This article highlights the 600 homes being built in SW Fresno. President & CEO, Allysunn Walker, shares her thoughts. Click to read the article!
Our President & CEO, Allysunn Walker, was featured in the Business Journal. She did an amazing job representing the Southwest community. Click to read the article!
About Miguel
Miguel Arambula was born in Delano, California and raised in Fresno since he was two. A graduate of Edison-Computech, he went on to get a B.A. in International Development from UCLA, and a Master’s in Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies from the University of New Mexico. His first career was as a secondary school teacher. Starting out as a literature teacher at Punahou Academy in Honolulu, he went on to a short stint of international teaching including in Sevilla, Spain, Cairo, Egypt, and Qingdao, China.
Wishing to set down roots and contribute, Miguel returned home to Fresno and began his second career as an affordable housing developer. He has worked as a project manager participating in all levels of the development process from site due diligence and acquisition, funding strategy and applications, budgets, construction closings and supervision, through lease-up and conversion to permanent financing. He has experience with local, state, and federal sources of funding for affordable housing development and is thrilled at the opportunity to be a resource for, and serve on, the Southwest Fresno Development Corporation board.
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About Eric
Board President of The Southwest Fresno Community Development Corporation, Eric S. Payne is a Fresno, CA native son of West Fresno, He serves as Executive Director of The Central Valley Urban Institute a Policy and Advocacy Non-Profit. He is the Former White House Site Director under the Obama Administration who led a Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative for the Building Neighborhood Capacity Program a place-based initiative in the City of Fresno where he worked to secure millions of dollars in state and federal funds for community development in West Fresno.
Mr. Payne was Elected to the State Center Community College District Governing Board of Trustees in a historic win in 2012 when he was elected as America’s Youngest Community College Trustee serving two terms governing Fresno City College, Clovis Community College, Reedley Community College and the New Fresno City College – West Fresno Campus. He was also elected in 2018 by his peers from across the State of California to serve on the Board of Directors of the Community College League of California which embodies over 100 Community Colleges from across the state.
Mr. Payne has been featured in national publications like Black Enterprise Magazine as one of the Country’s “100 Men of Distinction”. He is a technical expert for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies a White House Think Tank. He is an active member of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church; He is an Author and Political Commentator for KSEE 24 “Sunday Morning Matters”. Eric has a B.S. in Biology and M.S. in Biology with a concentration in Microbiology from Alabama A&M University and a certificate in Health Policy and Leadership from California State University Fresno. He enjoys collecting art and listening to Oldies, Gospel, R&B, and Jazz. In His free time, he can be found at the gym, hiking, camping, running with his dog Cooper or traveling.
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About Sabrina
Sabrina Beavers, originally born and raised in Bakersfield, CA, enjoys traveling and spending time with her little one Destiny, who is every bit of a toddler-teen. Sabrina moved to Fresno in 2001 after high school to attend Fresno State, where she received her bachelor’s degree in Health Science with an option in Community Health. She has worked for the Fresno County Department of Public Health since 2012 and is a Certified Health Education Specialist and Lactation Education Counselor.
Sabrina also owns Esscentuals Apothecary LLC, a newly formed wholesale soap and candle supplies retailer coming to the Central Valley. She aims to become the go-to for sustainably sourced, quality raw ingredients, materials, and supportive services for established and up-and-coming bath and candle brands. In addition to building her business, Sabrina works actively in the Central Valley community advocating for and supporting Black Birthing people on their pregnancy and parenting journey.
As a voice for birth justice and maternal and infant health, she takes the time to educate and bring awareness to the health disparities that disproportionately affect our Black Birthing people and their babies. In 2019, as a first-time Mother, Sabrina gave birth prematurely to a baby girl. With personal lived experience, she helps navigate other Black Birthing individuals through the foreign experience of going home while having a newborn in the NICU. Her birth story was featured nationally in July 2021 on NPR and StoryCorps and created into an animated short; it is archived at the National Library of Congress and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture.”
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About Allysunn
An Ohio native and graduate of Harvard College, UCLA and Fresno State’s Craig School of Business, Allysunn Walker’s career has stretched across the community economic development landscape where she has created wealth-building opportunities for communities of color in her roles as CEO, consultant, small business owner, investor, author and strategic leader.
Allysunn currently serves as President & CEO of the Southwest Fresno Development Corporation and was one of the organization’s founders in 2012. SWFDC focuses on building community wealth and power for residents of SW Fresno through homeownership and small business ownership. She believes in market-driven solutions to transform communities and sees ownership as the key tool to reduce and eliminate America’s racial wealth gap.
Allysunn in 2009 co-owned a real estate brokerage that acquired and rehabbed more than 40 foreclosed properties, ran a mortgage lending arm, and owned 9 multi-family properties of her own. She recently boomeranged back to Fresno in 2020 to continue serving community, and to support her son at Fresno State where he’s now a Junior, and of course, is a real estate and business major.
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About Jeralyn
Jeralyn Crear is new to Fresno, having moved in 2019 from Tracy, CA. While living in Fresno, she remains faithful in ministry at her church in Tracy. For ten (10) years she served as an executive leader within the church in Tracy, Mountain’s Hope Community Worship, and five (5) of those years she worked as the personal assistant to the pastor. Jeralyn Crear is a woman that understands the power of prayer, and she reverences God in all areas of her life. Prayer and worship are the key catalyst to the heart of what she does, as her life is dedicated to the work of building the Kingdom of God, and community outreach. She has a heart for the hurting, lost and those that have been cast aside, and she embraces all people, pouring into their lives to encourage them to rise to their full potential in God.
Jeralyn is detailed, team oriented, organized, reliable, efficient, and highly motivated. She possesses excellent administrative, decision making, facilitation, documentation, communication, and leadership skills with the ability to multitask. She works well with others and has exceptional communication and people skills. Her dedication and dependability consistently offer the much-needed components to assist in improving the lives of children, adults, those in the church, and within the community. With a heart that is moved to see change, Jeralyn is an out of the box thinker that is what is needed in this era.
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About Margarita
Margarita Rocha was born in Blythe, California and raised in Fresno. She is a mother of three sons, grandmother of ten and a great-grandmother of ten. From early on, her mother and father who worked in the fields instilled in her that hard work and dedication were the key to success. Margarita was the first person in her family to go to college.
Currently, Margarita is the Executive Director of Centro La Familia Advocacy Services (CFLA), a role she has held for more than twenty-five years. Through her leadership, CLFA has transformed from a small, grassroots organization into an important resource for the Hispanic/Latino community, growing the agency from a small staff of five to nearly fifty.
With more than 40 years of social service experience, she has achieved a distinguished career in federal and nonprofit service. It has been her life’s goal to make a difference in her community and help improve the lives of children and families.
In her leadership role, Ms. Rocha has guided the organization in the design and implementation of successful programs focusing on serving marginalized families in a holistic manner. Their service delivery improves the client’s ability to navigate the social support system, identifying services that address the needs of the entire family. Her staff understands that band- aid approaches to family dysfunction resulting from the day-to-day stresses of poverty have little long-term impact on improving the family’s overall condition. Their services acknowledge and respect the cultural issues of the families they serve.
A strong and determined advocate for families, Margarita’s career in advocacy began in the 1970’s. Her work has taken her to Washington D.C. and Cleveland, Ohio, where she worked in the newly established Office for Civil Rights with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. During this time, she also co-founded the nonprofit League of United Latin American Citizens in Cleveland. A 1976 profile in the local newspaper names her as one of the few Spanish-Speaking Americans working at the federal level field.
Since then, Margarita has received recognitions from many others including being CSU Fresno, Fresno City College, The Business Journal, Vida en El Valle, local elected officials, and several community-organizations. In 2019, she has recognized as Woman of the Year by Fresno City Council President Soria, Woman of the Year for District 7 and Champion of Justice by Central California Legal Services.
Margarita Rocha nació en Blythe, California, y creció en la ciudad de Fresno. Es madre de tres hijos, abuela de diez y bisabuela de diez bisnietos. Desde muy temprana edad, su madre y su padre, ambos trabajadores del campo, le inculcaron que la dedicación y el trabajo arduo eran las claves del éxito. En su familia, Margarita fue la primera persona en cursar la universidad.
Actualmente, Margarita funge como Directora Ejecutiva de la organización sin fines de lucro Centro La Familia Advocacy Services (CLFA), puesto que ha ocupado por más de veinticinco años. Gracias a su liderazgo, CLFA se ha transformado de ser una pequeña organización con cinco empleados hasta convertirse en un recurso importante para la comunidad Latina e hispana con un personal de casi setenta.
Contando con más de 40 años de experiencia en el área de servicio social, Margarita ha logrado una carrera distinguida tanto en el ámbito federal como en el sector sin fines de lucro. Ha dedicado su vida a marcar la diferencia en su comunidad y mejorar las vidas de las familias y niños.
En su cargo, Margarita ha dirigido la organización en el diseño e implementación exitosa de programas que se enfocan en servir a comunidades marginadas de una manera integral. Estos programas ayudan a individuos a navegar los sistemas de apoyo social y al mismo tiempo identifican los servicios que satisfacen las necesidades de la unidad familiar. Su equipo comprende que los remedios temporales para atender los estreses cotidianos causados por la pobreza tienen poco impacto a largo plazo para mejorar la condición general de las familias. Sus servicios también reconocen y respetan los aspectos culturales de las familias que atienden.
Margarita ha abogado por las familias con firmeza desde el inicio de su carrera en los 1970’s. Su labor la ha llevado a Washington D.C. y a Cleveland, Ohio, donde trabajó en la entonces nueva Oficina del Derechos Civiles con el Departamento de Salud, Educación y Bienestar. Durante esta época, cofundó la organización sin fines de lucro que lleva por nombre la Liga de Ciudadanos Latinoamericanos Unidos en Cleveland. En 1976, un periódico local la perfiló como una de las pocas personas de habla hispana en el nivel federal.
Desde entonces, Margarita ha recibido reconocimientos de parte organizaciones como la Universidad Estatal de California en Fresno y el Colegio de la Ciudad de Fresno, los periódicos The Business Journal y Vida en el Valle, así como organizaciones comunitarias y líderes electos en todos los ámbitos. Su liderazgo también ha puesto el nombre de CLFA en alto, con reconocimientos a nivel federal y estatal, recientemente siendo nombrada como la Organización Sin Fines de Lucro del Año del Distrito 31 de California. En el 2019, Margarita Rocha fue reconocida como Mujer del Año por la presidenta del Concejo de la Ciudad de Fresno, Esmeralda Soria, así como la Mujer del Año del 7mo Distrito de la Ciudad Fresno y como Campeona de la Justicia por la organización Central California Legal Services.
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About Pastor Binion
Senior Pastor, Westside Church of GOD, Fresno, California
Paul Lawrence Binion II, was born in Fairfield, Alabama, to Paul Lawrence Binion, Sr. and Sara Ellafair House Binion, and is the eldest of five children. The family eventually settled in Los Angeles, California, where he became a long-time member of Wadsworth Church of God. Pastor Binion is a graduate of Susan Miller Dorsey High School, California State University, Los Angeles with a Bachelor’s Degree in History, and Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, with a Master’s Degree in Divinity. The Southern California School of Ministry conferred the Doctor of Divinity upon him.
He has resided in Fresno, California since 1977, when he came to assume Senior Pastoral Leadership of Westside Church of GOD.
Pastor Binion is a man who loves GOD, his family, and his community. A sample of his involvement includes his present and past membership and leadership in the following organizations:
He is a Pastor to Pastors, and is an advisor/confidante to numerous organizations, ministries, fellowships, individuals, and leaders in our city and throughout the central valley area. Pastor Binion is a conference speaker, preacher, and teacher of the Bible, locally and nationally. Pastor Binion founded and is serving as Chairman of a new entity, the Southwest Fresno Development Corporation, whose mission is economic development in West Fresno, particularly in the areas of affordable housing and small business development. He founded Westside Bible Institute and Westside Community Counseling Center at Westside Church of God and is creating an Education and Career Initiative for the Southwest Fresno Community. In addition, he collaborates and coordinates with many public and private organizations.
After his love for his LORD, the love of Pastor Binion’s life is Valarie Jean Metoyer Binion, his wife of 44 years. They have three daughters: Tiffany, Crisandra, and Kimberley; a son, Ahmad, and daughter-in-law, Gurdeep; a son-in-law, David; granddaughters, Alyssa, Zharia, Amaiya, and Asha; and a grandson, David Paul, and many other precious and dear sons and daughters.
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About Sabrina
Sabrina Kelley joins Community Vision as the Vice President of External Relations. In this newly created role, she leads our resource development, communications, community development and impact measurement work. Sabrina is an advocacy strategist, community relations expert, and brings more than a decade of experience in broadcast news and communications, strategic partnership development, philanthropy, affordable housing, and equitable community development to her role. Prior to joining Community Vision, Sabrina was a Community Relations Leader and Philanthropy Officer for the Wells Fargo Foundation where she managed housing, small business development, financial literacy, and human services grant making portfolios serving the Central Valley.
She is an alumna of California State University, Fresno and holds a Master of Public Health and dual bachelor’s degrees in English Arts and Letters and Journalism. She is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Research Leaders Fellow and serves on the Board of Directors for United Way Fresno, Fresno Metro Ministry, and the Southwest Fresno Development Corporation. Sabrina also serves under three mayoral appointments: Board of Commissioners for the Fresno Housing Authority, the City of Fresno’s Transformative Climate Communities Operations and Oversight Committee, and Mayor Dyers’ One Fresno Advisory Committee which focuses on building diversity, equity, and inclusion in the City of Fresno.
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About Mitch
Mitch Shaw is a dedicated servant and real estate broker with over 30 years of experience in the construction industry. A lifelong resident of California, Mitch has a deep understanding of the local market and a passion for helping clients achieve their real estate goals.
Committed to giving back to his community, Mitch is actively involved in various non-profit organizations. He volunteers as a CASA advocate, serves on community boards, and is a passionate advocate for mental health.
With his extensive experience in the construction industry, Mitch brings a unique perspective to his real estate practice. He is dedicated to providing exceptional service and helping clients make informed decisions about buying, selling, or investing in real estate.
He and his beautiful wife Stephanie have been married for 28 years, have three adult children and two amazing grandchildren.
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