment outflows.
• Fish Reef Project and Acuacultura AC, $100,000 to restore kelp forests in northern Baja California with potential expansion into San Diego, while generating blue carbon credits.

The International Community Foundation partners with the San Diego Foundation for grants in Mexico.

“These grants highlight the leadership and creativity of nonprofits in both the U.S. and Mexico that are working together to protect our shared environment,” said Marisa Aurora Quiroz, the community foundation’s president and CEO. “The Binational Resilience Initiative proves that when communities collaborate across borders, we can create shared solutions that keep our region strong.”

Since 2022, the initiative has awarded more than $3 million to 30 binational projects involving over 55 nonprofit partners across the U.S. and Mexico.