The Fresno Residents Council

Our purpose, achievements, programs, structures, and lessons learned

2023-24 Members

Core Team

Dalya Hussein

Diana Castaneda

Bernardina Galindo 

Priscila Herrera

Benita Vasquez

Youth Residents Council

Diana Alverez

Natalia Castro

A'naira Coleman

Briza Cruz

Fernanda Cruz

Nayely Infante-Baez

Tracey Johnson-Murill

Anthony Lee

Alexis Lopez

Saul RIos

Janine Roberts

Starr Roberts

Ashley Sanchez

Christian Vang

Emily Kalia Xiong

Cayla Yang

Chonnikorn Yang

Daraporn Yang

Gabrielle Yeager

Nicol Umanzor

Fresno Residents Council

Nour AL Mshantaf

Dianna Maria Alvarez

Leonor Argueta

Jermaine L. Armstrong

Sara Bautista

Lilia Becerril

Elmer Blanco

Sonia Bravo

Felipe Cortes Lara

Jaqueline Cecilia Cortez

Patricia Cruz

Briza Cecilia Cruz

Fernanda Cruz

Cecilia Diaz

Rathana Evans

Bernardina Galindo

Eileen Jane Giron

Hugo Gomez

Octaviana Gonzalez

Maria Guerrero

Nou Chi Her

Paying Her

Priscila Herrrera

Dalya Azhar Hussein

Manuel Jhovani Ibarra Ibarra

Maria Del Rosario Lopez

Hilda Lopez

Phailee Lor

Roselia Madera

Cesar Mojica

Geraldin S. Molina

Beatriz Montez

Council Continued...

Ana Nieves

Celia Ochoa

Otilia Ortigoza

Sandra Ortiz

Anna Margaret Ortiz

Kim Ozuna

Lidia Perez

Alejandra Renteria

Thomas Renteria

Manuela Reyes

Saul Rios

Josefina Rojas

Ysabelle Rosales

Patricia Salcedo

Alma Salgado

Martha Sanchez

Alphamed Solutions

Rosemilia Suarez

Diana Tang

Yolanda Torres

Sylvia Marie Trujillo

Nicol Sthefany Umanzor Campos

Lorena Valdez-Barajas

Mai Lee Vang

Xeng Vang

Connie Vargas

Benita Vasquez

Lemoria Marie Woods

Pa Xiong

Pangnhia Yang

Nhoua Yang

The numbers you need to know

80

Fresno County Residents

11

Community-Based Organization partners

$1,500

Average stipend for residents

(Core team members received $2,000)

Fresno County Context

In Fresno County, local and state policy decisions are historically made without including the lived experiences, ideas, and solutions of Fresno residents, especially families from historically minoritized communities. Therefore, policies and their impacts remain inequitable.

Our Purpose

  1. Impact local & state policy decisions by rooting policy discussions in equity and enriching them with Fresno residents’ lived experiences, ideas, and solutions.
  2. Create a deliberative space where residents who reflect the racial, ethnic, age, and geographic diversity of Fresno County can directly debate, negotiate, propose, and advocate for policy solutions to issues that matter to them.
Resident Council mission guesture

Mission Gesture

Mission

Protecting and cultivating our present and future communities

Vision

Building unity & community



*Mission, Mission gesture, and Vision established by residents in 2020

Strategies

How we fulfill our purpose

The TCM team utilized various strategies to make difficult decisions. The strategies were grounded in a struggle for equity across identities and experiences, and aimed to align RC’s work with its intended purpose. 

Decision-making

A proposal-based decision making strategy was primarily used. Meeting participants had the opportunity to offer input, make decisions that everyone could support, and take collective action. 

Deliberation & Check-ins

A deliberative process was used when seeking agreement on speakers, agenda items, and next steps. This included intentional check-ins between RC residents and TCM team members that aimed to seek input about a decision's  impact council members and their families.

Design-thinking

Residents Council, Issue Caucus, TCM team, and Core team members used a design-thinking strategy to identify stories, create themes, and establish questions for institutional leaders. 

Transformative Community Engagement Spectrum

As part of the Fresno DRIVE Initiative, the spectrum is used to assess an organization’s integration of youth and adult resident voices in the organization’s decision-making processes.

Structures

Division of work and resources needed to execute our strategies

TCM

1-2 leaders from an Anchor CBO and gathered from residents in order to ensure a balanced relationship with TCM staff for decision-making.

Residents Council Members

Fresno County residents connected to community-based organizations and who possess a foundational commitment to social and economic justice. Residents could participate in:

Issue Caucus

Groups of residents focused on a specific issue area the council will address

Committee

Space to ensure representation of voices were heard on particular issues.

Anchor CBOs

Staff and consultants positioned as a neutral convener of residents and CBOs and who engaged with the community to establish an infrastructure for the Council.

Core Team

Organizations that provide various services to Fresno County residents. The vehicle by which the Residents Council members were selected and supported.


Systems

Tools used to align our work across structures

Shared Group Norms

Approved by residents at all meetings.

Communication Tools
Google Drive, Mailchimp, Zoom, 1:1 meetings

Limitations, Pivots, & Lessons

Limitations

  1. COVID-19 pandemic
  2. Limited access or no available to reliable internet services across Fresno County
  3. Funding constraints


Pivots

  1. Changing the role of Anchor CBO representatives
  2. Altering the leadership model used to lead members of the council

Lessons Learned

  1. Cross-sector partnerships were key to establishing deliberative spaces for discussions and decisions among residents.
  2. Agreements with consultants and Anchor CBOs require clearer language unique to TCM and stronger accountability mechanisms, respectively.

Key Partners

Key cross-sector partnerships that helped establish and sustain the council

Sustaining, Growth, and Funding Partners

  • Fresno County Cradle-to-Career
  • Pre-5 Portfolio of the Fresno DRIVE Initiative
  • United Way of Fresno & Madera Counties
  • Sobrato Philanthropies
  • All Children Thrive California
  • Strive Together

Anchor CBO Partners

  • AMOR Wellness Center
  • Children’s Services Network
  • Centro La Familia
  • Every Neighborhood Partnership
  • Equipo de Lideres
  • Fresno Barrio Unidos
  • Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries
  • Parent Institute for Quality Education
  • Reading and Beyond
  • Comprehensive Youth Services (CYS)
  • West Fresno Family Resource Center
  • Youth Leadership Institute

Year 1 Timeline