State funding can help southwest Fresno overcome years of poverty, violence and hurt

Fresno is an unstoppable city on the rise.

Fresno has long been left out or overlooked, and still we rise. Fresno is no longer the place between places, as it has quickly become the home to Californians priced out of the Bay Area and L.A. Our community, like California, is changing fast, and we believe that when effectively resourced, Fresno can lead the way in health equity.

Fresno has experienced a tremendous rash of violence in response to the ever-increasing climate of crisis resulting from colliding syndemics: COVID-19, rising rents and costs of living, joblessness, untreated collective trauma and grief — our community is in need of stabilization, healing, and opportunity.

In 2020, as the pandemic hit, gun violence surged across America, and Fresno suffered a 64% increase in homicides. As with COVID-19, the impact has been more severe in communities of color in southwest Fresno. To succeed in reversing these trends, we need investments in our people, our neighborhoods, and support for solutions grounded in healing rather than punishment.

At Fresno Barrios Unidos, we are deeply rooted in the lives of Fresno’s youth of color and their families, and we have been for decades. From this experience, we know that our communities need solutions that are designed for and by us. In moments of crisis, we need the familiarity of community — we need high-trust relationships that only come from sharing the lived experiences of those most vulnerable to community violence.

We need our neighborhoods rich with life-affirming resources and care delivered with compassion that only comes from knowing. We need healers of all backgrounds because we understand that what heals one may not heal another. We need messengers and messaging that speaks with a familiar voice. We must water our roots by resourcing communities directly.

At the state level, the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Program (CalVIP) is the only initiative that directly supports community-based violence intervention programs in applying a localized approach to reducing gun violence in California’s hardest-hit neighborhoods. In Fresno, we are leveraging CalVIP dollars to deepen our local capacity to design and implement strategies to repair the systemic and generational harm that has created the conditions under which community violence thrives.

These programs apply a public health model to ending gun violence and keeping California communities safe. Advance Peace, for example, works with those at the highest risk of engaging in violence, connecting them with transformational opportunities and placing them in a high touch, personalized fellowship in order to address trauma and heal the lives of those affected the most by generations of divestment, urban sprawl, and environmental racism that have cultivated adverse outcomes.

We are living in a moment where there is an undeniable awareness of structural systemic oppression that people of color have endured for centuries. Fresno Barrios Unidos and Advance Peace are committed to transforming these systems. We are committed to Transformative Justice and understand that those closest to the pain are also closest to the solution.

CalVIP is one of the few state programs designed to increase this capacity, but last year its funding was dramatically reduced just when it was needed most.

An unprecedented year of public health crises demands an unprecedented investment in our collective safety and well-being. We are not asking to be rescued — but we are asking to be equitably resourced and given the tools to fully implement community solutions. That’s why we’re calling on Gov. Gavin Newsome and the Legislature to increase CalVIP funding to $114 million this year.

Our hopes, our dreams, our vision for a better future are at risk. We see value where others may not. We choose to see diamonds where others may see coal. We need more community-led collaborations like Advance Peace and Barrios, which are providing healing and hope through love, relationship, and access to resources and opportunities in order to give light to those who may need assistance navigating through the darkness of poverty. With a greater investment in CalVIP, we can bring even more light to Fresno and other California communities that are hurting the most.

The challenges are great, but we are undaunted. Fresno continues to rise.

This story was originally published May 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.