Please join us in celebrating 41 years of advocacy, as we honor community partners
that exemplify Metro's spirit of "working together to build a better community."
Conceived and developed in 1970 when Wesley United Methodist Church merged with First United Methodist Church and left the downtown area, Fresno Metro Ministry has remained committed to the values by which it was created. As a multi-faith, multi-cultural organization, Metro's mission is to create a more respectful, compassionate and inclusive community that promotes social and economic justice. Metro seeks to accomplish this through advocacy - advocacy that works for change in our institutional and governmental policies and systems by linking those institutions with our communities, the low-income, and with those whose voices are not heard.
Over the years, working collaboratively, those connections have resulted in increased access to health care for Fresno's low-income and indigent populations, access to more affordable and nutritious food, cleaner air and a less toxic environment, better access to community helping services, and healthier and safer places for children and adults. Along the way, we have assisted in the development of leaders in many of our low-income and ethnic communities who have gone on to continue the work as advocates for their neighborhoods and their communities.
As we prepare to celebrate our 41st Anniversary on December 1st, we take a moment to recall some of the highlights of our work, mindful that we could not have achieved these changes without the collaboration and efforts of thousands of individuals and the support and assistance of many organizations, churches, and elected officials and policy makers.
- The establishment of the Human Relations Commission to celebrate cultural and religious diversity, mediate conflicts, and address patterns of discrimination.
- Continuation of the County's Level One Trauma Center, Burn Center, and clinics by including these requirements in the contract for indigent services with Community Medical Centers.
- The breaking open of a bureaucratic logjam involving the City, County, and Community Medical Centers which held up the construction of a promised regional medical center.
- The hiring of a full-time qualified bi-lingual doctor to head the County's Department of Public Health.
- The development and facilitation of the Cross-Cultural Clusters, a curriculum which builds caring relationships across ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Through this process, participants learn about other cultures and their own through personal sharing.
- Bridging low-income resident needs and existing community services through the development and publication of the "Making Connections Community Resources Directory".
- Providing Urban Tours, a method that assists key individuals and organizations discover and address community needs.
- Developing New Leaders for Better Health to provide health education and advocacy training for low-income residents, many of whom were non-English speaking and immigrants and refugees.
- Establishing once-a-week Farm Stands at schools to provide low-cost and nutritious locally grown produce to school children and the neighborhood.
- Expansion of the acceptance of the electronic food stamp debit card, EBT, by farmers' markets and flea markets to provide low-income persons greater access to more affordable and healthier foods.
- The adoption of a School Wellness Policy by the Fresno Unified School District, to assist in the prevention of child obesity, encouraging more nutritious food and increased physical activity for children.
- The development of a pilot program, Joint Use, a collaboration between school parents and the Fresno Unified School District, which unlocks the gates to their school grounds after school and on weekends providing children and their families with a safe place to play.
- The City's development of garden sites on parkland allowing individuals and family to grow their own food, many of whom are low-income and in need of the food they grow.
- City zoning changes that expands areas throughout the city where farmers' markets can be located.
- The change in the income eligibility threshold for indigent adults allowing greater access to free or low-cost health care services, a threshold which had not been adjusted since before 1996.
- The implementation of the "Navigators" program which trained low-income residents on how to make their way through the health care system and then trained others how to do so as well.
- Development of a curriculum for Spanish-speaking self-employed landscapers which provided education through a 10-week course on how to be more environmentally friendly, reduce pesticide use, and conserve water.
- The addition of a physician and a scientist to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control Board and the addition of increased representation from local cities.
- The addition of a local physician to the State Air Resources Board to bring a more rounded health perspective to their work.
- The organizing of a neighborhood parent group which became Latinos United for Clean Air, who then participated in Pollution 101 Advocacy training and went on to advocate for cleaner air and reduced toxic pollutants at the local and state level.