A brief welcoming speech was given at the May 2026 California Stewardship Network Exchange in Fresno. I had the honor of participating as a Fellow in the Becky Morgan Steward Leadership Program, which brings together regional leaders to share resources and ideas. The short speech was intended as a simple dinner greeting, but it illuminated the inspiration in the community and came up again and again in later conversations. What stuck with me most, like a little barnacle in my brain, was the topic “Mindset and Money” or alternatively “Money Follows Mindset”.
Here’s the gist. The speaker, a former mayor of Fresno, pointed out that Fresno has historically had both a thinking problem and a resource problem. A strong cynicism took hold and residents felt that their community was stuck in certain circumstances. “It’s just us” thinking. “We simply have polluted air.” “We simply have a personnel problem.” Negativity was sometimes brandished as a kind of protective intellectualism and hopeful ideas were dismissed as unrealistic and naive. The speaker boldly asserts that “cynicism is cowardice” and adds color to this statement by saying, “It is a fear of disappointment…a fear of failure…a fear of looking foolish.” In fact, when people are inspired and take action, investment often follows. Money follows mindset. During the exchange, the community took part in a tour of the infrastructure-related improvements taking place in downtown Fresno. It felt like confirmation that the change in mindset had produced results.
Disclaimer: I have never been accused of having a Pollyanna perspective or being belligerently positive. My successes often come from the ability to visualize and avoid worst-case scenarios. My main tasks include underwriting financial services for companies. This also includes bringing to light gaps in business plans and forecasts so that they do not have a negative impact, but rather to have a greater chance of success. In my industry, positive thinking instead of preparation and planning can be a red flag.
But this short speech got me thinking. What might happen if more of Humboldt changed his thinking to match that of his more inspired public servants? What would happen if we all had a “why not” perspective? Why not Humboldt? Why can’t we be the coolest place for remote workers? Why can’t we someday be known as the place that once had such a big health problem but solved it? Why can’t we be the place that welcomes the new economy while protecting valuable resources, all with fair processes? We have a large inventory of old apartments. Why can’t we become known as the easiest place to build additional housing units for families to house their elderly relatives or provide student housing? We’re small, but that means we could be nimble. We don’t always have resource consistency, but that means we could be adaptable. We have accessibility issues, but so do most rare gems.
There are smart, courageous people everywhere who wake up with a spark of inspiration to do something good, support a local group or start a business. We see it all the time at North Edge (yes, even in this economy). In particular, it is not always just people who already have resources or a professional background. All kinds of people live, invest and build here because they want to, because they love it or because they have roots here. Sometimes momentum just takes someone willing to take a risk, do the appropriate due diligence, and then get started!
Hannah Joy is a Humboldt native who works at North Edge: Business Financing and Community Development in Eureka after running a small business for many years. She’s glad she wrote this column without any AI assistance, after a spark of inspiration to see if she could still do it. Let her know what you think at hannah@northedgefinancing.org.
https://www.times-standard.com/2026/07/05/business-sense-money-and-mindset/
