El Salon + Casa Patio is located within a historic 20 block grid of small parcels and a network of underutilized alleys in San Ysidro, CA, an immigrant neighborhood of 30,000 people, flanking the US-Mexico border between San Diego and Tijuana.  The area lacks adequate pedestrian and public infrastructure; and with many vacant parcels it has the largest deficit of affordable housing and public space in the city.  The non-profit Casa Familiar and the UC San Diego Center on Global Justice, with the generous support of the PARC Foundation, will transform an historic church into a neighborhood arts incubator called El Salon, and will also create an open-air pavilion called Casa Patio, adjacent to the church, that will be programmed for community engagement through arts education and cultural activity.  UCSD Professors Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman are partnering with Casa Familiar leadership Lisa Cuestas and David Flores, and dozens of community members, to bring this beloved neighborhood vision into reality.