Mayor Jerry Dyer is building Fresno’s economy beyond the farm

Fresno, California is smack-dab in the middle of the state, a city surrounded by farmland, seen by many as just the half-way point between San Francisco and Los Angeles. But Fresno is the 9th most diverse city in the nation. And its population and history is deeply shaped by Indigenous communities like Mixtecs and Zapotecs, Chicano farmworkers, and large Southeast Asian communities too. Fresno has historically been a city whose story has been told by outside forces — agribusiness interests, state planners, commercial media, national narratives that flatten its complexity. All season, we've been asking “who has the power to shape their city?” And a city like Fresno is the perfect place to ask: whose story gets to shape the way things work? Whose story is this city?To kick off our Fresno City Series, Kresge President and CEO, Rip Rapson, sits down with Jerry Dyer – Fresno’s 26th mayor and its longest-serving police chief before that – for a conversation at the historic Warnors Theater. Mayor Dyer shares:What makes Fresno “four cities in one,”How Interstate 5 was routed to bypass the Central Valley and the economic isolation that followedChanges, advancements and challenges in the agricultural economy that built the regionThe benefits he sees in blending the long-standing agricultural economy with a developing manufacturing economy. His ambitious downtown and Chinatown revitalization plans he hopes will define his legacy. Plus culinary districts, adaptive reuse housing projects, brewery districts, and more. And before Mayor Dyer and Rip Rapson dive in, Co-hosts Tracey and Jamie share some good news about the PathBreakers podcast.Next episode (out September 16th) we meet the first of our three featured Fresno PathBreakers.  Each of our upcoming guests are leading projects and building systems across Fresno for cultural inclusion and preservation. Next week we’ll talk to Hugo Morales of Radio Bilingüe. Hugo built a community and cultural news radio station from scratch when he realized his community – and Fresno’s half-million farmworkers – couldn’t get programming in their own languages. Subscribe to PathBreakers on [Spotify] | [Apple Podcasts] | [YouTube]Learn more about Mayor Dyer: https://www.fresno.gov/mayor/Listen to all of Season 2 at https://pathbreakers.kresge.orgHost: Rip Rapson, President & CEO, Kresge FoundationCo-Hosts: Tracey Pearson and Jamie BennettProducer: Juliet HinelyManaging Editor: Krista JahnkeProduction support: Jennifer Kulczycki and Tracey PearsonVideo interview captured and edited by by Meza StudioLogo animation: Collin LeixSpecial thanks on this episode to Nicole Owens and her team at the Warnors Theater, Jennifer Kulczycki Director of External Affairs and Communications at Kresge, and to Kresge’s American Cities and Arts Programs, especially Kara Elliott-Ortega and Katie Van Dusen.Thanks for listening! And please stay tuned for more from Fresno.