“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.
“[This group] gave me a family, a new hope,” says Christina, a core member of Our Voice Project. “I thought you just had to just deal with things, taking them as they came. But now I know change does matter and I do have a say so.”
“[This group] gave me a family, a new hope.”
Christina, Our Voice Project member.
Building Partnerships for Greater Impact
Our Voice Project began meeting under this group name on a weekly basis in February, 2022. Since the first meeting, Our Voice Project has worked with a variety of community organizations and leaders championing important initiatives in southwest Fresno.
Current Initiatives
Currently, Our Voice Project is partnering with District 3’s Miguel Arias and the City of Fresno’s PARCS department to champion a new park that will be built south of the new Fresno City College satellite campus.
Our Voice Project is also having conversations with the City of Fresno’s Department of Public Works about the future remodel of the California & South M.L.K. Boulevard intersection. This intersection is a major safety concern that the residents of southwest Fresno have voiced their concern about many times in the past.
“We wish to continue to collaborate with these groups, city officials and committees and would also hope to gain new connections and collaborators with the same core values and goals,” says Our Voice Project group member, Sylvia.
Thanks to the collaboration and efforts of those such as the City of Fresno, Miguel Arias’ District 3 team, Fresno Housing, Fresno Peacemakers, and many others, positive change is taking place in southwest Fresno.
How to Join or Support Our Voice Project
“You don’t need [anything] to join,” says core Our Voice Project member, Christina. “You can just be yourself. All we want is your input and to see what you want- and help us make the change.”
Attend a Resident or Stakeholder Meeting
Residents of southwest Fresno are invited to join Our Voice Project’s weekly meetings which are currently taking place on Zoom every Friday at 9 AM. Our Voice Project will also be hosting quarterly stakeholder meetings for those who don’t live in southwest Fresno but want to engage with Our Voice Project’s work. Email OurVoiceProject559@gmail.com if you would like to attend Our Voice Project’s next resident meeting or stakeholder meeting and we will provide you with more information!
Donate to Our Voice Project
Your support of Every Neighborhood Partnership makes it possible for us to invest time in developing and supporting Our Voice Project. If you want to donate to Our Voice Project specifically, you can mail a check or give online with “Our Voice Project” included in the memo line.
As Sharon wisely states, “Individuals by themselves can start a [spark], but people together… they can inflame a whole fire.”
“Individuals by themselves can start a [spark], but people together… they can inflame a whole fire.”
Sharon, Our Voice Project member
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