Our Mission

Border Community Alliance is bridging the border and fostering binational community through education, collaboration and cultural exchange.

We focus on the borderlands region of Southern Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. We are inspired to share with the public the “good news” of the borderlands region. Our vision of the borderlands is a vibrant place of collaborative discovery.

Our Impact

Social investment in Sonora, Mexico border communities totaling over $750,000 dollars, including for programs that serve migrants, the disabled, the elderly, children, and others.
Outreach to thousands of residents through our Borderlands Forums and Breakfast & the Border series, which focus on cultural, historical, environmental, and public policy topics related to the border region.
Impact on youth through our Borderlands Ambassador Internship program and cross-border day tours, which encourages awareness of the borderlands region among high school and college-age students from across Arizona and the country.
Hundreds of educational tours on both sides of the border, with an emphasis on social investment and cultural and historical awareness of the southern Arizona and northern Mexico border region.
Our virtual Borderlands Literature and Film Circle has engaged our audiences in talks with over 80 borderlands authors and filmmakers and over a thousand online participants.
Hundreds of students have learned Spanish through our Let’s Speak Spanish program, designed for all ages and skill levels.
Thousands of BCA members have joined our organization over the past decade. We currently have members residing in 32 states.

Our Values

We believe in social investment to elevate a strong sense of international community, not charity.
We seek to listen and learn from each other, rather than presume we know it all.
We respect the cultures and traditions of both Mexico and the United States and advocate for wider public knowledge.
We value working together with like-minded organizations and individuals on both sides of the border.
We welcome participation in our programs regardless of one’s viewpoint on divisive issues.

Our History

BCA was incorporated in 2013 in the state of Arizona and our board members reside in various states. Our office is in Tubac, Arizona, a community forty miles south of Tucson and twenty miles north of the US-Mexico border.

Border Community Alliance grew out of relationships with people who wanted to promote binational relationships between non-profit organizations. They sought to encourage a more balanced narrative about Mexico to replace the media’s narrow focus of drugs, violence and immigration. From the beginning, BCA has had a close relationship with FESAC, a Mexican community foundation. Through this and other partnerships, BCA’s program was created, including the cross border tour program, the Borderlands Forum and student internship program.

Bob Phillips was BCA’s founding Executive Director. In 2015, Bob transitioned into the role of Founding Director and Senior Consultant and in 2016, Jerry Haas became Executive Director and Co-Chair of the Board with Marty Bronstein. In 2021, Celia Bavier became Executive Director. Jerry Haas remains as Senior Advisor to the Board. We are a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization with no religious or political affiliations. BCA depends on donations and grants for funding.

Our Partner: FESAC

FESAC (Fundación del Empresariado Sonorense A.C.) is an independent community foundation, in Nogales, Sonora. FESAC is dedicated to meeting the most pressing needs of the community, generating opportunities for development and improving the quality of life in Sonora. BCA and FESAC have maintained a close relationship since our founding. FESAC helps BCA build relationships with community organizations in Nogales, including the ones we visit on our Social Investment Tours. Our unique arrangement allows BCA serve as a “pass-through” organization for people in the U.S. who wish to donate to community organizations in Nogales, totaling over half a million dollars in the past decade. FESAC also supports our Borderlands Ambassador Internship Program by helping place interns for service learning projects. We are proud to work with FESAC to lift up the community in Nogales through a strategy of social investment, not charity.

Learn more about social investment in nogales