“Southwest Fresno is a beautiful community with an iconic and rich cultural history. It used to be a complete community with a more vibrant local economy and stronger social bonds. We are a part of the community’s restoration.” — Allysunn Walker, CEO & President of Southwest Fresno Development Corporation
Southwest Fresno was once a thriving hub of opportunity. Situated southwest of downtown, the community endured some of the most severe realities of civic and systemic disinvestment in the city.
Allysunn Walker, CEO of Southwest Fresno Development Corporation (SWFDC), explains that “Southwest Fresno is a historically Black community whose vibrant local economy was fueled by small businesses and young families. There were doctors, lawyers, policemen, and educators who lived here—it was a complete community. Many Black students that graduated from Edison High School and Fresno State became highly accomplished professionals, elected officials, business people, investors, and influencers. There was a great sense of pride here.”
Home to approximately 46,000 residents today, the neighborhoods of southwest Fresno experienced heavy redlining, resulting in decades of economic immobility. Like in other metropolitan areas, the construction of one of Fresno’s major freeways cut the community from the economic center of downtown.
These and other examples of civic disinvestment left southwest Fresno with one of the highest concentrations of poverty in the nation, one of the most polluted zip codes, and a dearth of essential services. There is one grocery store, dozens of liquor stores, and no banks.
In 2012, community leaders founded SWFDC as a tool to create local solutions to these issues. SWFDC is committed to revitalizing southwest Fresno, focusing on homeownership and housing education. With the construction of more than 1,000 homes scheduled in the community over the next decade, SWFDC wants to ensure residents are equipped to seize the opportunity.
“It’s bigger than homeownership,” Walker reflects. “But that is a door that we use to bring economic inclusion to a community that’s been left out.”
Through programs such as homeownership counseling, down payment assistance, and monthly credit repair workshops, SWFDC inspires homeownership in a place where the rate is very low—only 30% of Black residents in Fresno own their homes. By partnering with local developers, realtors, and lenders, SWFDC is reshaping the narrative.
SWFDC participated in Community Vision’s California Community-Owned Real Estate program (CalCORE), an initiative we developed in partnership with Genesis LA. CalCORE is a cohort-based program that provides education and training opportunities for emerging developers who are advancing locally owned and controlled real estate.
After participating in CalCORE’s first cohort, SWFDC had a plan for its Homeownership Institute, which has provided homebuyer education to more than 520 participants, with 150 earning their HUD down payment assistance certificate. Following the second cohort, SWFDC has continued to partner with Community Vision’s real estate consultants on additional projects.
“We want to become a [HUD-certified] housing counseling agency,” said Walker. The Community Vision consultant she has worked with mostly closely, Jacqueline Carlisle, “is a broker with deep experience and is the perfect person to guide us. We also want to do affordable, low-income senior housing using tiny homes. She’s given us advice on that, and how to achieve community impact through aligning services that support our senior population.”
In addition to affordable housing advocacy and development, SWFDC also plans to develop the underutilized second floor of the church building that houses its offices. With this space, SWFDC will expand its services, including creating a small business hub and a homeownership center.
“I appreciate so very much the leadership and the support from Community Vision, from all the way at the top. It has been encouraging to us in very challenging times, and it’s been inspiring,” Walker said. “You let us know that we’re on the right track, that we’re using wisdom and keeping the community first, and that lifting our community through housing and education is possible. The support means so much. It has helped to direct and stabilize us as an organization. That’s what Community Vision has done.”
This story was featured in our FY23 Annual Report. Read the full report here.
