Long Beach’s educational strategic plan working to bring equitable opportunities to students – Press Telegram

Long Beach officials say the city is continuing its work to advance equity through education by creating pathways through which students have the opportunity to thrive, learn and achieve their educational goals and aspirations.

These efforts have been guided by the city’s Education Strategy and Partnership Action Plan, which provides a clear and actionable framework to support student success, increase opportunities, and advance Long Beach’s broader goals related to equity, access, workforce development and community well-being.

Last week, city staffers updated the City Council on the strategic plan — highlighting current progress, key initiatives and next steps to strengthen collaboration among educational and community partners in Long Beach.

“This work is grounded in a simple but powerful belief that education opportunity should be aligned, accessible and responsive to the needs of our community,” Leonidas Sloan, education strategy and partnerships manager, said during the Feb. 17 meeting. “Over the past year, our focus has been on strengthening alignment between the city and our educational institutions, ensuring that our efforts are not siloed, but coordinated, strategic and responsive to community need.”

The city plays a critical role, Sloan said, in aligning resources, partnerships and programs so that opportunities are intentionally structured across the city’s educational continuum –  Long Beach Unified School District, Long Beach City College, Cal State Long Beach and the local workforce.

The action plan has three focus areas, including strengthening and expanding community partnerships and ensuring alignment between the city’s educational institutions and community-based organizations. This includes deepening collaboration, improving coordination and building shared accountability around student outcomes, according to the staff presentation.

The second focus area is prioritizing citywide career and workforce development. This includes aligning educational pathways with economic opportunity and local workforce needs to ensure students are not only prepared academically, Sloan said — but are also positioned for long-term economic mobility.

The third area emphasizes empowerment and connectedness, such as strengthening student voice, increasing parent and community engagement, and creating more seamless systems of support across institutions.

“While distinct, these focus areas are intentionally interconnected,” Sloan said. “They create a more coordinated and responsive educational ecosystem.”

Long Beach has made progress in these areas over the last year, he said.

The launch of the Long Beach College Promise Ambassador program, for example, has helped build stronger relationships with local organizations, schools and higher education institutions, according to the staff presentation. The program is made up of current student leaders who help promote and raise awareness of the Long Beach College Promise – which supports and guides students from local elementary school through college and onto their careers.

Destiny Rodriguez, an LBCC student completing her final year, with majors in sociology and psychology, is part of the ambassador program; she will transfer to CSULB in the fall. Through her role as an ambassador, Rodriguez works directly with students and families to break down financial and systemic barriers to higher education, ensuring they understand the “promise” and the opportunities available to them, according to the staff presentation.

“I’ve experienced firsthand the level of support available when you understand the pathway and take advantage of it,” Rodriguez said during the council meeting. “It provides structure, guidance and a clear direction forward. That’s why increasing awareness about the Long Beach College Promise in our community matters.

“When we make the pathway clear, students rise to meet it,” she added. “That is the impact of a Long Beach College Promise.”

Long Beach has also worked on increasing parent and community engagement by developing workshops and informational resources to inform families about educational pathways, partnering with LBUSD for student Decision Day, and celebrating graduating seniors and distributing 2,900 specialized graduation stoles to recognize college-bound students, Sloan said.

There has also been success with the Long Beach Public Service Corps, Sloan said. The corps is an internship program that expands opportunities to students and recent graduates to develop career paths into public service, according to the city’s website.

Through the strategic plan and collaboration between educational partners, the city also relaunched the Long Beach College and Career Expo last year. There were 63 college booths and 70 career booths. Eleven LBUSD schools participated, and 2,300 students and families attended, according to the staff presentation.

The city is also working to support the return of certification for My Brother’s Keeper Long Beach, an initiative that addresses persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color. This initiative reinforces the city’s commitment to equity, leadership development and connectedness, Sloan said.

In moving forward with the Education Strategy and Partnership Action Plan, the city’s focus will be on sustaining momentum and strengthening long-term impact, he added.

Long Beach will continue to pursue new funding opportunities aligned directly with the strategic plan’s priorities and actively seek supplemental grant funding to advance key initiatives. For fiscal year 2026, the City Council allocated $40,000 to support implementation efforts that advance selected strategies within the plan, but the amount is budgeted as a one-time allocation in Measure US funds, according to a staff report.

There will also be a continued effort to coordinate across city departments to better mobilize resources and align policy efforts with the plan’s objectives, Sloan said. Partnership efforts with LBUSD, LBCC and CSULB will continue to identify and onboard eligible student ambassadors and expand outreach capacity.

“Together, this work strengthens Long Beach’s educational pipeline,” Sloan said, “and ensures students have clear and supportive pathways to opportunity.”