It's July, and we're feeling the heat!
But we're used to it, right? We carry on . . .
Still plenty of plans brewing here in Chinatown.
- Community Meeting on August 13
- New location - 912 F Street
- Re-launch of Chinatown Cultural Gallery
- Property Owner Meeting in September
- DRIVE Initiative
- California Census
- Community Picnic in October
- Few recent articles on homelessness
- And a couple about High Speed Rail
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We've moved!
You can't miss us - look for the RED DOOR on F Street just north of Kern.
912 F Street
If you want to come by and say hi, we're here Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons from 1 pm - 4pm.
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Grand Opening of the Chinatown Cultural Gallery
Join us for our August Community Meeting - a time to talk about the cultural heritage of Chinatown and honor the strong Japanese tradition in our neighborhood.
- Tuesday, August 13
- 5:30-7:00 pm
- 912 F Street (look for the red door)
Featuring: tasting samples, expert Gallery guides
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In Celebration of the Eleven Cultures that founded Chinatown
These cultures are woven throughout the Fresno region now, but they were forced to relocate "across the tracks" when Fresno was founded in the late 1880s. They were denied the right to purchase in other areas, a practice called redlining. While the blatant discrimination is not as severe as it was in the early 1900s, racial equity is far from a reality today.
As we work for racial and economic equity, we honor the cultures that founded Chinatown Fresno. They include people originally from
- Africa
- Armenia
- China
- Greece
- Japan
- Italy
- Mexico
- Philippines
- Portugal
as well as
- Basque people from Northern Spain/Southern France
- Volga Russians from Germany.
We launched the Chinatown Cultural Gallery with a Japanese Heritage exhibit featuring the history of Japanese Americans in the Central Valley, including here in Chinatown. They were well-established by the early 1940s, owning almost 60 businesses here.
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AMBITION
That's how to describe the Fresno DRIVE Initiative. It's a 10-year investment plan to develop an inclusive, vibrant, and sustainable economy for residents in the greater Fresno region.
There are three components of fostering inclusive and sustainable economic growth: Neighborhood Development, Human Capital and Economic Development. There are 200 Fresno leaders working on the 20 different pieces in a "sprint" over the next six weeks. Together we envision an inclusive, vibrant and sustainable economy so all residents can move from poverty to prosperity.
The portfolio of individual initiatives includes twenty separate plans, each with a group of people developing the details. Each plan presents a Problem, lists Assets, develops a Theory of Change, introduces a Big Idea and suggests Potential Component Parts. 2030 DRIVE aspiration metrics are
- Attract significant new capital investment
- Increase number of good and promising jobs across all education levels
- Improve housing affordability and stability
We are actively involved in the Neighborhood Development component, with a focus on Downtown Revitalization 2.0. The Big Idea is to "Establish a large-scale Downtown Revitalization fund." Sometime in August there will be a focus group for Downtown Fresno, including Chinatown. Stay tuned for that.
Talk about ambitious!
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California Complete Count
Here is a Census 2020 Toolkit, provided by CalNonprofits. There's great information here.
CalNonprofits is part of the Census Policy Advocacy Network and is working on getting the word out to nonprofits about the critical role we can play in assuring an accurate 2020 Census count in California communities.
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Property Owners Meeting
Friday, September 20
10:00 am
912 F Street
Chinatown property owners - let's talk. Property owners are a vital part of the fabric of any neighborhood. The conversations we have with you gives us important direction for our work. And we want to be sure you understand what we're doing, and why we're doing it.
Please make every attempt to join us. We'll be contacting all property owners by mail as well - but only with the addresses we've been able to gather so far. Please share this information with other property owners you know.
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Tuesday, October 8
2nd Annual Community Picnic
Do you remember our free "Meet Your Neighbors" Picnic at the Fire Station last year? A lot has happened since then. We look forward to meeting with everyone and sharing how Chinatown is changing. More information soon.
Sponsors are welcome for this free event. Here is the Invest in Chinatown brochure and here are more details.
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August 13 Community Meeting
Chinatown Cultural Gallery Grand Opening
912 F Street
5:30 - 7:00 PM
September Property Owner Meeting
Friday, September 20, 10:00 am
October 8 Community Picnic
Details soon
Let us know if you want your Chinatown events included. We celebrate Chinatown!
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