COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT · EQUITY-BASED PLANNING
FRESNO, CALIFORNIA
Fresno Unified School District
A four-part community engagement and equity analysis framework that centers history, data, and human story as the foundation for equitable facilities investment — built on RSSC's ongoing racial and equity literacy partnership with the district's Board of Trustees.
ABOUT THIS ENGAGEMENT
A Continuation of Partnership
RSSC's engagement with Fresno Unified School District grew from an established relationship rooted in racial and equity literacy work with the district's Board of Trustees. When FUSD leadership sought to bring that same equity lens to facilities planning — ensuring that capital investment decisions would be grounded in both data and community voice — RSSC was the natural choice to lead the work.
The engagement was designed not as a standalone analysis, but as a community-building process: one that would generate both the technical tools and the community trust needed for equitable facilities decision-making over the long term.
"History matters. Data matters. Stories matter. And when communities can see themselves in all three — together, at the same table — something changes in how a district makes decisions about its schools."
CONTEXT
Understanding Fresno
Fresno Unified serves one of California's largest and most diverse student populations — predominantly Latino, Black, and low-income students from communities across the Central Valley with deep histories of environmental, economic, and educational inequity.
EQUITY DATA SOURCES APPLIED
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CDC Social Vulnerability Index — neighborhood-level vulnerability indicators
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Berkeley Opportunity Index — opportunity mapping across Fresno communities
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Harvard Opportunity Atlas — long-range economic mobility data by neighborhood
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California LCAP data — district academic equity indicators
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Facility Condition Index (FCI) — campus-by-campus physical condition data
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Demographic data: race/ethnicity, income, poverty, disability, technology access
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Historical redlining maps and pattern analysis of investment and disinvestment
THE FRAMEWORK
Four Parts. One Community Foundation.
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RSSC designed a four-part sequential framework for FUSD — each part building on the last, culminating in a comprehensive community foundation for equity-based facilities investment:
PART ONE
History and Data Matter
A deep historical analysis of how investment and disinvestment have shaped current facility conditions across FUSD — connecting the present to the patterns of redlining, policy decisions, and community inequity that produced it. Combined with a comprehensive equity data analysis using the Facility Condition Index, LCAP indicators, California Dashboard data, and multiple neighborhood equity indices.
This foundational analysis produces a written historical narrative that gives the district a shared factual basis for understanding why conditions are the way they are — before any prioritization decisions are made.
PART TWO
Stories Matter
Qualitative inquiry that amplifies the voices of those closest to the conditions. RSSC conducted staff and board interviews, community listening sessions, and a "root cause convening" — a facilitated dialogue designed to surface the systemic factors that have produced current inequities. This phase analyzed patterns of disinvestment through both quantitative data and lived experience.
The phase culminates in an interactive web tool and storyboard, hosted by FUSD, that maps Fresno neighborhoods by indicators of High Segregation & Poverty and Low Resources — making visible the geographic dimensions of educational inequity in a publicly accessible format.
PART THREE
Collaboration Matters
Four community listening sessions held across FUSD's trustee areas, followed by two follow-up workshops — ensuring that every geographic community of the district has a direct voice in the facilities equity process. RSSC partners with community-based organizations (CBOs) to reach families and communities that traditional engagement processes miss.
This phase produces the core community documents that will anchor the district's equitable investment decision-making: a Guiding Principles document co-developed with community, a "What We Heard" summary report, and a full Web-based Story Map.
PART THREE
Outcomes and Implementation Matter
The culminating phase translates community voice and equity analysis into actionable tools for the district's ongoing facilities decision-making. A facilities steering committee is established; an equity rubric is finalized; and the tools developed throughout the engagement are applied directly to FUSD's capital project portfolio — so equity is embedded in actual investment decisions, not held separately as a report.
This phase also builds the district's communications and public accountability infrastructure, ensuring that the community engagement process is documented and that future decisions can be held accountable to the commitments made during the planning process.
TIMELINE
Project Milestones`
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December 2023 — Proposal submitted; framework developed
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January 2024 — Contract approval; project launch
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February–May 2024 — Parts 1 & 2 (Historical Analysis, Listening Sessions)
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June–September 2024 — Parts 3 & 4 (Community Collaboration, Implementation Tools)
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November 2024 — Final board presentation and public rollout
PROJECT DETAILS
DISTRICT
Fresno Unified School District
LOCATION
Fresno, California
PROPOSAL DATE
December 4, 2023
PROJECT LAUNCH
January 2024
FINAL PRESENTATION
November 2024
STATUS
✓ Completed
FRAMEWORK
PART 1
History and Data Matter
PART 2
Stories Matter
PART 3
Collaboration Matters
PART 4
Outcomes and Implementation Matter
COMMUNITY CONTENT
FUSD LEAD
Alex Belanger, Chief Executive, Facilities Management & Planning
RSSC LEAD
Dr. Regina Stanback Stroud
SERVICE PROVIDED
Historical Analysis · Equity Data Integration · Community Listening Sessions · CBO Partnership · Story Map Development · Equity Index · Guiding Principles · Public Engagement Toolkit · Stakeholder Mapping · Communications Collateral