Germán Quiñonez

germanquinonez

Germán Quiñonez is the Neighborhood Development Director for Every Neighborhood Partnership, with a 16 year history of addressing the social disparities that directly impact the most vulnerable populations in Fresno’s south neighborhoods, through civic engagement, capacity building, health advocacy, and community revitalization. His specialties include asset based community development, creative place making and community based planning. Germán serves in some capacity as a local urbanist for community development, proudly boasting of no direct affiliation with institutions or any academia but rather acting as an emerging leader of creative thinkers who are fighting for the third space, by rediscovering the gifts and assets that exist in every neighborhood, and reclaiming those geographies for spatial liberation. In his free time, Germán loves to read books (and buy books for no other reason than to plan to read them one day), he also loves to travel, listen to 80-90's hip hop, get tattoos and spend time with friends and family!

DRIVE Initiative and Civic Infrastructure

What a better way to end the year than by clarifying some important questions about ENP’s neighborhood development role in our city. For example, many have asked, please explain the DRIVE initiative to us in plain terms and in more interesting ones; what the heck is civic infrastructure?

The Fresno DRIVE Initiative is a 10-year investment plan to develop an inclusive, vibrant, and sustainable economy for residents in the greater Fresno region. It is sponsored by the Central Valley Community Foundation with support from the James Irvine Foundation.

Germán QuiñonezDRIVE Initiative and Civic Infrastructure
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Asset Based Community Development and How Organizations Implement It for Neighborhood Transformation

Every Neighborhood Partnership is rooted in a framework called Asset Based Community Development or ABCD for short. Any Community Based Organization that believes in Asset Based Community Development starts with a basic premise that local communities can do more together by choosing to focus on what they have — their gifts, talents, and community assets — instead of what they are missing.* Imagine how you view a glass of water that is half-way filled up. Is it empty or full?

ABCD is a way of both strengthening community social capital and organizing community change. While this serves as an initial baseline for how asset-based inspired organizations approach the work of community engagement, not all organizations that adopt the ABCD methodology end with the same goals. 

Germán QuiñonezAsset Based Community Development and How Organizations Implement It for Neighborhood Transformation
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Luis Palau Series 2: Theology of Place

Every Neighborhood Partnership is partnering with the Luis Palau National group to create a six-month series that describes our work in the city. Below is the second post in the series from the Director of Neighborhood Development, German Quinonez.

Theology of Place:  ENP’s Neighborhood Development Work

Last month Artie Padilla set a platform on our work in Fresno and how we use the Church as an anchoring lever for all the work we are actively engaged in. This month we zero in on the work that is happening in our neighborhoods through Theology of Place.

We will first look our methodology, then we will share some practical examples of how this plays out.

Germán QuiñonezLuis Palau Series 2: Theology of Place
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Neighboring Like Jesus with Shalom

With the busyness of the holiday season behind us, I want to encourage us to stop and reflect. Many of us move at light speed with our New Year’s resolutions. So, do this reflection in order to not lose sight of the implications of the Christmas story. In particular, let’s reflect on the advent of Jesus, as recorded in John’s gospel 1:14 where it says “he came to dwell among us”. Jesus intentionally enters human history and re-introduces the concept of shalom. Shalom can best be described as the idea of justice and peace. It is justice and peace which encompasses the reality of restoration and reconciliation of humanity. Underpinning this radical theory of shalom is love, which binds all these together for true transformation.

Germán QuiñonezNeighboring Like Jesus with Shalom
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