U.S. Census Bureau<\/a>. For several years, advocates had asked the city to dedicate a space for the city\u2019s Latino community, which is now finally getting ready to open its doors.<\/p>\nIn 2019, as part of the fiscal year 2020 budget, the City Council authorized $50,000 to support outreach efforts for the Latino Cultural Center. City departments partnered with Centro CHA to implement a robust community engagement process and cultural planning firm Lord Cultural Resources to draft a business plan to guide the center\u2019s development, according to the staff report.<\/p>\n
In November 2020, 50 community leaders were invited to serve on the Latino Cultural Center Steering Committee, helping launch numerous visioning sessions in 2021, the staff report said. They focused on developing an operating vision and feasibility plan that would guide the facility, management structure and programming, and engaged organizations and focus groups in both English and Spanish.<\/p>\n
City staff, Centro CHA and Lord Cultural Resources presented a draft operational business plan that outlined the vision, governance, programming framework and financial considerations for the Latino Cultural Center to the City Council in 2021. In that presentation, Centro CHA was identified as the lead nonprofit for the center.<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since then, we\u2019ve been working with (Executive Director Jessica Quintana) and the team to identify the right location and plan to bring that vision to life,\u201d Tyler Bonanno-Curley, deputy city manager, said during the meeting. \u201cWe looked at a number of different locations, but identified Jenny Oropeza Community Center as the best location given the physical space. There was an interest in using both the indoor and outdoor amphitheater spaces, the kitchen, a number of things that are at the community center, as opposed to having to develop a new facility within the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Centro CHA has already been providing services and programming at the site as well, Bonanno-Curley said. In 2021, the City Council authorized entering into a facility use permit with the nonprofit to provide various services and programming, such as immigration legal services, adult English as a second language classes, reentry services, and workforce and small business development services.<\/p>\n
Under the new agreement, Centro CHA will focus its efforts on the Latino Cultural Center moving forward, Bonanno-Curley said, and will share the space with the city\u2019s Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine, which will also provide additional programming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe agreement provides specifics around city oversight, financial reporting requirements, and creating different accounting mechanisms between the Latino Cultural Center and Centro CHA and their other operations,\u201d Bonanno-Curley added. \u201cAny earned revenues that come through the Latino Cultural Center will be reinvested in the programming and activations at the site, and again, this will be for arts and culture, educational programming, community gathering, civic engagement, a number of different cultural exhibits and programming moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The facility is designed to serve the entire community, city staff said. It supports the city\u2019s commitment to inclusive community development, cultural enrichment and equitable access to resources while strengthening partnerships with local nonprofits and community leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot thank enough Centro CHA and our Latino community for all the patience, all the ideas, all of the hard work that has gone into it,\u201d First District Councilmember Mary Zendejas said. \u201cIt\u2019s moments like this that we have to stand strong as a city, as a community, to make sure that we uplift one of our special moments in the history of our city. Thank you, everyone, for everything that you have done to make this partnership work, and I can\u2019t wait to see all the wonderful things that are going to come of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several community members and representatives of Centro CHA spoke during public comment to voice their support and gratitude for the center.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn behalf of Centro CHA and our board of directors, we just want to thank the city for this public-private partnership,\u201d Quintana said. \u201cWe are making history today, folks, history, and just because we\u2019re the first to come doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re the last to come. This is a great partnership that we\u2019re putting together in our community for the Latino Cultural Center.\u201d<\/p>\n
Residents also highlighted how the cultural center would bring a sense of belonging to the community during a time when the Latino community has faced many disparities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe it is detrimental for the young voices of Long Beach to have somewhere they can confidently say, I belong here,\u201d said city resident and Cal State Long Beach student Joel Gomez. \u201cAs a young person in Long Beach, I believe the center would help in aiding our community by providing a space, which not only reminds us of our cultural roots, but educates us on them. Beyond providing an essential location for Latino culture and identity to thrive, the Latino Cultural Center will serve as a foundation for cultivation and talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilmembers thanked the community for showing their support, and many acknowledged the significance of having a space for cultural preservation. They also shared how long it had taken for a space like this to exist, which dates back to the leadership of Centro de la Raza<\/a> \u2013 an organization that played a crucial role in galvanizing Long Beach\u2019s Chicano movement and advocating for the community in the 1960s and beyond.<\/p>\nThe Long Beach City Council approved the amended facility use permit with Centro CHA to operate the Latino Cultural Center with an 8-0 vote.<\/p>\n
Next steps for the cultural center include investments into the Jenny Oropeza Community Center and Cesar Chavez Park, Bonanno-Curley said. This includes signage to commemorate the partnership, structural improvements and updates to the restrooms.<\/p>\n
Over multiple budget cycles, the city has identified and set aside about $4.5 million for infrastructure investment into the site. The Public Works Department is also actively working to identify additional funding that is needed to support additional improvements to the center and park space, according to the staff report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Beach\u2019s Latino community will soon have a long-awaited space to share culture and art \u2014 and build…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,179,23,131,133,132,137],"class_list":["post-314427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-california","tag-community","tag-local-news","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314427","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=314427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}