Growing up in San Ysidro, then a small border town of 2,000 residents, nearly all Latino and Spanish-speaking, shaped how Andrea Skorepa saw the world: one where caring for others wasn’t optional, but essential.
A Legacy of Leadership
After a decade as a teacher, Andrea felt called to serve her community in a new way. She joined Casa Familiar, then a small neighborhood nonprofit with only six employees.
“I wanted to organize adults,” she said with a smile. “I had been organizing kids.”
When she became CEO in 1981, Andrea helped transform Casa Familiar into a trusted resource for housing, education and family services, leading by listening to what the community needed most.
“Community, to me, is coming together for the same purpose,” she said. “We are much stronger together.”
Now retired, Andrea continues to serve the region through the San Diego Foundation (SDF) El Camino Fund, both as a donor and as a member of the Leadership Council. El Camino Fund supports initiatives that celebrate Latino heritage and community success. It paves a new pathway – a better “camino” – to help San Diegans thrive.
Investing in Opportunity
Andrea traces her earliest connection to community and caring for others back to her formative years.
“Those beginning years compel you to believe a certain way and to have empathy,” she said. “It comes from love; it comes from truth and recognizing other people as you want to be recognized yourself.”
Those beliefs continue to drive her philanthropy. As part of El Camino Fund’s Leadership Council, she invests in programs that expand opportunity and entrepreneurship – including within the Latino community.
“Generational wealth is how you overcome barriers that society places – you have your own home, you and your children are educated, you have good healthcare,” she said. “All of those things are part of building wealth within your family.”
According to the State of San Diego Latinos Report commissioned by San Diego Foundation in 2024, Latinos make up about 35 percent of San Diego County’s population, with more than 1.14 million residents, and most have individual incomes of $50,000 or less.
The report found that Latinos face barriers to accessing resources and services, often due to language, cultural factors, and unfamiliarity with systems and programs. Because of their population size and continued growth, Latino economic mobility is vital to the health of the region and the future of San Diego County’s economy.
Impact In Action
As someone who grew up near the border, the impact of El Camino Fund is incredibly personal to Andrea. The programs it supports, from small business development to education and wealth building, reflect the very goals she has championed throughout her life.
Seeing the results firsthand continues to inspire her, especially how the fund empowers families to shape their own futures. One example is the Sherman Heights Community Center’s Sherman Cocina program, a six-week culinary and business development course offered in Spanish that helps small food entrepreneurs grow their businesses and uplift their communities.
“When I hear about the work El Camino Fund supports, it’s music to my ears,” she said. “It’s the reason I was a nonprofit leader – to do those kinds of programs and involve our community members.”
That impact brings San Diego one step closer to Andrea’s vision, a region where neighbors know one another and build community.
“A great future for San Diego is when we all feel a part of something bigger,” she said. “We can certainly promote folks who are interested in one thing to get together and talk about it, learn from each other. That is how we progress.”
Andrea’s life has been defined by service. From Casa Familiar to El Camino Fund, she’s helped lay the groundwork for a stronger future — proving that progress begins when we lift one another up.
About El Camino Fund
El Camino Fund supports initiatives that strengthen economic mobility for people furthest from opportunity. Designed in partnership with community leaders, the fund celebrates and sustains community giving while targeting the region’s most critical needs. El Camino Fund was established with a $2.5 million endowment from SDF.
This work aligns with Fifty & Forward, a multi-year grantmaking and fundraising campaign through which SDF will grant $500 million to local nonprofits supporting education, children and families, and the environment, while raising $1 billion to help shape San Diego’s future.
