Community Air Grantee Spotlight: Fresno Metropolitan Ministry
Community Air Grantee Spotlight
Fresno Metropolitan Ministry
Article Written by: Miranda Townsend
Article Written by: Miranda Townsend
A Brief History of
Fresno Metro Ministry
Metro is a multi-cultural, multi-faith non-profit
organization that has been around for nearly 50 years. Kelsey explained that, “Metro
was established by a group of local churches who were participating in the
northward sprawl of Fresno many years ago. These churches recognized that they
were leaving behind a lot of neighborhoods in this sprawl process [with regards
to health, education, environmental and social justice, etc.] and wanted to do
something about that.”
Since Executive Director Keith Bergthold came in to
leadership about 6 years ago, Metro has undergone a bit of a transformation,
moving from solely “advocating” against community injustices to taking on a
second active role of “addressing” the community injustices head-on and
correcting the course. Previously, Bergthold worked in the Planning Department
for the City of Fresno. There he spearheaded the adoption of a new General Plan
for the city that, according to Kelsey was “revolutionary.” Unlike any local
planning approach of the past, the new plan refocused attention inward on Fresno
in an effort to discourage sprawl and its detrimental effects. Today, Metro conducts community and
economic development projects to address these issues directly.
The Mission Statement
The official mission statement of Metro is “Learning,
connecting, and engaging to achieve healthy people and healthy places in Fresno
and across the San Joaquin Valley.” Kelsey emphasized the significance of this
mission, explaining, “We bring up our mission weekly here to try and see
everything we do at Metro through the lens of that mission.” She continued,
“Healthy people and healthy places does a great job of capturing the complexity
of the different things that we do here at Metro. [Our projects] are not really
just Metro projects. They are things happening in the community that we get to
work on because of our partners.” Internally, the Metro staff have coined the
term “Metro never goes rogue.” Whether it’s with residents, key local
institutions, or other local non-profits, “we don’t accomplish anything on our
own,” Kelsey emphasized.
Fresno Metro’s Role in
the Community
One great example of a Metro community development project is
their “Fresno Kids for Clean Air Project,” which is part of its Air Grant project.
For this project, Metro works with students and parents in disadvantaged Fresno
neighborhoods to roadmap solutions to local air quality issues. “We use air
quality issues as a vehicle to get residents involved, active, and
participating in their community to achieve their mutual vision for a
healthier, cleaner future community” Kelsey explained.
Another impressive Metro project Kelsey and Elizabeth shared
with me was the “Better Blackstone Initiative.” Better Blackstone is a complex,
multifaceted approach to revitalizing the urban core of Fresno. Kelsey
explained, “This area is in an advanced state of urban decay: the neighborhoods
are suffering from crime, poverty, health disparities, and lack of economic
opportunities.” Better Blackstone works to spur community development through streetscape
re-designing to encourage pedestrians, biking, and transit as well as working
with key local institutions to provide economic opportunity to community
members.
In addition to Better Blackstone, Metro also runs a Food to
Share Program centered on healthy food recovery and redistribution. This
program operates three cargo vans that run routes around Fresno, picking up
extra food from local facilities like public schools, retail outlets, and
farmers markets. The collected food is then redistributed to a network of soup
kitchens, food pantries, churches, and other existing food programs to feed to
the hungry; both improving public health as well air quality through landfill
diversion. Kelsey shared, “by diverting one pound of food waste from the
landfill we prevent 2.2 pounds of GHG emissions.”
When asked to share successes or victories of the
organization that might inspire others, Elizabeth and Kelsey told me, “giving
platforms to community members to be leaders” is one of the biggest. “Through association
and connection with CARB, we’ve taken community members from docile roles to
leadership roles in their communities.” Their experience of bringing together state
government to work with local government and communities to affect real
community change is a huge success of Metro.
How do I get Involved?
Elizabeth and Kelsey emphasized that they are always trying
to make information on Metro projects as accessible to community members as
possible. Putting things into terms that people can relate to and making their
work relevant to people’s lives are just some of the ways Metro tries to engage
the local community. The Metro staff is very active within their community as well, canvasing over 1,100 doors
in Fresno for one of their projects. Kelsey recommended that community members get
involved by participating in neighborhood surveys, visiting their table at
events, and attending AB 617 steering committee meetings. If all else fails, Kelsey
and Elizabeth say, “Reach out!” They are always happy to be contacted with any
questions, concerns, etc.
Fresno Metropolitan Ministry Contact
Information:
WEBSITE:
ADDRESS:
4270 North
Blackstone Avenue, Suite 212
Fresno, California 93726
Fresno, California 93726
PHONE:
(559) 485-1416
(559) 485-9109
(fax)
EMAIL: