The background
SA2020 was born of a community visioning process that started under then-Mayor Julian Castro in 2010. The nonprofit has tracked and shared various community data indicators each year since 2012 to help guide city leaders and local partner organizations on issues such as education, health, civic engagement, climate action, housing, transportation, economic development, arts and livability.
According to a Jan. 30 online post, SA2020 representatives expressed pride and gratitude in working with the city government as well as other agencies and groups toward community visioning and improving community initiatives, including expanding voter education and registration, and aiding COVID-19 recovery efforts.
Dig deeper
But SA2020 officials also said the nonprofit endured recent challenges, including the city of San Antonio excluding the organization from its fiscal year 2023-2024 budget.
SA2020 representatives claimed specific goals in education and economic development no longer were aligned with strategies the nonprofit formed with community input.
Additionally, SA2020 drew criticism from private donors after the nonprofit issued a statement calling for a cease-fire in the Israel/Gaza war.
SA2020 officials said, in some cases, local donors threatened to seize control of the nonprofit’s public communications, and pressured its leaders and supporters to stay quiet on political matters.
“Twenty percent of our nonprofit partners withdrew their partnership with SA2020, many citing a desire to remain ‘politically neutral,'” the SA2020 post states.
SA2020 officials said these and other recent trends or forms of backlash were not unexpected given the organization’s objective of advocating for socioeconomic equity in San Antonio.
“SA2020 has a one-of-a-kind perspective of San Antonio, which compels us to speak truth to power. The truth is that dissolving is the most visionary thing we can do,” SA2020 Executive Director Kiran Kaur Bains said in a statement. “In recent years, too many elected officials and executive leaders have shown that they’re more interested in the community vision for talking points rather than a practice that involves honestly examining the impact of their policy-making and philanthropy. This makes SA2020’s work impossible.”
The takeaway
SA2020 officials claimed critics of the nonprofit will focus their attention on personal political agendas, but other local individuals and groups will continue to strive for the same things SA2020 sought to achieve.
SA2020 officials said their latest reveal of community indicator data, as well as past reports, will remain live on the organization’s website through September. However, administrative operations at the nonprofit will end March 28, representatives said.
