September 2026 is our thirtieth anniversary. We started as a small newsletter responding to the AFL-CIO national office’s call to build a labor and community alliance to support immigrant workers, see them as allies and help organize the unorganized.
This publication worked to break through silos that kept progressive activists apart. We distributed the paper in union halls and to the members of community groups.
The peace and social justice calendar helped build unity. It showed what organized labor was doing in Fresno and immigrant rights groups gave labor activists insights into other initiatives happening in Fresno. The silos began to crumble.
From Information To Policy Change
The first breakthrough article in Labor/Community Alliance was about the horrific working conditions of sheepherders in Fresno County. Alliance photographer Chris Schneider connected us with the workers and journalist Scott Moore wrote an article that earned a New California Media Award for Central Valley Reporting. After this information reached Sacramento, new rights for sheepherders were passed.
In 2006, a series of investigative articles about homelessness helped lead to a victory for the class action lawsuit Kincaid v. City of Fresno providing compensation to the victims and a change in public policy.
The wreaking crews of the city were no longer able to take and immediately destroy peoples’ property. This was a huge victory for people experiencing homelessness, giving them the dignity and respect they deserve and forcing the city to uphold their Constitutional rights.
This was followed by an investigative piece called “Freefall into Madness” written by Fresno State journalism students and published in Community Alliance in 2013. They uncovered that the Fresno County Jail regularly denied inmates with mental health issues their doctor-prescribed anti-psycotic drugs or substituted them for a cheaper alternative that did not address their symptoms.
As a result, many inmates lost their ability to defend themselves in court and were transferred to a state mental hospital where they were given the correct medication. However, when they returned to the Fresno County Jail, they were again denied their prescribed medication and so the cycle continued.
The ramifications were obvious and dangerous to everyone involved. The courts agreed and Hall v. County of Fresno resulted in a remedial plan overseen by the federal courts. The medical director was removed and her jail security pass revoked and the chief psychiatrist faced medical board discipline including five years of probation.
The Dark Side Of Printing Progressive News
Printing these types of stories comes with many challenges. Among them, was when our newsstand in front of the Fresno County Jail kept disappearing. After replacing it multiple times, we eventually put a GPS tracker inside and soon discovered an inconvenient truth—the Sheriff’s department was stealing our newsstands and putting them in dumpsters.
One was found on the Sheriff’s department property in the old industrial section of downtown Fresno. Sheriff Margaret Mims had a deputy show me video surveillance of the crime.
Eventually we won and the newsstand is back in front of the Fresno County jail, now bolted to the sidewalk. But the question remains—who are you going to call when it is the Sheriff’s department stealing from you?
We have also been banned, believe it or not, from the Fresno County Library for being “too controversial.” When it was pointed out that the library has Mein Kampf and the Communist Manifesto on their shelves the argument began to crumble.
The library’s second line of defense was that we endorse political candidates which was incompatible with their use of public space. It was pointed out that The Fresno Bee endorses candidates but copies of The Bee are always available.
Community Alliance does not endorse candidates. We do run articles about candidates’ positions on issues of public concern and we publish a grid showing what groups have endorsed which candidates. We provide information from the Republican Party, the Chamber of Commerce, The Democratic Party, Planned Parenthood and more giving readers an opportunity to see who their values align with and decide for themselves who to vote for. The Fresno County Library relented and our paper is back on the shelves.
Keep The Free Press Alive
You know the value of independent, local and progressive news and without your support we will cease to exist. If you appreciate the work that Community Alliance is doing in this community, now is the time to support us in our fundraising drive—30 Years of Pages Against the Regime. Help keep the Free Press alive!
