Our BHC (Building Healthy Communities) work has been getting attention!
The united grassroots leadership displayed by BHC resident and agency leaders caught a lot of attention, and we’ve received requests for many interviews so that other communities can learn from our successes. Because Fresno’s City Council chose to listen to community values and select Plan A as the preferred plan, Fresno is headed in a healthier direction.
Most recently, we received guests from the Public Health Institute who will write up a case study of how and why we were successful in organizing. As a part of their research, they conducted 4 focus groups with 4 different language groups of resident leaders.
At the Hmong focus group, participants described why it was so important for them to stay involved. “This is my country now, I need to support my country and help it, because it supports and helps me” said a 79 year old veteran. “If I went to City Council by myself, I would not know what to say, they could not understand me. But if I go with my community, and if I go with FIRM, I know we will be listened to… I am so thankful for the staff at FIRM who make it possible” said Pastor Kua Xiong.
We look forward to sharing Public Health Institute’s finished case study in December or January.