About — Groundwork San Diego

Our Mission

Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek works at the intersection of social, environmental, and climate justice, grounded in strong university and community partnerships, to deliver education, green infrastructure, and climate safe neighborhoods.

Groundwork San Diego-Chollas Creek was founded in 2007 at the request of the City of San Diego to lead the master plan for the Chollas Creek Watershed. Initial funding came from the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Endowment in recognition of the role the environment plays in the well-being of low-income citizens.

The master plan, entitled the Chollas Creek Enhancement Program, was developed through extensive stakeholder collaboration that represented neighborhoods, community planning groups, nonprofits, and faith-based institutions across the watershed. Its vision was to recover the pre-urbanization beauty of the natural resources of the region through education, advocacy, and compelling environmental design.

To this end, Groundwork has generated over $10 million in government and philanthropic funding and engaged thousands of volunteers and stakeholders to create healthy climate safe neighborhoods.

Our History

Chollas Creek Watershed

The Chollas Creek Watershed is a 32 square mile natural waterway system of creeks and canyons that traverses neighborhoods within City Heights, Oak Park, Encanto, Chollas View, Mt. View, Mt. Hope, Barrio Logan, and Southcrest, from its headwaters in La Mesa and Lemon Grove to San Diego Bay.

Located in the Pueblo Watershed, Chollas Creek was a significant settlement for the Kumeyaay, and has amongst the richest cultural, biological, and geological assets in the region. Once it is restored to its natural state, Chollas Creek will bring untold recreational, educational, and economic benefits to the communities along its banks and beyond.

The Chollas Creek Watershed crosses and includes four planning areas:

Meet the Team

Allie is a Marine Biologist, has a Masters in Marine and Environmental Management and several years of environmental science education experience. Allie is directing the K-12 education programs for Groundwork San Diego. She is committed to providing high-quality STEAM education to San Diego youth as well as linking students to opportunities that support their future careers by working closely with local colleges, industry professionals and community organizations.
allie@groundworksandiego.org

Since 2010, Leslie has served as the Executive Director of Groundwork San Diego - Chollas Creek. She leads the Groundwork/San Diego Unified School District Climate Action Park master plan, and has led Groundwork in bringing/managing over $12 million in funding in support of education, community development and infrastructure funding. She serves on the City of San Diego Equity Stakeholder Woking Group, the Chollas Creek Coaltion, and the City of San Diego Climate Adaptation and Resilience Working Group, Parks Now Statewide Taskforce, San Diego Foundation Climate Initiative Working Group.
Prior to joining Groundwork, Leslie served as Vice President of University Relations
and Development. for San Diego State University from 1978 to 1994, where she was
responsible for university public, media, and legislative relations; university publications; alumni programming; university advancement policy development.

Leslie also worked for the California State Legislature, where she served as Chief of Staff to a State Legislator. She managed District and Capitol offices, including development of environmental policy and legislation.

Isa Blanco

EarthLab Educator
Javier Cardenas

Green Team Coordinator
Jesse Jackson

EarthLab Educator

Kat Perkins

EarthLab Farm Manager
Ramon Uribe

Urban Forestry Manager

See open positions

Board of Directors

Is a landscape architect and urban designer and President of Estrada Land Planning for 38 years. The firm provides land planning, landscape architecture, GIS, re-vegetation, visual analysis, and urban design services. Her projects have included the Balboa Park Master Plan, the Otay Ranch New Town Plan, the San Ysidro Mobility Study, the Rancho San Diego Specific Plan and the Downtown San Diego Streetscape Manual in addition to designing many parks throughout the region.
She has served on the San Diego Canyonlands Board, the County of San Diego Historic Site Board, the Cal Poly SLO School of Architecture Deans Advisory Board, the Cal Poly SLO Landscape Architecture Department Advisory Council, the Balboa Park Committee, President of the Media Arts Center San Diego Board, the San Diego County Historic Site Board and the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.
She currently is Vice Chair of the California Arts Council, co-founder of the San Diego Green Infrastructure Consortium, and is on the executive committee of the San Diego Regional Design Advisory Council (RDAC).
She also is musician and composes her own music as well as being the keyboardist in a Grateful Dead Tribute Band.
is an artist residing in San Diego and a Professor of Art at San Diego City College. She received her MFA degree from San Diego State University and a BA in Art Studio from University of California, Santa Barbara. She founded and is the director of the Sugar Museum, San Diego, which fosters sugar awareness through exhibitions and projects. The educational program is devoted to providing broad and balanced perspectives about sugar for adults and children. Her recent artwork explores the transition from gas to electricity in homes and elsewhere, citywide and beyond. Fascinated by the electrical grid, the beauty of the power lines in her neighborhood, she wonders how this transition will work justly? When will SDG&E turn into SDE? Tomorrow, while the unknown future can be terrifying, she concentrates her research and hope for a just transition.
is a retired City of San Diego environmental management administrator who devoted over 30 years to public service. During her years as the Deputy Director of San Diego’s regional wastewater and recycled water system, she managed a $110 million dollar budget and the challenges of a dynamic system and team. Her Bachelors of Science degree in Chemistry from San Diego State University was essential for her many City career years managing, training, and responding to hazardous waste management issues. Ms. Pryatel presently operates a residential garden design business. She is very passionate about Groundwork San Diego’s mission and donates a portion of her profits and time to support the organization’s efforts.
is a Water Sector Community Engagement Specialist for MDB, Inc. Elena manages projects and supports the development of reports, maps, environmental outreach materials, evaluation tools, presentations, and other materials for EPA water programs. Elena’s broad educational achievements include a MS in Geography Watershed Science from San Diego State University; a BA in Environmental Science and a BA in Anthropology from University of California, Irvine; along with a focused Data Analytics Certification program at University of California, Berkeley Extension.
With a strong commitment to helping others, Elena also served in the United States Peace Corps working in Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, Panama as a Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) Project Coordinator. Her achievements include co-developed the Community Analysis Development Plan with the rural water committees to address environmental health issues and presented the plan to the Ministry of Health along with providing interactive health, hygiene, and nutrition workshops for women and school children.
Elena is also committed to community efforts and is involved with the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve and other environmentally focused activities.
is a Water Resource Control Engineer at the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board (San Diego Water Board), where she works primarily on projects to restore the lower Tijuana River and protect regional tribal beneficial uses of water. She serves as the San Diego Water Board tribal coordinator and contributed to the development of the State Water Resources Control Board Racial Equity Action Plan. She is an alumnus of San Diego State University (SDSU), where she has taught undergraduate and graduate environmental engineering courses as a part-time instructor. She participates regularly in SDSU’s Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) Program and Aztec Mentorship Program. She is a member of the Water Solutions Network.
is a long-time resident of Rolando Park and community activist. She is currently the co-chair of the Eastern Area Community Planning Committee. She also serves on the Chollas Creek Coalition, the Mid-City Community Plan Update Working Group, and is co-President of the Rolando Park Community Council.
Lynn is very active in improving her community. A recent effort was working with Groundwork in the design and construction of the Rolando Park Gateway Project. Lynn leads a monthly group of volunteers to maintain this parcel and continue to grow community pride in Rolando Park.
is an Associate Professional at SCS Engineers providing engineering/design support within the solid waste practice focused on landfill, landfill gas, and composting related to permitting and design, air quality and compliance support, construction, operation, and monitoring for private and municipal clients. Glorya’s educational accomplishments include a MS in Civil Engineering (Environmental) from San Diego State University along with receiving the Dean’s Award in Engineering, and a BS in Environmental Engineering from University of California San Diego.
Glorya has other noted professional experience which includes serving as a Groundwork Earthlab Program Assistant and Educator. While in that role, she expanded accessibility to climate science education in an underserved community by leading weekly STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) lessons for groups of 10 to 40 middle school students.
is Director of the University of San Diego TRIO Upward Bound under the Institute of College Initiatives. In his role, he obtains grant funding which provides college access and support for low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented students in San Diego's most underserved communities.

Ethnically Hmong, Sou was born in a refugee camp in Phanat Nikhom, outside Bangkok, Thailand, and immigrated to Linda Vista community in San Diego. He has a Masters in architect and was on the faculty at Syracuse University - School of Architecture, where he taught undergraduate design studios on urban revitalization strategies in shrinking cities. While at Syracuse Architecture, he led AUDTT, an academic group investigating the political economy of architecture and urbanism. Sou has held design positions with various companies and his architectural work has been exhibited internationally at the Shenzhen - Hong Kong Urbanism and Architecture Bi-City Biennale, Saša Marčeta Foundation in Belgrade, and the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems Innovations to name a few.

Sou currently serves on the board for the Advance Forward Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing scholarships, mentorship, and financial fitness coaching to local first-generation and low-income high school students enrolling into college, He also serves on the City of San Diego's Arts & Culture Commission, and previously served on several boards including the California Foundation Fund - Youth Entrepreneurship Institute, American Institute of Architects (AIA) California, and California Architectural Foundation.
is Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Education at UCSD. He started theTeacher Education Program at UCSD and directed that Program from 1972 until 1998, when he became the founding director of The Center for Research on Educational Equity, Access, and Teaching Excellence. CREATE coordinates efforts at UCSD to improve the academic preparation of under- represented students. He has helped build equitable educational environments (The Preuss School UCSD and Gompers Preparatory Academy in Southeastern San Diego). He assists Groundwork San Diego in Southeastern San Diego by advising that organization on evaluation measures and educational policies. He has authored 7 books on a variety of educational equity issues; In the Front Door: Building a College-Going Culture of Learning, documents the political and cultural context surrounding establishing CREATE, Preuss, and Gompers. A National Education Association Fellow, he was presented Lifetime Achievement Awards by AAA, AERA, USD, ASA, and the Revelle Medal (the “highest honor awarded a faculty member for Outstanding Contributions to UCSD”) in 2016.
LLios enchim aniavu, my family comes from Sonora and Guanajuato in Mexico and San Diego. I am Yaqui and Guamare and I have spent my years growing up and living within the beautiful landscapes on both sides of the border. I have an AA degree in Kumeyaay Studies and an AS degree in Sustainable Agriculture. I am currently working on completing my BA degree in Environmental Science. I am employed as a licensed realtor and notary.
I have been lucky enough to be able to try on many hats in my lifetime which has given me incredible experiences in many different fields. I am passionate about fighting for the rights of indigenous communities and believe that Indigenous rights and sustainability are interconnected concepts that emphasize the preservation of indigenous cultures, lands, and resources while promoting environmental stewardship and equitable development for future generations.

Advisory Committee

is professor of Public Culture in the Visual Arts Department at UC San Diego, where he co-directs the Center on Global Justice, and the UCSD Community Stations, with professor Fonna Forman, to foster corridors of knowledge exchange between the university and underserved communities across the border region. He is recognized internationally for his urban research of the Tijuana-San Diego border, for which he received the prestigious Rome Prize in Architecture, the UNESCO-French National Museum of Architecture Award; the FORD Foundation “Visionary Leader Award,” a National Academy of Arts and Letters Award, and the Vilcek Prize in architecture.
was the principal of Urban West Development providing project development and construction management services for residential, office, industrial, retail and environmental projects. He served as Director of Project Development for the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation from 2006-2013, where he was responsible for project management of housing, retail, environmental and commercial projects totaling over $350 million. He has served as a Board Member of the -San Diego Housing Federation, the San Diego Land Trust, .and a past Groundwork Board member.
is a senior engineer with Tory R. Walker Engineering. Tina brings two decades of experience in water resources engineering in both the public and private sectors. She has extensive knowledge in hydraulic and hydrologic modeling and in civil design.
is the Co-Chair for the Independent Voter Project. The Independent Voter Project works to represents the rights and access of independent voters to the political process. Marston was president and co-owner of Marston+Marston, Inc., a full service public, governmental and community relations firm and, before that, was senior vice president of another San Diego-based public relations firm where he spent nearly four years serving as the lobbyist for the City of San Diego in Sacramento. Marston was a member of the California State Assembly representing San Diego’s 78th District and is active as the Past President of the San Diego State University Alumni Association. He was a Groundwork Board Member

Equity Statement

Groundwork San Diego is dedicated to social, environmental, climate justice for the Chollas Creek Watershed Communities and is inseparable from our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. It is central to our mission as a community service organization to ensure that each member of our organization and community has full opportunity to thrive in our environment, for we believe that diversity, equity and inclusion is key to individual flourishing, the advancement of knowledge, and achieving climate safe and equitable neighborhoods.

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