New episodes ask who gets to tell Fresno’s story — and who has the power to shape what comes next

Fresno has always been a city carried forward by the people who make its culture, tell its stories, and hold its institutions accountable — multilingual broadcasters who built their own airwaves when no one else would, Indigenous organizers preserving language and tradition as a living practice, and local journalists making city government legible to the residents it serves. This month, PathBreakers turns its attention to the Central Valley, asking the same question we’ve asked in Detroit and Memphis and will keep asking in New Orleans: Who has power to shape what happens in their city?

Episode 1: Mayor Jerry Dyer

We begin at Fresno City Hall. Mayor Jerry Dyer is leading a city betting hundreds of millions of dollars on downtown investment to define its future. In conversation with Kresge President & CEO Rip Rapson, Mayor Dyer talks about that bet — and about whose Fresno gets built as the city transforms, and who gets to tell that story.

New episodes release throughout the month, turning to three Fresno leaders shaping the city’s culture, voice, and accountability:

Episode 2: Hugo Morales, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Radio Bilingüe

In 1976, Hugo Morales and an all-volunteer team of farmworkers, former farmworkers, and artists set out to build something Fresno didn’t yet have: a Spanish-language station that was actually Latino-owned. Nearly 50 years later, Radio Bilingüe broadcasts commercial-free in Spanish, English, and Mixteco across 30 stations in six states — and is now building a new community plaza in Fresno’s Tower District.

Episode airs Sept. 16.

Episode 3: Dr. Sarait Martinez, Executive Director of CBDIO (Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño)

For Fresno’s Indigenous farmworker communities, cultural preservation isn’t heritage work — it’s survival. Dr. Sarait Martinez is building the infrastructure that makes it possible, and her conversation asks what it means for a city to make room for the languages and traditions its residents are working to keep alive.

Episode airs Sept. 23.

Episode 4: Danielle Bergstrom, Founder & Executive Director of Fresnoland

Danielle Bergstrom left a career in city planning to build the local newsroom she believed Fresno’s underserved communities never had. Fresnoland is a newsroom with a mission not just to share information but to shape the city through reporting that ensures residents have access to facts that can inform policy debates.

Episode airs Sept 30.