At the 39th Annual Economic Roundtable, keynote presenters gave an update on the national economy before a roundtable panel discussed the local economy and regional cooperation for housing, child care, and business issues.
On the local economy panel, our Senior Director of Care and Education Laura Kohn spoke alongside Kwofi Reed, president and CEO of the San Diego Habitat for Humanity, our partner on the Homebuilding Investment Fund.
Affordable housing includes families and must work alongside child care. — Laura Kohn
Laura described the struggles of family child care providers who rent the home where they provide care. She shared that Mission Driven Finance is launching a social impact real estate investment trust for child care facilities, CARE, to alleviate the housing woes of family child care providers and the facilities woes of all child care providers.
During the national economy presentation, the chief economists of the San Diego Workforce Partnership and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) shared data on the state of the San Diego regional economy as well as the national economy. Both presenters highlighted the disparate impact of current economic conditions—inflation and (likely) impending recession—on low- and middle-income and BIPOC community members.
Ray Major, for example, shared that living expenses are now exceeding income for typical San Diegans; many are turning to high-cost credit card debt to cover the shortfall. Daniel Enemark focused on the disproportionate impact of contraction on Black and Latino San Diegans, whose lowest unemployment rates are higher than the national recessionary unemployment rate forecast by the Federal Reserve.
The 39th Annual Economic Roundtable took place at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego. The roundtable is put on by the County of San Diego, USD Knauss School of Business, and the San Diego Workforce Partnership.
