Downtown San Diego Partnership
At Southwest Airlines, we are focused on helping connect people to what’s most important in their lives, and often, the important moments that happen during those connections include a special place – somewhere that has meaning, that brings people together, that creates a sense of belonging and a sense of community. We put our Heart in all that we do and for that reason we are proud to champion and highlight The Downtown San Diego Partnership, which is building the kind of live, work, play lifestyle others can only dream of in the heart of San Diego. We believe community is more than a place and every great city has a great Downtown.
Downtown San Diego Partnership
The Downtown San Diego Partnership has been in the business of championing ‘all things Downtown’ for more than 25 years. As the leading voice and driving force behind advancing the economic prosperity and cultural vitality of San Diego’s urban center, the Downtown Partnership uses a unique combination of membership, advocacy, public services and community investment to help Downtown be both strong and welcoming to all.
San Diego continues to navigate the journey of pandemic recovery for its urban center alongside other major cities across the country. The Downtown Partnership has been hard at work to help ensure that that recovery is defined by a commitment to the neighborhoods and people that make Downtown San Diego special and a thoughtful exploration of how to prepare for the bright future ahead.
Over the past 12 months, the organization has helped Downtown become greener and more resilient with the addition of more than 100 trees to the neighborhood’s urban canopy. It has added joy, color and whimsy to the pedestrian experience with the completion of 11 murals. And it continued to be there for Downtown’s urban neighborhoods through the collection of 1.8 million pounds of trash, removal of 10,000 instances of graffiti, and completion of 30,000 hospitality visits to serve the Downtown Property and Business Improvement District. All through the enduring care and commitment provided by the Downtown Partnership Clean & Safe program.
Through its advocacy work, the Downtown Partnership has been a strong voice for compassionate, data-driven solutions to address Downtown’s homelessness crisis. And its unsheltered services team have been part of positive steps forward by reconnecting more than 350 people with their support systems and making more than 2,500 connections with those who are living on our streets and sidewalks. The type of connections that build the trust needed for some to start on the path to stability and safety.
The organization has invested in new ways to tell Downtown’s story with the launch of the Downtown Innovation Center and the data that will fuel it in the first Downtown San Diego Demographics Study in more than five years. That work confirmed that Downtown is well positioned for the future when it comes to its talent pool, the vibrancy of the urban lifestyle, and the amenities, experiences and character that define its neighborhoods. This effort also provided further insight into the opportunities available to make Downtown even better in the years ahead.
With the support of community partners like Southwest Airlines, the organization has also been charting new territory in the launch of its first economic development trip, Discovering Downtowns. The inaugural year brought community leaders and those committed to Downtown San Diego’s success to Denver. There participants learned more about what other cities are doing to make their urban centers successful, where San Diego can emulate best practices and creative solutions, and to share what Downtown San Diego is doing well. They toured Denver Union Station as an example of a central mobility hub that helped spur development, experienced a world-class arts district and talked to the people who turned an idea into living art, and heard firsthand from other community leaders how much San Diego is looked to as an example in other parts of the country.
The Downtown Partnership knows there is a bright future on the horizon for our urban center. You can learn more about the organization and how to get involved at www.downtownsandiego.org.
