Keith Bergthold

Keith Bergthold
Executive Director, Fresno Metro Ministry

Keith Bergthold is the Executive Director of Fresno Metro Ministry, a faith-based organization that works to create a more respectful, compassionate and inclusive community that promotes social and economic justice. Keith previously served as the Assistant Director of the Planning and Development for the City of Fresno since February 2007. Keith holds a Masters Degree in Organizational Behavior from the School of Professional Psychology in Fresno and a BA Degree in Sociology from California State University, Fresno. Keith was born in Fresno, is proud of it, and believes that the San Joaquin Valley is a gift from God, ordained to be sagaciously developed, or woe be to us and our heirs. Keith loves to read and sometimes composes coherent prose from the back bedroom of the home he shares with his wife Debbie in Clovis. He also loves BMW motorcycles and long rides to Canada, and gratefully travels each day down Highway 168 to explore the possibilities germinating from his current day job as Assistant Director of Planning and Development for the City of Fresno.

[quote]I am passionate and energized about working for the health and prosperity of San Joaquin Valley residents and their communities and cities, and for the preservation and expansion of the Valley’s food system production potential related to the future of agriculture and the capacity of the natural resource base. I care about the economic, social and environmental resilience of Fresno, and am concerned that our disadvantaged neighborhoods cannot create opportunities for residents and local businesses because of high concentrations of poverty, crime, fear, and unemployment. We have serious urban decay that is linked to 68 years of sprawl and neglect of the inner city and downtown. Community change is hard because of a dearth of connections across cultural, ethnic, demographic groups, as well as institutional and business interests. Our currently prevalent ideological polarization serves to foster grid lock rather than positive community change agendas.”[/quote]