Applications for resident-led projects supporting the Westside Promise are open now through March 31<\/p>\n
The City of Long Beach is now accepting applications for the second round of mini-grants through the\u00a0Love Your Block program<\/a>, a community driven initiative that empowers residents to improve their neighborhoods. This round of mini-grants will continue to support the City\u2019s Westside Promise Initiative, a 10-year community investment plan to address current and historic challenges facing West Long Beach.<\/p>\n \u201cAs Long Beach continues to invest in resident-driven solutions, Love Your Block plays a vital role in fostering collaboration between local government and community members,\u201d said Mayor Rex Richardson. \u201cBy providing mini-grants and hands-on support, the program helps residents transform public spaces, strengthen neighborhood connections and build pride in their communities. Thank you to the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University for making this initiative possible.\u201d<\/p>\n The Love Your Block program will provide mini-grants of up to $2,500, empowering community members to act and create lasting positive change in their neighborhoods. These mini-grants will support resident-led projects in West Long Beach that reduce exposure to poor indoor and outdoor air quality; promote clean air education, behavior and tools; enhance pedestrian, bicycle and rolling safety; and build community capacity to advocate for street and environmental improvements.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough our Westside Promise, we are creating lasting, meaningful change for our West Long Beach community,\u201d said Vice Mayor and Seventh District Councilmember Roberto Uranga. \u201cThe Love Your Block program supports this initiative by addressing issues such as air quality and transportation, fostering relationships among neighbors and uplifting our entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n Applicants must be Long Beach residents ages 18 or older and propose projects within the 90810 zip code. Nonprofits and businesses can support projects with donations, volunteers or materials. Eligible residents, especially those living in West Long Beach, interested in applying for a mini-grant can learn more and fill out an application\u00a0online<\/a>\u00a0in English, Spanish, Khmer and Tagalog at\u00a0lbcity.info\/LYB-MiniGrantApp<\/a>\u00a0now through Tuesday, March 31.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are excited to welcome more forward-thinking, resident-driven projects aimed at enhancing the quality of life in West Long Beach,\u201d said Lea Eriksen, Technology and Innovation Department Director. \u201cAlready, five groundbreaking initiatives dedicated to cleaner air and enhanced living conditions have been accepted. We invite all residents to share their ideas and take an active role in shaping our city\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n In December 2025, five resident-led projects were\u00a0selected<\/a>\u00a0during the first round of mini-grants. Selected initiatives include Legacy in Bloom, Breath of Fresh Air, Community Bee Apiary, Westside Clean & Green, and Community Garden. Community members interested in supporting these projects by volunteering for a community work day, a resident-led day of action where neighbors, volunteers and City staff come together to implement selected projects, are encouraged to\u00a0complete<\/a>\u00a0a volunteer interest form at\u00a0lbcity.info\/VolunteerLYB.<\/a>\u00a0Volunteers must be 18 years of age or older and have a passion for addressing issues impacting residents, especially in West Long Beach.<\/p>\n Since March 2024, Long Beach has participated in Love Your Block\u2019s two-year civic engagement program, which focuses on trust-building between local governments and residents. Supported by the\u00a0Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University (BCPI),<\/a>\u00a0the program provides $100,000 in funding for resident engagement, two rounds of mini-grants and staffing.<\/p>\n Since its inception, the program has positively impacted nearly 50,000 residents nationwide, improving over 4,000 public spaces\u2013creating almost 800 art displays, cleaning 102,000 square feet of graffiti and removing 6.7 million pounds of trash in cities nationwide. A total of 50 cities across 33 states have received support through the program. Additionally, a\u00a02021 study<\/a>\u00a0by the Urban Institute found that cities participating in Love Your Block were able to strengthen social cohesion among residents, increase civic participation and build stronger relationships with community members, leading to greater trust in local government.<\/p>\n For more information and to apply, visit the Office of Civic Innovation\u00a0webpage<\/a>. Learn more about the Westside Promise at\u00a0longbeach.gov\/wsp.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Applications for resident-led projects supporting the Westside Promise are open now through March 31 The City of Long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[9891,131,133,132,94292,98972,94294],"class_list":{"0":"post-216116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-community-projects","9":"tag-long-beach","10":"tag-long-beach-headlines","11":"tag-long-beach-news","12":"tag-love-your-block","13":"tag-mini-grants","14":"tag-westside-promise"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}