Economic and Business Development

Transcription

1 Economic and Business Development

2 Launched in 2012, the I Believe in Downtown campaign was a community wide platform to dialogue about downtown Fresno. Following the successful campaign, former Mayor Ashley Swearengin launched the Fresno Presidents Council, an assembly of local executives, aimed at addressing the community s biggest issues, including restoring downtown as a commercial and cultural hub. Joseph A. Castro, president of Fresno State University was included on the council, increasing Fresno State s presence in downtown Fresno. In late 2015, Fresno State opened its Downtown Center to offer a range of educational courses, creating a pivotal partnership between one of Fresno s most important institutions and the city s urban core. Further demonstrating Fresno State s commitment, Dr. Scott Moore, dean of the Division of Continuing and Global Education, was named to the board of the Downtown Fresno Foundation, DFP s 501(c)3 nonprofit organization Background

3 In two years time, downtown Fresno s beer scene has tripled. With this momentum, the Downtown Fresno Partnership (DFP) announced the Downtown Fresno Ale Trail in early DFP held a brainstorming session in summer 2016 to continue the advancement of downtown s craft beer scene. The chosen concept was a training program to incubate ideas and equip home brewers to take the next step. DFP and the Downtown Fresno Foundation leveraged two downtown anchors to implement Brew U. Fresno State s Downtown Center would provide the location and educational framework and Full Circle Brewing Co. would provide the expertise and equipment necessary. Overall, Brew U creates a forward thinking pipeline, allowing the downtown craft beer scene to continue its expansion and integrate new ideas and players. The Plan

4 Brew U was launched at DFP s State of Downtown on Tuesday, March 28, Representatives from Fresno State s Downtown Center and Full Circle Brewing Co announced Craft Beer 101, the first course in the Brew U series. By April 3, less than one week after the program s announcement, all 16 spots in the class were full. When classes began, there was a five person wait list in place. The Outcome

5 Craft Beer 101 takes participants from an introduction of craft beer to the actual fermentation process with a mandatory six session curriculum. Session 1 What is Craft Beer? Session 2 What are the different beer styles? Session 3 Beer Ingredients Session 4 Tune Your Beer Palate Session 5 Clean, Grind, Mash In, and Boil Session 6 Fermentation, Dry Hop, Clean (Optional) Session 7 Taste the Brew U Beer Curriculum

6 Craft Beer 101 is a non credit professional development course featuring an on going discussion about the difference between craft beer and the products of major manufacturers, as well as the history of beer in America before and after prohibition. The course fee is $250 to cover instruction and supply costs. With Full Circle s involvement, these 16 students have the unique opportunity to witness the brewing process on a commercial scale at a functioning, downtown brewery. Curriculum

7 The replication, as well as the expansion of Brew U has a range of opportunities, including the creation of a multi series certificate program. With the strong support shown by the community, Fresno State s Downtown Center is currently looking at hosting another Craft Beer 101 course and developing Craft Beer 201 to allow more community members at different skill levels to participate. With the ever expanding downtown brewery district, though, the possibilities for partnerships are vast as the classes can easily incorporate additional and newer breweries to broaden students exposure and continue to support downtown Fresno s brewing industry. Replication