Fresno Pacific Center Wins $1.3 Million to Boost Rural Small Businesses

Fresno Pacific University’s Center for Community Transformation (CCT) announced on Jan. 5 that it had secured more than $1.3 million in new grant funding to expand services for rural communities in Fresno and adjacent Tulare County. The awards include a $1 million grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. alongside federal USDA funds, and are earmarked for entrepreneurship training, a Rural Ignite Business Accelerator, scholarships and new Spanish-language certificate offerings.

The influx of funding is intended to broaden the center’s existing LaunchPad entrepreneurship coursework and scale the Rural Ignite Business Accelerator into more towns where business support and training have been limited. CCT Executive Director Carlos Huerta said the center will listen to community needs, expand business support tracks and broaden outreach in rural communities such as Dinuba, Cutler-Orosi and Kerman. The center plans to use scholarships to lower financial barriers for residents seeking training and certification.

For Fresno County’s rural neighborhoods, the grants represent immediate investment in human capital and small business formation. Entrepreneurship programs can shorten the time between idea and market entry for locally owned firms, increase self-employment opportunities and help agricultural businesses diversify revenue streams. Spanish-language certificate programs address a longstanding access gap for Spanish-speaking residents, improving pathways into formal business ownership and management training.

The mix of federal and philanthropic funding signals complementary policy priorities: USDA support reflects federal interest in rural economic development and community resilience, while the Lilly Endowment award underscores private philanthropy’s role in seeding regional innovation. For county planners and economic development officials, the CCT’s expanded programming could help retain local talent, support microenterprises and provide measurable outcomes such as new business registrations, workforce certifications and jobs created.

Longer term, successful expansion of the Rural Ignite accelerator and LaunchPad coursework could create a pipeline of entrepreneurs equipped to operate in Fresno County’s largely agricultural economy, helping shift some economic activity toward value-added services and small-scale manufacturing. Key indicators to watch will include enrollment figures in the new Spanish-language offerings, the number of accelerator graduates who launch sustainable businesses, and scholarship distribution across targeted communities.

The grants take effect following the Jan. 5 announcement, and CCT officials say rollout of expanded courses and accelerator cohorts will follow as program logistics and community consultations conclude. For residents in Dinuba, Cutler-Orosi, Kerman and other rural areas, the funding promises more local access to training, mentoring and financial support that can translate into new businesses and stronger local economies.