Fresno State student Gabriel Yanez, a second-year master’s student in social work, wanted to bring awareness to the violence affecting individuals, families and communities in the United States, and advocate for change within the community.

“I want to help build communities. I want to inspire people. I want to make a change, whether it be at a personal level or as a collective,” Yanez said.

With support from the Latino-Hmong Mental Health Initiative and the Cross-Cultural and Gender Center (CCGC) at Fresno State, Yanez hosted “Sustain.” It was a workshop on violence in America, and was held in Room 135 of the North Gym on Thursday.

Yanez said this workshop was inspired by the prevalence of violence within the Central Valley, and it has pushed him to address the problem at Fresno State.

He said violence in America has a domino effect on numerous other issues, and he wants more people to realize that too in “Sustain.”

“Issues like toxic masculinity, emotional manipulation, stalking and poor communication skills are all cut from the same cloth as violence,” Yanez said.

“That was the influence behind ‘Sustain.’ I want to give this message of hope to others, that we can tackle this problem through awareness and sustenance. The power of humanity is strong when we do it together,” he said.

Yanez noted the workshop saw around 60 participants, who started the event with icebreakers as they broke out into discussion groups. These discussion groups would then delve into deeper issues about violence in their communities and in the U.S.

The workshop was also supervised by Fresno State assistant social work professor Marcus Crawford, who helped facilitate Yanez’s presentation on his culminating experience within Fresno State’s graduate program.

“I have to give most of the credit to [Yanez]. He conceptualized the idea of this project and brought it to life perfectly,” Crawford said.

Crawford also gave credit for the event to CCGC, for helping with venue booking, online check-ins and advertising of the event.

“At the end of this all, my dream is to see a collective community; a unified America,” Yanez said.

“But it has to start from the ground up, and that starts with a collaborative Fresno.”