June 2024 Highlights

Volunteers and interns from all walks of life join our team to become mentors to youth and support staff with their programs. We couldn’t do all of the great work we do without them and we do our best to provide a well-rounded experience to help them learn and grow while they’re with us. Thank you to all of the amazing volunteers and interns we walk alongside with to do this great work!

02.2024 Focus Forward Newsletter Now Available

visualizing a different future

On February 23rd, the Reentry team had the amazing opportunity to take 4 youth to visit the UC Merced campus. The youth toured inside lab buildings, visited the dorms and ate a buffet style meal for lunch at one of the two dinning halls. The visit was particularly impactful for one youth, who after visiting wants to apply for the fall semester! A big shout to Fresno County Probation for approving and supervising this field trip!

Focus Forward's COVID-19 Update

Focus Forward’s COVID-19 Update - 10.5.2020

Focus Forward offices at the Juvenile Justice Campus and our community site remain closed to the public. However, in light of the improvements in COVID cases and positivity rates in Fresno County, we are working diligently to develop a reopening plan to allow for some in-person services at our new community site in Fresno. Our reopening plan will follow all safety precautions set by local, state and national guidelines. We hope to begin offering in-person services BY APPOINTMENT ONLY beginning in the last week of October.

Please call our main line at (559) 600-4961 for more information.

At this time, staff and mentors are working remotely from home and will continue to support youth and families during the pandemic with virtual services. To connect with a staff member, visit our Contacts page found in the top menu.

Thank you and stay safe.

Summer Poetry and Painting Workshop

There is no better way to get to know yourself and your capabilities than creating!

Join Lorena Orozco and Melissa Noriego for a life changing Summer Workshop:

Introduction to Poetry with a Focus on Free Verse and Free Writing & Expressive Painting and Drawing

Offered to all Focus Forward clients

A poem by Lorena Orozco

i hear the bells ringing

of my demise, ringing with my

doom -

  • and instead of alerting the guards i

let them ring and ring and

r i n g - -

i watch from above the town, above my

mind,

the colors and the

light leaving my eyes

i hear their subtle yet pounding march,

their unstoppable steps of lead and my

inevitable end.


i make music out of it,

singing gently,

singing softly as they come -

  • my voice the bell

ringing inside their minds as they steal

mine -