by Amy Sherman

n 1983, Fresno, California, was named the “least livable” American city. It had a very high crime rate, unemployment was in the double digits, and the city schools were struggling to handle the stresses and racial tensions of the cultural melting pot that Fresno had become (ninety different languages are spoken there). The city had 125 active youth gangs. It was a real mess.

Today, there are partnerships between congregations and the major hospitals, between clergy and cops, between churches and public schools, between faith-based organizations (FBOs) and Fresno County government. Some of these partnerships and collaborations have led to decreases in crime (one of the programs involves churches renting apartments in high-crime public housing projects and converting them into community centers); to neighborhood revitalization and affordable housing development initiatives; to an increase in the number of mentors available to at-risk kids; to an innovative, peer-to-peer mentoring program that matches former welfare recipients with current welfare recipients.

Hundreds of people have been helped in making the transition from welfare to work; hundreds of at-risk youth have been matched with mentors and are now participating in all kinds of positive recreational programs that have contributed to a drop in youth recidivism; some sixty-two churches have received training that has helped them to launch 4,100 volunteers out into Fresno for community service of many different kinds.

So how did this happen? It began with a few pastors from a variety of churches who came together for a prayer retreat. Those prayer meetings continue today.

The collaborative efforts born in Fresno have led to documented improvements in living conditions in the city, and Fresno was recognized by the National Civic League as the “All-America City of 2000.”

Scope and Scale

Obviously, faith communities have made a significant difference in Fresno. And the story there is being repeated elsewhere. The best current data we have concerning the community outreach activit

Amy L. Sherman was a senior fellow with Hudson's Civil Society Programs. She is currently Director of the FASTEN Initiative with Sagamore Institute.

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