In This Newsletter:

March for Our Future

Community Housing Forum

Give Fresno Your Input on Spending Priorities

Build Back Better Roundtable

Covid-19 Booster Shot Phone Bank

Fresno State Republicans Host Rightist Provocateur

Attend Fresno City Council Meetings

Clean Shared Mobility Network: Electric Vehicles 101

The “Labor Shortage” Is Actually Worker Demands

Trivia Night Thursday!

Democratic Party Website and HQ

March for Our Future

The Dolores Huerta Foundation, alongside partnering organizations and community members from throughout the Central Valley, is organizing a solidarity march to demand fairness in California’s redistricting. Our future depends on fair lines, fair funding and fair treatment for all. 

Join the march to remind our elected officials that We the People means all of us! This is a struggle for fair county district maps, more social services and funds from the Covid Rescue Plan for our communities..

The march will take place on Dec. 4 at 11 a.m., starting from Arte Américas and ending at Courthouse Park. For more information, contact 559-420-0648. Organizers are planning a festive event with a variety of  music and food trucks at Artes Américas beginning at 10 a.m.

Community Housing Forum

The Fresno County Department of Public Works and Planning, Community Development Division, is hosting a housing forum on Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. to meet with communities to discuss housing needs within the County of Fresno. Community members are encouraged to attend. 

Topics to discuss:

• Overview of services provided by the County of Fresno Community Development Division

• What are your housing needs? Specific needs to support housing

• Manufactured homes and farmworker housing

• Rental assistance resources

• Open discussion: How can the County help?

• Get involved, access resources!

• Comments on Fresno County draft of 2020 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://zoom.us/j/98983742487                    
Meeting ID: 989 8374 2487 One tap mobile
+16699006833,98983742487#                                    

RSVP is recommended by contacting [email protected] or at 559-600-4292

Give Fresno Your Input on Spending Priorities

The County of Fresno invites the public to complete the Community Outreach Survey on the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 through Dec. 3. The survey is intended to collect community input to help determine how the County will invest these dedicated one-time funds.

Fresno County will receive $194 million from the federal government to address the impacts and recovery from Covid-19. The funding is derived from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) and can be invested or used generally in four areas: public health/economic recovery, public-sector revenue loss, essential workers and infrastructure.

The survey is available as an online form in more than 40 languages at www.fresnocountyca.gov/ARPA.

Paper hard-copy forms in English, Spanish, Hmong or Punjabi will be at all Fresno County Libraries. PDF versions of the printable form will also be available on the Fresno County ARPA website at www.fresnocountyca.gov/ARPA. Completed paper hard-copy forms should be submitted via e-mail to [email protected] or hand-delivered or mailed to County Administrative Office, ARPA 2021, 2281 Tulare St., Room 304, Fresno, CA 93721.

For any questions, contact the County Administrative Office at 559-600-1221 or visit online at fresnocountyca.gov/ARPA.

The survey can be found online here 

Covid-19 Booster Shot Phone Bank

The Fresno County Democratic Party will be having phone banks to help people schedule appointments for their booster shot or help them find their nearest walk-in vaccination site.

According to the CDC, among all fully vaccinated adults 18 and older in California, nearly 14% have received a booster shot. Join us to phone bank and help schedule our community for booster shots. We will have a short training before the event to get you ready!

Sign up at www.mobilize.us/fresnocountydemocraticparty/event/427493/.

Fresno State Republicans Host Rightist Provocateur

The Fresno County Democratic Party strongly condemned the Fresno State College Republicans’ decision to host far-right Internet personality Tyler Russell. The Canadian YouTuber and livestreamer is a self-styled leading voice of the “Canada First” movement.

Among his supporters, the terms “Canada First” and “America First” are used interchangeably, a flub that sweeps away the political theater Russell refers to as his “optics” to expose the White supremacy underneath.

The Fresno State College Republicans had previously booked Russell for a virtual event in August. However, after Antisemitism.org posted to Twitter expressing their horror at the union, the Fresno State club canceled the event on the day it was scheduled.

The Fresno State College Republicans did not cite any reasoning at the time. Looking back, it is clear all they feared was the visibility, not Russell’s actual messages of cultural supremacy and intolerance. Rebooking him after outside attention waned is the proof.

The College Republicans knew exactly what they were getting with Russell. During a 2020 protest in Ottawa protest against a Canadian drive to recognize Indigenous lives, Black Lives, Migrant lives, Women and Trans and Two-Spirit lives, Russell mourned the fate of the Proud Boys, a recognized hate group in Canada. Amid a mixture of flags of Canada, Donald Trump, and the Confederate Army, Russell announced that to be called racist was a badge of honor.

Russell has since bragged on his online forum about infiltrating a Palestinian solidarity rally with the goal of harassing Jewish counter protesters and inciting greater conflict between the groups.

The Unabomber’s manifesto is suggested reading for young joiners of Russell’s movement. On his moderated chat forum for his supporters, voiced hesitation that some more extreme rhetoric could be interpreted as a call to violence is countermanded by the man himself. Russell responded, “No. We will do whatever it takes to win.”

The Fresno State College Republicans have begun to develop a concerning pattern of behavior. In August, the club was also criticizing veterans and calling most military service members “glorified DMV employees.”

This, combined with two separate invitations to Russell, shows a troubling trend in Fresno’s Republican landscape. We like to think that as a city we have moved on from the years when Fresno State’s first gay pride parade was met with drive-by protests from Ku Klux Klan members in full regalia, but perhaps, as Russell might phrase it, only the “optics” have changed.

Attend Fresno City Council Meetings

The next Fresno City Council meeting will be on Dec. 2. To view items on the agenda, click on the following link: tinyurl.com/AgendaGranicus.

Visit fresno.legistar.com/calendar.aspx to view all agendas, supporting documents and to make public comments.  

Fresno City Council
City Hall (downtown Fresno) and Zoom
Thursday, Dec. 2 at 9 a.m.

Clean Shared Mobility Network: Electric Vehicles 101

On Dec. 21 and every third Tuesday, the Clean Shared Mobility Network will be meeting to discuss improving electric vehicle charging access and other transportation improvements and solutions needed to help cut our region’s contribution to damaging the atmosphere while making people’s lives easier.

All meetings are 5:30 p.m.–7 p.m. Agendas will be provided prior to the meetings. Upcoming meeting dates: Dec. 21.

This upcoming meeting will be covering what might be called Electric Vehicles 101. And there will also be a raffle, but you have to be present to win!

Meetings will be held virtually until CDC-compliant in-person meetings can be held. 

For any question, e-mail [email protected].

The Clean Shared Mobility Network is supported by the California Strategic Growth Council’s Transformative Climate Communities program with funds from California Climate Investments—cap-and-trade dollars at work.

The “Labor Shortage” Is Actually Worker Demands

Many media outlets, even traditionally reliable ones, have taken to referring to the difficulty many businesses are finding as a “labor shortage.” However, this is not true. The workers are still here in all their millions. They are just demanding more than the corporations are willing to give.

    Any business that put up a sign offering $1,000,000 an hour would find an encampment outside their door within the day. If simply raising the wage instantly produces more workers, there is not a labor shortage. We’re just haggling on the price. The disconnect is not an absence of labor, but that many laborers are not accepting the low wages and benefits that companies are offering.

Democratic Party Website and HQ

News and events will alway arise faster than this newsletter can come out. That is why the Fresno County Democratic Party website is the best place to get regular updates on upcoming events in the area, as well as information on ways to get involved. There is also information on scheduled meetings from the many Democratic clubs in Fresno County, so you can find one that most suits you and your interests.

https://fresnocountydemocrats.org/

The Democratic Party HQ (1033 U St.) is open 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Monday–Friday. Call 559-495-0606 or e-mail [email protected] for information or to volunteer.

Support your local Democratic Party by donation via ActBlue or by mailing a check to Fresno County Democratic Party, P.O. Box 5795, Fresno, CA 93755.

Our newsletter is prepared by Francis Horan.

Democratic Party Headquarters: 1033 U Street, Fresno, CA 93721

[email protected]
559-495-0606

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