In October of 1991, five individuals from local churches and ministries attended John Perkins’ Christian Community Development Association Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Out of those days together emerged a deeper concern for Fresno, its obvious disparity of opportunity and alienation, and the need to develop something in our city to unite Christians from the public, business and religious sectors for dialogue.

After some early meetings, the group grew to more than 60 participants and chose to name themselves the “No Name Fellowship.” This leadership group of 100-200 community leaders was committed to focusing their efforts across racial, denominational, and sector barriers on hot-spot issues in the city. The mission agreed to for the No-Name Fellowship was: Rebuilding Our City, By Releasing God’s Resources, Through Reconciled Relationships.

As the No-Name Fellowship movement gained influence and energy, various projects were generated. As those projects became more involved, it became evident that another instrument, an institution, was necessary to mobilize significant resources, coordinate efforts between various church and para-church organizations, and to partner faith-based activities with activities from other sectors in order to substantially impact the needs of the city. Thus, the Fresno Leadership Foundation, which is now known as One by One Leadership,  was born in 1994.

In January of 1997, the Foundation began a significant expansion of its board and staff, seeking to become an advocate for inside-out, self-determined community development as a method of operationalizing the reconciliation called for in the No-Name Fellowship mission, focusing on five aspects of neighborhood renewal: 1) Learning with neighborhoods; 2) Microenterprise development; 3) Neighborhood benchmarking and measurement; 4) Faith-based collaboration; and 5) Civic vision. One by One Leadership adopted the goal of “building healthy neighborhoods,” incorporating the five components above in its efforts to rebuild communities one youth, one family, one block, and one neighborhood at a time.

One of the first major efforts of One by One Leadership was the creation of the Healthy Neighborhoods Team (HNT). The HNT was a neighborhood-focused team of representatives from eight agencies and seven resident-driven neighborhood organizations that met every three weeks. The team brought agencies and neighborhood groups to the same table to discuss community building and explore possibilities for collaboration. Members of the HNT worked jointly on an initiative to build capacity of the neighborhood organizations and equip them to asset-map their neighborhoods.

As One by One Leadership has grown and matured during the past 10 years, it has been involved in a wide range of projects with others that involved employment of those considered unemployable, health for those that lacked access to doctors, resident leadership in neglected neighborhoods, and afterschool programs for children and youth who were at risk. 

During our next 10 years, One by One Leadership will put all of our efforts toward achieving our mission and vision, working alongside the many other leaders of faith and good will to transform our community.