We did a quick check-in with our donors to update them on our annual report, our departments, and where ENP is going from here. Check out the video recording below if you missed it!
Resources mentioned in the Recording:
“We need 100 more Lilias. She is a force to be reckoned with.”
Andrew Feil, Executive Director of Every Neighborhood Partnership
Lilia Becerril never imagined starting her own organization.
She held a deep passion for serving her community, but her inability to speak English felt like an insurmountable barrier.
Living in a community with the highest concentration of poverty in California, lower life expectancies, and some of the greatest economic and racial disparities in the United States, Lilia knew there was a great need for change. For 29 years, Lilia worked as a local volunteer, advocating for and providing resources to help Fresno residents to live healthier and empowered lives.
During the pandemic, ENP Health + Wellness conducted a community needs assessment. We learned that community members had a lot of stress due to the transition of school and doctor’s appointments going virtual.
To help eliminate the stress, in 2020 ENP launched a Digital Literacy for adults in English and Spanish. This class teaches community members basic computer skills such as; Typing, Zoom and Microsoft Team, Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Calendar, Google Translation, Youtube, email, and etiquette of electronic correspondence and messages.
The outcome of this class has been outstanding! Community members are able to attend zoom meetings/classes and are now able to help their children/grandchildren with their school work. We re-launched this class on Marzo 1st and had 22 Spanish-speaking community members attend. We look forward to seeing these participants take control of their digital footprint and learn more about how they can engage online.
The memo below was released by the Fresno Coalition for Digital Inclusion, of which Every Neighborhood Partnership is a member.
“There is no such thing as a painless repentance. “
Professor Ronald Potter
In Febrero, I took a week long trip down to the South; Jackson, Mississippi specifically, to listen and learn and process with the John and Vera Mae Perkins Foundation, JVMPF. Today, JVMPF is run and operated by 3 of John Perkins children, who continue to carry the torch for their beloved activist father. If you are not familiar with who John Perkins is, he is long time civil rights activist and theologian, who for years has carried the torch of racial reconciliation and love go hand in hand. As he nears the end of his life at 93, his family runs trips for people like you and me to engage in a part of our nation’s history we would rather soon forget.
We have had an amazing 2022. Enjoy reading through our Annual Report to hear the stories and celebrate the victories as we have grown as an organization, hear from our Executive Director, and celebrate how we have grown our impact all over Fresno.
We have created a page HERE where you can interact with the amazing stories of impact we told over 2022.
If you are moved by what you read and see, please consider partnering with us as we work diligently to bring about a Fresno that serves every neighborhood.
Every person I have ever encountered who has worked for any type of system has seen some type of injustice. It makes [us] nervous to say anything, but LivingUNDIVIDED has created a space for us to be open and honest.
Jessica Criner, LivingUNDIVIDED Facilitator
LivingUNDIVIDED 2023 is launching on Febrero 27th and will take place on Monday nights from 6:30-8:30 PM at Butler Church. LivingUNDIVIDED is a 6-week cohort experience designed to empower individuals from churches and faith-based organizations to to change the narrative of racial justice. Communities engage in faith grounding, teaching, small group conversations, activities, and assignments in pursuit of racial solidarity and justice. If you are asking:
Jessica Criner and Jenny Plumb, LivingUNDIVIDED 2023 facilitators, answer these important questions in the powerful video below.
When was the last time you walked across Herndon or Blackstone Ave? Yes, you read that right, walked across. Quite a daunting task, wouldn’t you say, to venture across 6 lanes of high speed traffic!
The same sentiment is what activated Our Voice Project (OVP), a Neighborhood Association in Southwest Fresno, to voice concern in regard to the necessary infrastructure upgrades to the intersection, but to no avail. The local news has even done a segment highlighting the unsafe conditions of the intersection. View it here. OVP, in partnership with The Fresno County of Public Health and Every Neighborhood Partnership, applied for a state issued grant that would allow them to temporarily display the changes they deemed necessary to safely cross the streets of MLK Ave and California Ave. California Walks (CalWalks) awarded The Kit of Parts to the Fresno collaboration! On Noviembre 10th the intersection of Martin Luther King Ave & California Ave was temporarily shut down.
On Noviembre 10th, 2022, Southwest community members and organizational partners arrived at 5am to begin installing the temporary crosswalk art and setting up the half mile long protected bike lane.
At ENP, we get excited about maps and data. We believe that in order to love your neighbors and your neighborhood, you have to know them. This includes data that tells a bigger story of the trends of each neighborhood, as well as individual, personal stories that data cannot capture.
ENP has created data sheets of Fresno neighborhoods as a resource for churches and community partners who want to learn more about their neighborhoods so they can make informed decisions and take relevant action steps. We focus on neighborhoods as they are defined by elementary school zones, for a total of 92 neighborhoods in the City of Fresno.
“The gifts and the abilities are already there in the neighborhood. We know the next generation of leaders are there. So we start with blessing and we know that the Spirit moves.” – Andrew Feil
Every Neighborhood Partnership’s Executive Director Andrew Feil and Central Valley Community Foundation’s Director of DRIVE Initiative Artie Padilla shared with City Advance about the progressive and transformational work that ENP does in local schools, civic engagement, and residential neighborhoods with our volunteers and church partners.
Andrew and Artie explained how ENP has positioned itself as unique teachers, as its staff train churches and community partners to expand the vision and knowledge of transforming Fresno one neighborhood at a time. ENP does this in classroom settings, and also creatively through our Drive Tour.
This meeting was LOADED with resources and some incredible ideas for other organizations trying to reach their neighbors. City Advance has broken segments of the video into “chapters” so you can jump into the video at any point.
Want the notes from Andrew and Artie’s presentation? You can grab your own copy of their notes by clicking the button below.
