The Pan Valley Institute
(a project of the American Friends
Service Committee)
The Pan Valley Institute (PVI) was established in 1998
to support immigrants’ participation in the civic
life of California’s Central Valley. By providing
opportunities for immigrants to come together, learn
from each other, and develop strategies for exercising
their rights, PVI seeks to strengthen local democracy
and the voice of immigrants in the Central Valley. The
Pan Valley Institute supports this process by facilitating
popular education workshops and cross cultural relationship
building.
PVI’s guiding principles include the belief that
consciousness building for social change requires vision
and commitment to the long haul. Pan Valley Institute
believes in people’s inherent capacity to solve
their own problems, guide their own learning and arrive
at an understanding by themselves in collaboration with
others. The Institute’s theoretical approach is
that there are no experts; everyone has something to
bring to the table. We are only here to facilitate the
process.
Pan Valley Institute's Current Project Areas:
• PVI sponsors the
Central Valley Partnership’s Tamejavi Festival
and Cultural Exchange Project.
• PVI supports the
Central Valley Partnership’s Civic Action Network
(CAN) by organizing and facilitating gatherings, dialogue,
and learning exchanges that deepen participants understanding
of civic participation. The gatherings focus on an array
of civic engagement strategies and issues including:
community education, institutional change, leadership
development, and cultural expression
•PVI helped build
a network of immigrant women representing different
ethnic communities throughout the Central Valley.
• PVI is currently
conducting an oral history project on Central Valley
Latino organizers and leaders.
Pan Valley Institute
1440 W. Shaw
Fresno, CA 93721
(559) 222-7678
Contact: mnaeras@afsc.org |
