SAN DIEGO – Casa Familiar plans to start construction later this year of a the $4 million La Semilla Community Resiliency Center that combines a learning center that will include a greenhouse and community center where people can come for help in finding resources during natural disasters.
Plans also call for creating a shuttle bus service that will operate out of a new 378-square-foot garage that is part of the center.
The garage will also have e-bikes to be loaned to San Ysidro residents.
A two-room, 845-square-foot apartment will also be built atop the garage as part of a fellowship program on climate change to be run by Casa Familiar. The apartment will be for the use of a program researcher
The $4 million to pay for La Semilla comes from an $8.5 million grant that Casa Familiar got from the California Strategic Growth Council and is part of $93 million in climate resiliency grants that the state agency approved this year for similar resiliency centers throughout California.
President & CEO
Casa Familiar
Calling La Semilla “a monumental opportunity for Casa Familiar and the San Ysidro community, Casa Familiar President and CEO Lisa Cuestas said that “This grant isn’t just about funding. It’s about igniting a transformation.”
“Together, we are embarking on the creation of a groundbreaking, climate- resilient community center – one that will stand as a beacon of innovation and progress, the very first of its kind,” Cuestas said.
Advocating for Change
Designed by Workshop B Architects, based in Hillcrest, and McCullough Landscape Architects, based in Bankers Hill, La Semilla won a 2023 award of merit from the American Institute of Architects San Diego.
Translated from Spanish, La Semilla means “seed,” and Workshop B Architects, on its website, described La Semilla as “environmental justice in physical form.”
“Locating this project in a historically under-resourced neighborhood demonstrates what sustainable and responsible development should look like, aiding residents in becoming advocates for similar developments in the future,” according to Workshop B.
To be built on a 7,000-square-foot vacant lot, the center will be energy self-sufficient, using solar panels to produce its own electricity with battery storage so it will be able to keep functioning during blackouts.
The center will also be available for people to charge their cell phones and other devices in an emergency, said Georgette Gomez, Casa Familiar community development officer.
Designed to achieve Green Building certification for sustainability, La Semilla will also capture 99% of the stormwater that falls on the site for reuse through a special filtration system, Gomez said.
The center will also function as a cool zone during excessively hot weather.
“We’re also going to be educating people about the climate crisis, what individuals can do in their own homes,” Gomez said. “We’re going to be going around to people’s homes and offering affordable air filtration systems and talk about air quality.”
The greenhouse attached to the community center will be used to teach people how to grow their own food, Gomez said.
A courtyard at the rear of the building will be used for community gatherings.
A key role for the center will be to train community members to act as advocates for policies and actions to deal with climate change and the environment in their neighborhoods.
Community Development Officer
Casa Familiar
“A lot of the work we do is driven by what’s happening in the community and what are the issues that community members are bringing forward,” Gomez.
A big one is air pollution caused by vehicle emissions from the more than 70,000 vehicles that pass through San Ysidro, moving back and forth across the border.
“Air quality here is pretty bad. It’s pretty polluted,” Gomez said. “We put monitors in some homes to monitor the air quality. The reason we’re doing that is really to start talking about air quality, air pollution, talking about solutions, what people can do in their own homes, but also be advocates to try and reduce air pollution.”
Casa Familiar
FOUNDED: 1973
HEADQUARTERS: San Ysidro
CEO: Lisa Cuestas
BUSINESS: social service agency
EMPLOYEES: 80
WEBSITE: www.casafamiliar.org
CONTACT: 619-428-1115
NOTABLE: Casa Familiar is the leading service and community development organization in San Ysidro, providing more than 40 bilingual programs and services at six different sites in the community.
