FROM A FELLOWSHIP TO A COHORT
Pass Civics grew from work already happening here.
In summer 2021, A Better Banning ran an eight-week youth fellowship that turned resident input into research, a Community Summit, and a 50-page public report. Chris Castorena III helped lead the program and advised the capstone. That experience later helped inspire Pass Civics, which brought eight neighbors together for its first six-week class in 2025. Discover Banning is the next step.
Banning’s Future Fellowship launches
A Better Banning brings together three young fellows and four team leads for eight weeks of research and resident listening. The work gathers more than 50 responses, leads to Banning’s first youth-led Community Summit at City Hall on August 26, and becomes the 50-page Our Future Banning report.
Pass Civics launches
Pass Community Foundation introduces Pass Civics as a Community Action Lab for civic learning, leadership, and local action.
Six weeks at the Banning Community Center
Eight residents study local government, public meetings, community leadership, and personal action planning with the City of Banning Parks & Recreation Department.
We build the next version
What we learned from the first class leads PCF to create a longer, field-based program with more time for relationships and real-world practice.
Discover Banning begins
A bilingual cohort of 15–20 residents starts an eight-session journey of about seven months, ending with a community action report and Civic Leadership Summit.
POSTCARDS FROM BANNING
A place with a long memory.
These archival postcards are shown in full, with edges, marks, and all. Each one comes from a public collection with clear reuse information.
WHO’S LEADING IT?
Led by someone from here.
Chris Castorena III Discover Banning facilitator
Chris grew up in Banning, graduated from Banning High, helped lead Banning’s Future Fellowship and advised its capstone report, and later facilitated the first Pass Civics class in 2025. His work has focused on community development, workforce initiatives, and helping residents understand the public decisions that affect everyday life.