Mayor Jerry Dyer joined by state and local leaders, local youth at a press conference at Radio Park in Fresno to announce nearly $1M in funding for local outdoor access programs. Photo by Frank Lopez

State and local leaders gathered at a central Fresno park Friday to announce millions in grant funding to expand access to cultural and natural resources for youth in underserved communities.

During a news conference at Radio Park, right next to the Fresno County Art Museum, Mayor Jerry Dyer announced the funding of nearly $1 million for youth programs in the region.

Funding comes from the $15 million state Youth Community Access Grant Program.

“This is a significant investment in the future of our youth,” Dyer said. “The youth and leaders of tomorrow deserve to have areas that they can go to that are safe and green, and that provide opportunities of recreation.”

Dyer was joined by California Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot, California Health Collaborative CEO Stephen Ramirez, California Health Collaborative CEO Stephen Ramirez and its senior director of program services Daisy Lopez, and Building Youth Tomorrow CEO Roger Brown.

The $15 million from the Youth Community Access Program will be award to 65 projects across California, including four in the Fresno region.

The California Health Collaborative will be awarded $300,000 for its Growing Resilience through Outdoor Wellness project, which will provide nearly 300 youth with outdoor wellness activities, including trips to national parks and beaches for Latino youth in Parlier, Reedley and Orange Cove.

The San Joaquin River Parkway & Conservation Trust, Inc. will receive $63,481 for its Youth Parkway Ambassadors pilot program to provide access to multiple open space areas along the San Joaquin Parkway for 40 youth from Fresno and Madera counties.

The Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs, a non-profit based in Calabasas that supports projects that will facilitate progressive change in the social and environmental justice arena, will be awarded $260,125 for its Get Outside Adventure Leadership  program, which will provide trips to the Sierra Nevada mountains for 75 youth in the Central Valley, ages 12-18.

Building Youth Tomorrow Today, a nonprofit in Fresno focused on youth development programs, will receive $200,000 for its Youth in Agriculture Health program, which will provide 44 youth in West Fresno with hands-on, experiential ag training on a farm operated by African-American farmers of California.

Radio Park recently received one of the state’s largest-ever one time investment in parks and open space for underserved communities with $6 million in funding for improvements.

“We need to do a better job in creating parks in communities like Fresno, connecting communities to natural areas in their own backyard, and helping young people from our communities actually access remarkable nature across California,” said Crowfoot.