Many of us long to make a difference in our communities, but we’re frozen by inaction because we don’t know where to start.
“The most valuable thing you can offer someone is your time,” says Marcel Woodruff.
Over 12 years ago, Marcel felt a call to invest in the young people of West Fresno. He says he “didn’t have much to offer,” but he knew he could volunteer for one hour once a month on a Saturday morning. On one of those Saturday mornings, Marcel met a boy who would impact his life forever.
“This is where I live. This is where my legacy is. This is where my children’s legacy is. It’s gonna be here when we’re not. So what footprints are we gonna leave?”
~Sharon Williams, Southwest Fresno Resident
Cracked roads and poor health conditions are prevalent in southwest Fresno, one of the highest poverty-stricken and environmentally-at-risk areas in California. In fact, the life expectancy for west Fresno residents was projected to be 69 years old, over 20 years less than those living in northeast Fresno.
In 2018, a group of Southwest Fresno residents were engaged in a project conducted by UC Berkeley and California Walks to make safety improvements along California Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. During this assessment, residents Sylvia Trujilo, Vittoria Molina, Christina Sidhu, and Sharon Williams shared their input on what projects would be most beneficial for their children and neighbors. These women’s participation in the assessment led to meaningful, positive change in a part of Fresno where people often felt hopeless, unsafe, or forgotten. But then, the California Walks project ended.
Sylvia, Vittoria, Christina, and Sharon were not ready to lose the momentum they had built. For the first time, they recognized their voices as powerful tools to create a safer, healthier neighborhood for their families. “As a group, we became the caretakers of what we had started with California Walks,” says Sylvia. “We wanted to continue to see change. At that point we were like, how do we keep that going?”
Daniel Dominguez, Every Neighborhood Partnership’s Neighborhood Development Coordinator, learned about these residents’ desire to continue advocating for positive change in their community. Daniel began facilitating a weekly meeting with these individuals. Out of these gatherings, a neighborhood association in southwest Fresno was born: Our Voice Project.
When trying to get from point A to point B in a safe and speedy fashion, yet finding yourself at a standstill, whether because of a train and/or an overly long red light, this can be quite an inconvenience. Or, could the perceived disruption en route be an opportunity? Unfortunately, in Southwest Fresno, for those who live, work, play, and find themselves more often than not in Southwest Fresno, the disruptions have been evident for far too long.
In light of ENP actively seeking to establish and deepen existing relationships with residents in the 93706 zip code, those most impacted by the lack of streetscape development, we were able to respond to the call for the needed infrastructure improvements.
On July 20, 2021, ENP partnered with Southwest Residents, Fresno Housing, and Fresno County Department of Public Health for a virtual tour led by Cal Berkeley CalWalks of three street segments in Southwest Fresno: A street, California Ave, and Church Ave. Residents were able to share firsthand areas that were missing, in their entirety, basic infrastructure and absolutely in need of infrastructure implementation. The end goal is to establish safe, just, and inclusive streets and public spaces. In the end, the virtual audit was a success! CalWalks was able to provide an extensive report which included an overall project summary and recommendations.
With an established team set in place, ENP will continue working with residents in moving our findings from ideas to tangible and positive changes in Southwest Fresno. Some of those potential projects are as follows:
We wanted to highlight one of our HUB highlights in the Webster Neighborhood led by Nia Hodge-Grier.
1. In light of DRIVE, what is the vision for Another Level Training Academy in the Webster Neighborhood?
The vision for ALTA is to make lasting relationships in the community, creating spaces for the community to heal by taking ACE’s courses to relate to those who have been marginalized and not heard. ALTA desires to meet the community’s needs by showing members of the community how to leverage the gifts that they possess while allowing them to use their voice and stated needs. ALTA’s goal is to move the community from needing services to creating a vibrant ecosystem within the community they live. We hope that this will become a trend in the community for generations to come.
2. How is being a DRIVE HUB in the Webster neighborhood providing an opportunity to engage in your community in a more profound way?
Being a DRIVE HUB in Webster has challenged ALTA to take a more creative approach to reach residents. ALTA is learning new ways to leverage relationships and connect with organizations amid people hesitant because of COVID. ALTA is connecting with youth in the community through educational institutions to draw the seasoned members of the community to the table. ALTA is learning to lean into this work and allowing the community to lead with what they desire for the community they live.
3. How has ENP been of support to you and Another Level Training Academy?
ENP has been an enormous support to me by leading with transparency and letting me know that we are all learning as we go. In addition, ENP has been good about referring the information on additional training to help ALTA grow in the capacity it needs to serve the community further. I am very comfortable moving into the DRIVE initiative having the support from ENP to help us thrive internally and externally. I am confident that ALTA will continue to thrive with the support of ENP.
4. Up to this point, what is one thing you would like to highlight & share with others?
The Highlight of the DRIVE initiative is the effort being put forth to ensure that this initiative is diverse, inclusive, and practical.
*This report is taken from the PEARS Success Story ID 23330
In partnership with the Fresno County Department of Public Health (FCDPH) and Every Neighborhood Partnership (ENP), the Central Valley Health Policy Institute (CVHPI) has conducted a series of interviews with Latin Dance instructors before the COVID-19 pandemic and shortly after the shelter-in-place mandate was lifted. The initial interviews conducted in 2019 were aimed at understanding how the program has expanded, identifying challenges, and linking the program to resources. There were nine (n=9) Latin Dance instructors who were interviewed and provided input on these topics. Shortly thereafter, the pandemic struck and the opportunity to report findings back to the community was put to a halt. In the month of June 2021, follow-up interviews were conducted with the Latin Dance instructors to assess the current state of the project and how best to move forward. A total of five interviews were conducted with the Latin Dance instructors. On June 30th, 2021, the CVHPI met with the FCDPH, ENP, and the Latin Dance instructors who were interviewed to report back findings and ensure that all ideas were captured. The following is a summary of both findings from all interviews as well as topics that came forward during fruitful discussions with the Latin Dance instructors.
Welcome!
¡Bienvenidos!
Thank you for your interest in Neighborhood Fitness activities! There is a lot going on that I wanted to share with you. My hope is that together we can invest in your health and wellness – physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual. It’s a journey and I’m thankful to be journeying alongside you!
Gracias por interesarse en nuestras actividades. Hay muchas cosas que me gustaría compartirles. Espero que juntos podamos invertir en nuestra salud y bienestar: físico, mental, emocional, social y espiritual. Es todo un viaje…me siento muy agradecida de poder acompañarte en esta jornada.
Blessings // Bendiciones
Jennifer
It is said that if you want to go fast, go alone. And that if you want to go far, go together. The Central California Food Bank reached out to ENP and other partners to distribute a big shipment of diapers. ENP received 6 pallets, which was 412 cases, for a total of 16,480 diapers! That is a lot of diapers! How would we go about distributing 16,480 pampers?
We may be distancing ourselves from each other physically, but we can still be good neighbors! Here are some resources and suggestions for ways you can love your neighbors and neighborhood.
Music, movement, fitness, and fun! When you go into a Latin Dance Fitness class you can expect to have fun and break a good sweat. What you don’t expect are the relationships that are built through time spent in the class. With common interests such as the love of music, dance, and exercise, there are so many ways to connect with others. Not only that, but dance fitness is an outlet for mental wellness. Most participants are able to share the happiness they feel while taking the class and are worry free during the hour long session. This one hour of dancing allows them to take care of themselves physically and mentally. It is also a shared space with others who have the same fitness goal.
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.
