Calendar of Events
The Fresno CAN calendar of events will show information for upcoming resident meetings, outreach events, community meetings, community activations, community based-planning events, and more!
FUSD Mass Assembly Day
Youth engagement partners alongside Dignity Team members will conduct a multi-site assembly program to inform Southwest Fresno youth about the changes coming to the community. These assemblies/classes will include a combination of education, dialogue, and input gathering. Ahead of this event, CAN team members will coordinate with classes/schools to provide information and recommended discussion points for preliminary engagement through regularly scheduled instruction.
Interfaith Focus Group Day
The interfaith community has a strong, yet unique range of influence in the CAN community. This set of focus groups will be structured in alignment with affinity to faith traditions. This day of focus groups will be structured as interfaith affinity groups and will examine 1) how residents perceive current l and use and housing dynamics, 2) resident notions of a dignified quality of life, and 3) the necessary interventions that would keep current residents living sustainably i n the project area. Residents will also have an opportunity to share their oral histories regarding the legacy of the CAN community.
Affinity Group Focus Group Day
Focus groups are commonly used to conduct stakeholder analyses during community planning processes. This day of focus groups will be structured as affinity groups and will examine 1) how residents perceive current land use and housing dynamics, 2) resident notions of a dignified quality of life, and 3) the necessary interventions that would keep current residents living sustainably in the project area. Residents will also have an opportunity to share their oral histories regarding the legacy of the CAN community.
Community Design Lab for Formerly Incarcerated Residents
The CAN project team will partner with service providers and decarceration advocates to facilitate a hybrid (virtual/in-person) design lab that centers formerly incarcerated or institutionalized residents of the CAN community. Participants will learn about and build upon community planning interventions that are preventative and restorative. Practitioners and City officials will learn ways they can establish programs and policies that support the long term housing stability of those who’ve been institutionalized or are at risk of institutionalization and their families.
Community Vision Wonderland
Anchored to Fresno community’s Santa’s Village event at Gatson Middle School, the Community Vision Wonderland will provide residents a large-scale hands-on opportunity to interact with renderings, building materials, landscape features, and virtual concepts related to the CAN project. Project staff will be on-hand to explain the details and implications of the displays while receiving feedback and assessing the feasibility of resident choices.
The Spirit of West Fresno Exhibit: Community Stories and Memories with Spoken Word and Live Music
In partnership with local cultural arts partners, Thrivance Group will host a storytelling and spoken word night that thematically allows participants and attendees to creatively express their vision for the CAN community and broader Fresno. The event space will also include The Spirit of West Fresno: Community Stories and Memories Exhibit. This event will be in partnership with Fresno Arts Council’s Art Hop which happens the first and third Thursday of every month!
Public Safety Advocates Action Planning Convening
This activation is the third in the Public Safety series of activations. The action plan will be created in partnership with community members and public safety advocates and will inform aspects of the current and future plans to develop, renew, or invest in the CAN community. The decisions and strategies developed at this convening will be posted to the CAN website.
Register at bit.ly/can-publicsafety21 (note: url is caps sensitive)
Transportation Amenities Strategy-Development Ride Along
The project team, City staff, and elected officials will be paired with CAN residents for a comprehensive survey of mobility challenges in the CAN community. Participating residents will be able to share their experiences while engaging officials from directly within the environment. At various stops along the way, the Dignity Team will support a canvassing effort intended to inform community members about the importance of connectivity and potential interventions/infrastructure that could double as transportation amenities and gathering space. CAN project team members and City officials will document resident perspectives while also brainstorming ways to improve mobility and connectivity throughout the community.
Starting location and sign-up information: to be announced!
West Fresno Black/Brown Solidarity and Strategy Caucus
During this Affinity Group space, project staff, City officials, and community based organization (CBO) representatives will have a chance to participate in rotating feedback sessions led by residents. The focus of this caucus will be West Fresno Black/Brown Solidarity and Strategy development.
The main questions we will be discussing include: 1) What are the unique challenges facing Black residents, 2) What are the unique challenges facing Brown residents, and 3) What would it take to unify our efforts to improve quality of life for Black and Brown residents in solidarity?
Register at bit.ly/can-caucus21 today!
And take a few minutes to share your thoughts on the discussion questions at bit.ly/can-caucus-dq now.
Public Safety Advocates Training
The CAN project team, local direct services providers, and residents interested in addressing public safety concerns will participate in a day-long institute, the Public Safety Advocates Training, to understand transformative justice, resources and systems of healing/support, the ways the safety net isn’t working for the CAN community, and new methods for reducing harm and increasing support. Through a post-training evaluation activity, participants will express which alternatives feel most appropriate for the CAN community and which existing safety net services need to be improved, held accountable, or removed altogether. The results of the post-evaluation will provide supplemental data for required public safety data collection and will also afford the CAN planning team valuable insight into new pathways to personal and public safety in the neighborhood. This activation is the second in the Public Safety series of activations.
Folks who attended the Public Safety Advocates Roundtable will receive this training. Contact info@thrivanceproject.com if you’d like more information.
Affinity Group Caucus Day
Community and civic engagement in the CAN community (and in adjacent neighborhoods) has often yielded resident feedback about imbalances between the rationale for investments and the ultimate beneficiaries of those resources.
On Affinity Group Caucus Day, project staff, City officials, and developers will have a chance to participate in rotating feedback sessions led by residents. There will be 4-5 virtual affinity group sessions, each 90 minutes in length, throughout the day. Each session will take place in two parts: 1) closed affinity space facilitated by cultural specialists, and 2) affinity group pop-ins by City officials. A culminating event a few weeks after Caucus Day will create a space for a collective discussion about overarching themes and follow-up actions discovered during the sessions.
Project staff, City officials, and developers will keep a journal of thoughts and reflections throughout the day. These journals entries will be sorted into actionable follow-up or planning interventions and those details will be shared back to the caucus participants for transparency and for use in further community conversations about racial equity and social justice.
Sign-up information coming soon!
Public Safety Advocates Roundtable
The Public Safety Advocates Roundtable will primarily include locally-based advocates, academics, and those who specialize in framing and educating communities about the various pathways to public and intra-community safety. Secondarily, thought leaders from other regions will be invited to join this discussion. This initial discussion will not include public safety officials/staff and elected officials. This activation is the first in the Public Safety series of activations.
Back to School Educator Inservice
This event is geared towards educators, youth advocates, youth services providers, and those who staff academic spaces. The CAN project team, led by Thrivance Group, will facilitate a virtual convening that will provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the CAN, and broader Southwest Fresno, development plan. Participants will be provided educational materials, sample curricula, and other assets to support their infusion of project details into their classroom curriculum.
Register for the Zoom meeting at bit.ly/can-inservice (note: the URL is caps sensitive).
The Spirit of West Fresno: Community Stories and Memories Launch Day
Fresno CAN residents are invited to join the CAN project team for Community Story Mapping! Cultural mapping helps practitioners identify cultural assets that can and should be protected (or created) throughout and after the project development process. At this launch event, residents and community members will help determine people, places, invisible assets, and other dynamics that the CAN community considers (or would consider) an asset. Residents will also be encouraged to submit photo documentation that depicts current quality of life in the CAN community.
The community story and quality of life photo findings will be gathered (in person and online)for a month, followed by an unveiling community exhibit on November 13th.
Information for how and where to submit stories and photos will be shared on this activation launch day!
Community Walk and Roll Audit
Fresno CAN residents are invited to join the CAN project team for an afternoon to conduct a community audit that will help guide the community planning process. Using multi-media formats, such as photos, journal entries, voice memos, map-marking, and other methods, residents who participate will make observations about the neighborhood that will be incorporated into the transformation plan and website. Food and drinks will be provided!
Starting location: Close to Fairview Heights (2195 S Maud Ave.), look for the Fresno Housing canopy on California Ave.