Hooray! Fresno is No. 235 nationally. Why city should celebrate | Opinion

Normally, there is little reason to celebrate the city of Fresno being ranked No. 235 among the country’s 274 largest cities in an economic study by the Urban Institute. Much less throw a ticker tape parade for a No. 163 rating in a related measure of racial economic inclusion.

However, when the state’s fifth-largest city – and the nation’s 34th largest – has suffered from a malaise attributed to poverty rates, unemployment and low educational achievement for decades, those rankings are a cause for celebration. Especially since Fresno was six spots from last place in one ranking, and 49 spots from the lowest rung in the other.

That is encouraging news worthy of observing.

“Are we satisfied with where we are? We absolutely are not,” Ashley Swearengin, CEO/President of the Central Valley Community Foundation, told a gathering of about 500 Tuesday morning at the Fresno Convention Center. “But, for the first time, certainly in my career, seeing national indicators go in the right direction for the city of Fresno and Fresno County is worth celebrating and noting.”

Swearengin, in a meeting with The Fresno Bee Editorial Board, underscored how the metrics are moving the right direction. “When I think about the possible scenarios that could have unfolded in the last 10 years, we could have stayed in the bottom of the bottom,” said Swearengin.

The foundation, which was founded in 1966, touted an Urban Institute report showing marked improvements in Fresno’s rankings on economic and racial inclusion. The findings showed Fresno climbed 33 places in the economic inclusion rankings, and 62 places in the racial inclusion index.

Swearengin, the former Fresno mayor, helped launch the Fresno DRIVE (Developing the Region’s Inclusive and Vibrant Economy) initiative five years ago in an effort to foster economic growth in the region by advocating for a 10-year, $4.2 billion investment.

“The data that we were confronted with when we gathered around the original DRIVE table was telling us that not only was our economy flat, like three of the four tires on the car were flat,” said Swearengin. “It was pretty bad for everybody, but it was particularly bad, quite literally the worst in California.”

Fresno remains in the bottom quartile, she said, “but we’re seeing significant improvements.”

In other words, the economic news for Fresno remains bad, but there are glimmers of improvement that shows the city is headed in the right direction. Swearengin notes the focus needs to be on neighborhood segregation by income, housing affordability, the percentage of people who identify as working poor and high school graduation.

In addition, racial gaps remain as measured by neighborhood segregation, home ownership, poverty gaps, education gaps and the overall percentage of minorities in the community, said Swearengin.

The Urban Institute signaled out Fresno for its progress. “The DRIVE team cited how Fresno consistently came in came in last of 59 in California on inclusion to remind city leaders and business representatives that action was needed to push equity and inclusion forward in their region,” the institute wrote.

“Urban Institute’s inclusion metrics have made it crystal clear that the status quo of Fresno’s economy is not OK,” said Swearengin. “Ranking last among major cities in California and almost last in the United States for economic inclusion is more than a call to action for our community. It is an outcry that must be heard and deliberately and aggressively responded to by every leader and every institution in our community.”

What is working

Swearengin, a two-term Fresno mayor, said the foundation does not take all the credit for the positive movement on economic inclusion. However, through the DRIVE initiative it focused on efforts that focused on people, places and prosperity.

It worked with local organizations to provide access to health care, quality education and an environment to thrive. It advocates for a rebirth of downtown, permanent and affordable housing, and investment in the central core of Fresno. The foundation also promotes an economy that works for everyone.

Among the positives: Household income increased 55% since 2014 to $69,000, employment jumped to 74%, poverty declined from 44% to 14%, debt in collections sank from 37% to 24%, and high school completion rates climbed to 91.8%.

The problem is that some segments of the community are still struggling economically. The employment rate for Black adults is 12 percentage points lower than white adults; low-income households earned five times less than higher income households; and challenges remain for housing affordability, living-wage jobs and digital access.

The increase in household income can be attributed to the arrival of higher-paying jobs in health care, education and government, said Swearengin. In the past, any job was accepted just to get people employed. Now, the focus has been on jobs that lift up people and their communities.

A main pillar of the DRIVE initiative is to connect with people and understand their issues. Nonprofit organizations built a network in neighborhoods of extreme poverty. Paid internships were created by 86 businesses. A trip to the San Joaquín River by southwest Fresno youth had them think “they had left town. They didn’t know there was a river there,” said Swearengin.

It is that type of thinking that has made the DRIVE initiative a vital tool to pull Fresno up from the bottom. The foundation has identified the areas that need addressing. Now it is up to the community and its elected officials to come up with solutions that benefit everyone.

This story was originally published October 10, 2025 at 8:16 AM.