Stop Balancing the Budget on the Backs of Our Youth

Last month, I watched Mayor Todd Gloria take the stage at a youth mentoring event, outlining for the crowd how important youth programming is to the city’s future.

Now, only a month later, he is threatening to completely cut the office that serves the young people he was speaking to. For Mayor Gloria, young San Diegans appear to be convenient backdrops for social media posts. While he is happy to smile for the camera, his proposal for the city’s budget tells a different story. In Gloria’s San Diego, children are treated as political clout pawns, not priorities. You cannot claim to champion youth in a press release while systematically defunding the office dedicated to their success.

If the mayor ever wants to stand alongside young San Diegans again and promise he’s building them a brighter future, then we insist he actually take action on prioritizing children and youth by reinstating the Office of Child and Youth Success.

If this storyline sounds familiar, it’s because it happened last year when the mayor proposed closing all libraries on Sundays and Mondays, slashing recreation center hours, and reducing youth tutoring programs. While the San Diego City Council reversed some of those cuts, the Office of Child and Youth Success was still hit. The mayor stripped the Office of Child and Youth Success of its independence when he moved its executive director into the Library Department. He watered down their impact by downgrading the director to a program coordinator, leaving them out of critical conversations. And he placed them in a department that has historically been targeted for cuts during challenging fiscal years. It was a strategic move designed to prepare residents for what is happening now: the total elimination of this office.

The mayor will likely cite a “tough budget year” as an explanation. It’s no secret that the city faces a severe structural budget deficit, as it’s pretty much always a topic of conversation. But, curiously, the “shared sacrifice” he demands never fully reaches the San Diego Police Department’s consistently bolstered budget or the millions poured into smart streetlights and surveillance technology.

When an office that brings in millions of dollars in external revenue is on the chopping block while police overtime remains unchecked, it’s not a fiscal issue, but an issue of character. Gloria’s budget document tells us everything we need to know about his priorities: he’d rather spend millions of dollars surveilling San Diegans than pay even a penny toward caring for youth.

The Office of Child and Youth Success was established in 2022 after decades of advocacy, and in just four years, it has transformed that community vision into tangible progress for young people, children and working families.

Despite its modest $350,000 operating budget, the office helped secure $2 million in federal funding this past year to begin implementing the use of city-owned property for child care. That vision, which is still yet to be realized, received overwhelming public support in 2022 when 68 percent of voters supported Measure H, a ballot item that opened the door for child care centers to operate in city parks and recreation centers. 

The office created the city’s first-ever Child & Youth Plan, not through a last-minute, surface-level survey, but through a deep, community-rooted input process. This plan was written by the Office of Child and Youth Success alongside hundreds of young people and families who shared their needs and demands. The office also supported the successful reinstatement of the city of San Diego’s Youth Commission. When that Commission finally has enough members to meet in January for the first time in a long time, it was the result of the heavy lifting, mentorship, and logistics by an office the mayor deems disposable.

In my time at Youth Will, I have seen the gap between City Hall and the communities it serves. Last year, in partnership with the Office of Child and Youth Success, we held seven Your City, Your Voice workshops in communities where civic engagement has historically been silenced by neglect. We met young people who didn’t know their Council District, let alone how to influence a budget or attend a City Council meeting. After just one session, these same youth felt more confident in engaging with the city and being a part of essential decision-making that impacts their lives. While Youth Will remains committed to this work, we cannot bridge this gap alone. Without an institutional partner like the Office of Child and Youth Success, the city isn’t just cutting a line item, but intentionally dismantling the bridge between local government and its youth leaders.

The mayor’s past decisions demonstrate that he does not fully understand the importance and opportunities of the Office of Child and Youth Success, but the community certainly does. With over 30 community-based orgs signing on to save the office, San Diego demonstrates that increased connection to City Hall through OCYS matters. If we lose the Office of Child and Youth Success, we lose institutionalized prioritization, success, and well-being for the 20 percent of our residents who are under the age of 24. The City Council must find the courage the mayor lacks and reject these cuts, restoring the Office of Child and Youth Success to its independent status. Every year, we fight hard for youth, children, and working families, and this year is no different. We need everyone in this fight, because when our young people and most vulnerable residents suffer, we all suffer.

Claire Snyder is the co-executive Director of Youth Will and a long-time community organizer who has spent years advocating for young people across San Diego.