Matt Dildine, Fresno Mission CEO, delivers a prayer during the Young Distinguished Alumnus Award ceremony for the Pepperdine Law Alumni in 2019. Facebook photo

The City of Fresno was recently and erroneously ranked at the top of a list for homelessness in the U.S. by wallethub.com, and despite a revision moving Fresno to tenth on the list, a local nonprofit organization is making an effort to ensure hunger and homelessness are remembered outside the season of giving.

The Fresno Mission, led by CEO Matt Dildine, will dedicate a full 24 hours next week, from Jan. 17 at 3 p.m. until Jan 18 at 3 p.m. outside the Fresno Mission’s City Center, located at 2025 E. Dakota Ave., to present “Conversations on a Bench,” during which Dildine will take a seat on a bench outside, rain or shine, to discuss meaningful solutions with local nonprofit and homeless advocacy organizations.

The event aims to provide local community leaders with a platform to advocate for those directly impacted by the effects of homelessness, to share their insights, experiences and ideas aiming to bridge the gap between communities and promote cohesive solutions.

Representatives from the City of Fresno, including Councilmembers Garry Bredefeld and Luis Chavez and County Supervisor Nathan Magsig as well as representatives from homeless and life-crisis centers throughout the city are scheduled to take part.

During the event, the Fresno Mission will highlight ongoing initiatives and efforts to combat homelessness, focusing on strides made to this point and encouraging collaboration between various stakeholders to address the issue.

A 24-hour livestream on Facebook, YouTube and the Fresno Mission website featuring the hashtag #benchtalks will aim to further publicize the event, aiming to gain deeper insights into the discussions, challenges and solutions discussed during the day-long event.

Despite being dropped from its erroneous first-place ranking, Fresno still ranks at the top of all California cities in the study’s ranking, placing tenth, just behind Augusta, Georgia, and just ahead of New Orleans, Louisiana.

The California city second on the list behind Fresno is Los Angeles, ranked 15th overall.

The study took into account the economic wellbeing of each locale as well as health and safety and a number of other contributing factors including unemployment, poverty, education and a number of other metrics.