The Fresno Residents Council
Our purpose, achievements, programs, structures, and lessons learned
Founding Report
Enjoy this detailed look at our year 1 achievements, challenges, and lessons learned. Learn about our structures, strategies, and systems.
Key Achievements
Leadership Development
Trainings on community organizing, power, and how to create policy solutions
Built a core team
A group of 12 leaders from the Council who ensured residents’ participation in the Council and assisted with curriculum.
Created issue caucuses
104 Council members turned 40+ issues into a collective, agreed upon list of 6 issue areas most pressing to them.
Our Purpose
Impact local and state policy decisions by rooting policy discussions in equity and enriching policy discussions with Fresno residents’ lived experiences, ideas, and solutions. 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.
The numbers you need to know
104
Fresno County Residents
11
Community-Based Organization partners
6
Issue Caucuses
$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
- Impact local & state policy decisions by rooting policy discussions in equity and enriching them with Fresno residents’ lived experiences, ideas, and solutions.
- 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.
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
- COVID-19 pandemic
- Limited access or no available to reliable internet services across Fresno County
- Funding constraints
Pivots
- Changing the role of Anchor CBO representatives
- Altering the leadership model used to lead members of the council
Lessons Learned
- Cross-sector partnerships were key to establishing deliberative spaces for discussions and decisions among residents.
- 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
