Central Valley Health Policy Institute
Social Policy & Analysis
Highlights & Features
A Decade of Power Building
The four-part webinar series A Decade of Power Building, held throughout November 2023. This series is focused on the work of Fresno Building Healthy Communities and Building Healthy Communities Merced, both of which share a history as sites in the The California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities Initiative. These webinars consist of four case study presentations that look at leadership development and power building leading up to and throughout the 2010-2020 place-based initiative, and how this work impacted leaders, built power, and even shaped the development of Fresno County’s pandemic response.
Please see the tabs below for presentation dates, details and event information.
The Right to Fair and Healthy Housing: How CBOs are Leading the Fight for Housing Security in Fresno
Through power building in Fresno around affordable housing and housing-related policies, Fresno BHC has amplified adult and youth residents’ voices, working to increase community inclusion in decision-making at public and private levels. See presentation slides from our November 2nd case study webinar.
Case Study Presentation: The Right to Fair and Healthy Housing: How CBOs are Leading the Fight for Housing Security in Fresno
Cultivating Connections: Leadership and Power Building for Merced School Equity
Over the past decade, Building Healthy Communities (BHC) Merced efforts included providing a platform for residents and youth to make a difference in local schools. This case study focuses on the school advocacy and community organizing work that increased equity in Merced schools for students and parents through the development of people power and power building. See presentation slides from our November 9th case study webinar.
Case Study Presentation: Cultivating Connections: Leadership and Power Building for Merced School Equity
Meeting the Moment: How CBOs Led the COVID-19 Response in Fresno County
This case study focuses on three health equity leaders who have been involved with Fresno Building Healthy Communities (Fresno BHC) Coalition in Fresno county and who helped develop the Immigrant and Refugee Coalition’s (IRC) COVID-19 Equity Project (CEP) and the efforts of their coalition in developing and obtaining funding and support for an equity-based community health worker (CHW) model. See presentation slides from our November 16th case study webinar.
Case Study Presentation: Meeting the Moment: How CBOs Led the COVID-19 Response in Fresno County
Mil Hojas (A Thousand Layers): Leadership and Power Building for Park Equity
Through resident and youth outreach, the Fresno BHC Coalition helped to lead Fresno’s park equity efforts through the #Parks4All campaign and securing the realization and implementation of Measure P, a tax measure to fund Fresno parks. This presentation highlights how residents emerged as leaders in ushering in a historic change to how the City prioritizes park and greenspace equity in Fresno. See presentation slides from our November 30th case study webinar.
Case Study Presentation: Mil Hojas (A Thousand Layers): Leadership and Power Building for Park Equity
Unequal Neighborhoods: Merced
November 2023
Merced is ranked among the poorest in many regards, poor air quality, lack of employment, poor health, low education and poverty. Decades of policies and neglect have created these conditions, but not for all. While some neighborhoods experienced neglect, other neighborhoods had opportunities created for them through forward-thinking vision and policies.
Click here to view project
COVID-19 Equity Project
The COVID-19 Equity Project is a collaborative effort between the Immigrant Refugee Coalition, the African American Coalition, and the Disabilities Equity Project in Fresno County. The goal of this collaboration is to offer COVID-19 resources and support to all communities across Fresno County.
CVHPI staff are dedicated to providing the most up-to-date information about COVID-19 science, vaccinations, and testing sites all across Fresno County.
July 7, 2021
Central Valley Health Policy Institute will present the findings, structure, and model of the COVID-19 Equity's Project White Paper Presentation. In addition, CVHPI will present how the collaborative efforts and CBO's adaptive leadership contributed to mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in our most vulnerable communities.
For more information about the COVID-19 situation and/or COVID-19 testing or vaccination sites in Fresno County, please visit the Fresno County Department of Public Health website.
Central Valley Housing Data Repository
Housing is related to many other social issues facing our Central Valley region. In 2017, Fresno State hosted a conference where community members working on housing prioritized the need for a place to find local data and a way to help them interpret it to help tell their stories and make change. If we can understand the pressure levers and solutions to housing issues, this will help us understand many other issues. For example: preterm birth focus groups revealed that people were most concerned with housing on many levels: from neighbors smoking around pregnant women, being afraid of complaining about health hazards to landlords, stress of rising costs, to neighborhood walkability.
The goal of the Central Valley Housing Data Repository is to build a centralized way to engage community that helps facilitate research and learning.
We do this through three strategies:
- Partner with Community Organizations engaged in Fair Housing Action
- Provide Active Learning Experiences for Students through Partnerships
- Draw on Repository for High-Impact Teaching Practices
This is a 5-year funded project with the support of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative with funding from The California Endowment.
To access the Central Valley Housing Data Repository, please click here.
Unequal Neighborhoods: Fresno
August 2018
While Fresno is ranked among the poorest in many regards, many have perceived this be the overall plagues of the city: low air quality, little green space, poor health, low education and poverty. Decades of policies and neglect have created these conditions, but not for all. While some neighborhoods experienced neglect, other neighborhoods had opportunities created for them through forward-thinking vision and policies.
Click here to view the project.