South Region

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Map of South Region The South Region of San Diego County is a highly diverse border region with a large proportion of economically disadvantaged residents. Geographically, the Region covers 155 square miles of urban, suburban, and rural areas.

The Region includes the cities of National City, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, Coronado, and three communities of the City of San Diego: Otay Mesa, Nestor and San Ysidro. San Ysidro is home to the busiest land border crossing in the world.

Population Characteristics

As of 2013, over 60% of the South Region’s population was Hispanic, while approximately 20% of the population was white. While there is a large Hispanic population in the South Region, there is also a strong Asian presence, representing about 13% of the regional population.

Household income levels were generally lower than the County overall; about 44% of South Region households earned incomes less than $50,000 a year. More than a quarter of its population earned incomes less than $35,000 and less than 10% earned incomes greater than $150,000. Nearly nine percent of households received assistance through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.

Community Leadership Team

South Region Community Leadership Team

Working Together to Improve South County Communities

Live Well San Diego Community Leadership Teams tie together the collective efforts of community groups and stakeholders in each region and provide a central point for planning and organizing collaborative action. The Live Well San Diego South Region Leadership Team was formed in October 2010 with the goal of improving community wellness and reducing health disparities among children and families living in South Region San Diego.

The Leadership Team brings together public health agencies, local governments, school districts, health care organizations and professionals, and community-based organizations to promote policy, environment and systems changes that create safe, healthy and equitable communities. These activities help to inform the regions’ Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) which details key priorities, strategies, resources, projects and programs that can be leveraged to address the Building Better Health, Living Safely and Thriving components of the Live Well San Diego vision specifically in the South Region.

Leadership Team Meetings

Pending partners are encouraged to attend the South Region Community Leadership Team meetings to learn more about the Live Well San Diego vision. For more information about the South Region's Community Leadership Team or to be included on the e-mail list, please contact HHSA.Communities@sdcounty.ca.gov.

South Region Community Leadership Committees

Access to Health Home

Improve access to a comprehensive medical, dental and mental health home for grandparents and other kin raising grandchildren/kin.
Improve access to a comprehensive medical, dental and mental health home for persons referred to mental health services.
Improve access to a comprehensive medical, dental and mental health home for pregnant women and young children.

Safety & Violence Prevention

Increase safety in the community to increase pedestrian and child safety.
Increasing safety in multi-housing community.
Increasing safety in the community by preventing underage drinking and proliferation of alcohol outlets.

Healthy Food Access, Physical Activity & Active Living

Increasing physical activity and access to nutritious food options.
Developing systems within schools for measuring and reporting BMI/ Healthy weight plans.

Community Health Improvement Plan

The Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) outlines an action plan to address several strategic focus areas that are based on community health and safety needs in the South Region identified by the Community Health Assessment. The CHIP helps health officials and community members’ work together to set priorities, direct the use of resources, and develop and implement projects and programs to improve community health and wellness over the long term.

The CHIP is continually guided by the South Region Community Leadership Team, a group of community leaders who help to support the plan.

The CHIP is informed by the 3-4-50 Chronic Disease Brief and the Community Health Assessment featured below.

Live Well San Diego South Region Thriving Summit

On June 16, 2015, Health and Human Services Agency South Region held a summit to engage a range of recognized Live Well San Diego partners, existing Leadership Team members, and other community members in the region in identifying innovative thriving strategies to help lift families out of poverty. Attendees represented a range of public sector, non-profit, philanthropic and private sector organizations that lead efforts in the South Region and countywide for healthy, safe and thriving communities. The summit included a panel of experts, breakout sessions and a wall of successes in which participants could highlight success stories in their organization that aligned with Live Well San Diego.

2015 South County Thriving Summit Summary

3-4-50: Chronic Disease in South Region

3-4-50 are the three numbers that led to the inception of the Live Well San Diego vision and serve as the cornerstone of the Building Better Health strategy. Three behaviors contribute to four diseases that cause over 50 percent of deaths worldwide-- 59% of deaths in San Diego County’s South Region.

Community leaders have partnered with County representatives in the South Region to better understand these trends and to begin planning for ways to change health behaviors, which in turn could help to prevent these chronic conditions.

3-4-50 South Region Brief

Community Health Assessment (CHA)

A Community Health Assessment (CHA) is a collaborative process of collecting information to help educate and mobilize communities, develop priorities, secure resources and plan actions to improve a region’s health. The Community Health Assessment in South Region set the the framework for developing the South Region Community Health Improvement Plan.