Although the City of Fresno budget continues to shrink, we are working together with our Building Healthy Communities partners to ensure that the priorities of residents, especially from south Fresno neighborhoods, are included in the city priorities.  Together with Building Healthy Communities staff from many partner agencies, Hmong leaders have been working to educate city council members about community priorities and the multiple planning processes that the city is going through. Last Wednesday (3/7/12), we visited Blong Xiong of District 1 and Oliver Baines of District 3.

BHC partners plan to visit each city council member’s office before the city council votes on a plan alternative on April 5th.

FIRM staff and volunteers will be actively representing the ministries of FIRM in the coming weeks in a variety of settings!  Here’s just some of them:

• From March 12-14, Sharon Stanley and Houa Lee will attend and speak to the meetings of Nevada Presbytery and the Presbyterian Women of Nevada Presbytery, to be held in Henderson, Nevada. All Presbyterian Churches of Nevada attend this meeting.
• FIRM Staff Members Rev. Sophia DeWitt and Franklin Yang will teach at a PICO Organizing Training for Hmong Health Collaborative Partners, to be held at the Merced Organizing Project in Merced on March 12.
• FIRM Staff Members Rev. Sophia DeWitt, Rev. Sharon Stanley, and Franklin Yang will teach at a PICO Community Organizing Training from 9:30-12:30 on Saturday, Mar. 17th, at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Fresno.
• FIRM’s Exec. Director will be presented a “Community Hero Award” by the CSUF College of Health and Human Service’s Department of Public Health at a ceremony to be held March 23 at the home of university President John Welty.

On Saturday, February 25th, FIRM participated with Second Baptist Church of Fresno in their first “Multi-Cultural Friendship Day” celebration.

FIRM’s Director, Rev. Sharon Stanley, was keynote speaker, offering preaching and cultural information related to FIRM’s various programs. FIRM’s “Slavic Babushkas” offered inspiring songs, and FIRM’s “Lao Champa Dancers” offered Lao cultural dance performances. The event also highlighted African American, Filipino, Korean, and Panamanian dance and musical performances.

“This is an event we definitely want to build upon and repeat” said the church’s pastor, Dr. Melvin Whittle. The event was organized by Mrs. Evelyn Heard, church member and local Church Women United leader. For information on cultural presentations for your own event, contact Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley.

Many FIRM staff and over a hundred community members attended the Hmong Marriage Conference on Saturday February 4, coordinated by Fresno Salvation Church of God, and sponsored by partner churches and organizations, including FIRM. Many area Hmong pastors presented helpful tips and stories to support the attendees’ marriages, as did a counselor from Fresno Pacific, Dr. Dolores Friesen. FIRM Board Member Seng Yeng presented the closing remarks with his wife Doua Vu, one of the event organizers. He shared how important is was to his wife that he sit and listen to her talk about her day, as regularly as possible.

 One highlight was a video highlighting the differences between the brains of women and men. Attendees really appreciated the humor and truth that all of the presenters shared with the audience. Topics included improving communication, intimacy, and conflict resolution. This event was the first of its kind in Fresno and was quite the success!

FIRM was pleased to attend the first ever PICO organizing training specifically geared for Hmong Christian pastors and leaders on Friday, February 3 in Modesto. Held at Central Grace Community Church and led by long-time PICO organizer Tsia Xiong, head of the Merced Organizing Project, the conference brought together almost 100 Hmong pastors and lay leaders from throughout the Central Valley to consider how the church could help improve the present and the future of the Hmong community through community rganizing. FIRM Executive Director Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley and three Hmong leaders from our Building Healthy Communities Organizing attended the event.

For the past two years, FIRM, as part of the Hmong Health Collaborative, has participated in the California Reducing Disparities Project. An initiative of the California Department of Mental Health, the project has worked to promote strategies to reduce disparities in mental health treatment between Caucasian and other diverse populations in California.  FIRM staff joined with Hmong Health Collaborative partners and others from throughout the state in helping to develop the statewide California Reducing Disparities project recommendations.

FIRM, through the Hmong Health Collaborative, has been serving on the Asian Pacific Islander (API) Workgroup of CRDP.  The API Workgroup had its final conference in Los Angeles on February 1, releasing a report identifying 56 community tested strategies to help API populations access mental health services.

Rev. Sophia DeWitt, Director of Health Programs at FIRM, attended the conference together with Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley. The next steps in this effort are to advocate with the State Legislature in order to protect funding for report implementation—in what is hoped to be a four year implementation process.

Rev. Dr. Sharon Stanley also participated in helping to lead a workshop at the conference on “Spiritual Perspectives on Mental Health Care in Ethnic Communities.”

Pastor John Bosavanh, FIRM Mental Health staffer, gave the sermon at University Presbyterian Church in Fresno on Sunday, February 12, sharing about his recent mission trip to Laos with wide Pastor Liena Bosavanh (FIRM Office Manager) and others.

Eight faculty members from San Joaquin Memorial High School descended upon FIRM on Wednesday, January 4th with blessings of high energy and heart! They came as a part of a “Morning of Service,” where all teachers spread to locations throughout the city to kick off the beginning of the school’s calendar year by sharing generously through service. At FIRM, the teachers boxed and stored Christmas decorations, raked leaves off the preschool roof, playground and courtyard, travelled to pick up, load, and unload donations of furniture, and filled a MASSIVE pothole in FIRM’s main gate entrance!!

From their first moment on FIRM’s campus, it was evident that this work group came to work hard. “You guys attack work projects like my beagle attacks her dinner bowl!” said a very pleased FIRM Director Rev. Stanley. FIRM is a “near neighbor” to the Catholic Diocese office and to San Joaquin Memorial High School, which are located less than a half mile south of the FIRM office location.

FIRM is pleased to support the local Hmong Christian community by serving as fiscal agent and encourager for the upcoming and first ever Hmong Marriage Seminar. The seminar is scheduled for Saturday, February 4, and will provide a variety of morning and afternoon topics to strengthen Hmong marriages and families. The conference is financially supported, in part, by The California Endowment. Pre-registration costs are $40 per couple, or $30 per single. Lunch is included.

Download flyer in Hmong
Download flyer in English

For the past two years, FIRM has partnered with Asian and Pacific Islander leaders from around the state in the “California Reducing Disparities Project.”  The project is funded through the Mental Health Services Act.  FIRM and partners have been working to review the levels of health disparities within refugee and other Asian communities, evaluate promising models for culturally competent health and mental health care, and conduct focus groups for grass roots input to improve care.  Professional skills provided by culturally knowledgeable staff who speak languages of communities served were noted as especially effective. Programs that effectively use multi-language media, offer advocacy and community organizing support, and use culturally relevant skills (such as community gardens) were also highly valued.

After participating in multiple statewide and regional gatherings, FIRM attended its final Central Valley meeting of the project last week in Stockton.  (See picture.)  Regional colleagues include the Hmong Health Collaborative Coordinator, Susan Vang, along with partners from Fresno Center for New Americans, Merced and Stockton Lao Family organizations, Healthy House in Merced, and Southeast Asian Assistance Center and Hmong Women’s Heritage organizations in Sacramento.

A full 200 page report of the project is currently being drafted, and is expected to be published and made available online in early 2012.  It will include focus group findings, and evaluations and contacts of promising programs throughout the state—including FIRM’s Therapeutic Horticulture Project!