Dakari Cleveland is a passionate community organizer in Fresno, with a Business Management degree from Miles College, serving as Membership Organizer at Power California, founding The Alley in the Valley to uplift Black entrepreneurs, and advocating for social and economic justice across Fresno.
Dakari also grew up in Southwest Fresno.
He remembers taking his sisters to the local park he is now working to improve through his advocacy work.
“This neighborhood is home,” says Dakari. For him, home is something worth taking care of.
That’s why he got involved with the Community Land Use Academy (CLUA), a program that educates residents about land use in Fresno and empowers them to advocate for positive changes in their city. Land use is about how land is developed and cared for. Land use decisions impact everything from the restoration of abandoned buildings to the installation of a stoplight at a busy intersection.
Through CLUA, Dakari participated in a walk audit, where community members came together to assess the public infrastructure, landscape, streets, and sidewalks. The goal? To get local people involved in the land use decisions impacting the neighborhood they live, work and raise children in. Once the walk audit was complete, the feedback was shared with city officials to help bring these improvements to life.
“CLUA prepared us to continue to look at different spaces in southwest Fresno and figure out how we can bring life to them,” Dakari explains.
Dakari’s hope is not only to improve his own neighborhood but also to inspire others to do the same. CLUA helps people identify issues in their communities and gives them the tools to bring those concerns to local government and advocate for change.
In Southwest Fresno, where years of disinvestment and broken promises have impacted trust, CLUA emphasizes authenticity and relationships, putting power back into residents’ hands through education rather than arriving with pre-packages solutions.
Learn more about community land use, connect with neighbors and leaders like Dakari, and be part of the change you want to see in your neighborhood.