What's Good In The Neighborhood

If you went on our Drive Tour, you heard Chris De Leon talking about the Yo-ville Community Garden in Southwest Fresno. Chris joins the pod to chat more in depth about the current state of food insecurity in the agricultural capital of America, what kind of dignity we instill in each other and ourselves when we grow our own food, and why the existence of community gardens mean we all thrive. To learn more about Chris and his community garden work, you can find him here - https://www.fresnometmin.org/Farm-and-gardens To learn more about Life Labs, click here - https://www.lifelab.org/ To learn about the educational gardens ENP is installing on elementary school campuses, click here - https://everyneighborhood.org/blog/schoolgardens/ To learn how you can get involved and grow food in your community, email Chris at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew and Grace are joined today on the podcast by Carlos Huerta. Carlos is the Executive Director of the Center for Community Transformation at Fresno Pacific University. The three talk about the economic realities of the Central Valley, the roadblocks that exist for people to get jobs that meet their needs, and the creative options that exist for our community, our churches, and our organizations. Carlos asks the question, what is the faith community's responsibility to spark innovation in the business sector? To learn more about the Center for Community Transformation, click HERE To learn more about redlining, and rare Fresno maps, read this article from KVPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our second series on What's Good In the Neighborhood, we are slowing down and interviewing some of the amazing people who are featured on our new and improved Drive Tour! If you don't what the Drive Tour is, how you can take it, or what you'll be learning about this episode with our very own Gabrielle Piceno will answer all your questions! To download the app and take the tour, visit VoiceMap here -- https://voicemap.me/tour/fresno-california/every-neighborhood-partnership-a-drive-through-fresno Every Neighborhood Partnership is a Fresno, CA based non-profit that exists to Activate. Equip. Mobilize and Transform so that our students excel, community members are healthy and whole, and our neighborhoods thrive. Learn more about us by visiting https://everyneighborhood.org or @enpfresno on socials. Episode produced by Josh Gilbert Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today Andrew and Grace get to dive into the conversation with Kim Contreras, a long-time presence in the urban missions world here in Fresno, CA. In this episode they discuss working and living missionally in concentrated poverty, what it takes to do it long term, and how to do it without causing harm. During Kim's years in Fresno, it has been a deep honor to learn about the city and be changed by that experience through the Lord and her neighbors and friends in the Lowell and Hidalgo community. As Trauma Healing Specialist, Kim focuses on equipping the church and community to understand trauma and experience their own healing journey, along with an invitation to participate in outreach to survivors of human trafficking. Two of the accessible tools she utilizes are the Clear-Thinking Solutions method and Trauma Healing Institute healing groups. She can be found with her husband Manuel and their two children, Ian (18) and Sophia (13) sharing an Anaconda burrito from Yareli’s, enjoying good coffee on the steps with their dog Shadow and playing with their cats, Fuego, Sombra, and Rosa. You can learn about what is happening in the Hildalgo neighborhood HERE You can find out more about Clear Thinking HERE You can find out more about the Trauma Healing Institute HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What would it look like to view the people and places around as gifts, not negatives? In this episode, Andrew and Grace sit down with Joe White, pastor of Neighborhood Church in the historic Jackson Neighborhood of Fresno, CA. Joe is a long time advocate of being a church with the neighborhood, not a church to or for it. Joe reminds us that Jesus is the absolute best news we can give, and that He himself cares about people and places and the thriving of them both. To learn more about Joe and Neighborhood Church, visit https://www.neighborhoodchurchfresno.com/ Joe refers to the book, Transforming Power, by Robert Linthicum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices