Fresno CDFI

Back in early 2007, Zia Thea Xiong turned to the Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission for a lifeline -- a $20,000, no-interest loan that allowed him to stay in business after a Valley-wide freeze devastated his vegetable crops.

"I had to pay my workers," Xiong, a 47-year-old former refugee from Laos, said as he led a recent tour of his revitalized and newly expanded 77-acre farm east of Fresno.

What is Bank on Fresno?

Fresno is one of five cities selected for Governor Schwarzenegger's Bank on California Initiative, a non-traditional approach to ensure every resident has access to mainstream financial institutions. Bank on Fresno is a joint effort of the Office of the Governor, Office of the Mayor, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, local Financial Institutions, and Nonprofit Organizations. With United Way of Fresno County serving as the organizing agent, the coalition set a goal to start 10,000 unbanked Fresno residents on the path to financial mobility by helping them open a low-cost, starter bank account and access the education necessary to manage it successfully.

Institute for Social and Economic Development - Spring 2007

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Fresno EOC is plowing new ground into the Individual Development Account (IDA) field.  IDAs have not previously focused on the farming sector, but EOC's combined award effectively creates the first and largest IDA program in the country to focus specifically on the farming sector.  

In 2005, ISED through the Rural Refugee Initiative provided Fresno EOC with project design assistance delineating an approach and strategy for a comprehensive regional IDA program targeted towards socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers in California's Central Valley.  As of May 2007, this initiative is slated for $1.4 million dollars of federal and foundation funding: $500,000 from the Office of Community Services Assets for Financial Independence Program (OCS AFI) and an additional $550,000 from the Kellogg Foundation. EOC was effectively able to raise an additional $350,000 from the Kellogg Foundation to provide enhanced business and agricultural technical assistance to socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers as an additional layer of programming. The outcomes of the project will be the provision of 206 IDA accounts with a 2:1 match; 75% of which will also receive business development technical assistance.

Take the Downtown Fresno Farmers Market Survey

Wednesday, Jan. 07, 2009
By Joan Obra / The Fresno Bee

Central San Joaquin Valley fruit and vegetable farmers, how would you like to get a piece of $80 million or more?

I bet that just made a lot of people sit up. The money comes from changes to the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) food packages that start at the beginning of October. For the first time, low-income mothers and children will receive monthly vouchers to buy fresh produce. (If fresh fruits and vegetables are not available, the vouchers also will pay for canned and frozen fruits and vegetables.) Nursing mothers will receive $10, while non-nursing new mothers and pregnant women will get $8. Children 1-5 also receive $6 every month.