What do Long Beach\u2019s leaders think about our city? What\u2019s good? What\u2019s bad? What can we do about it?<\/p>\n
An organization called the Long Beach Church Collective decided earlier this year to explore that topic. Before we get into what they discovered, let me provide a little background.<\/p>\n
The Long Beach Church Collective formed just before the COVID pandemic hit. The idea was to provide support \u2013 both spiritual and material \u2013 to the many churches in and around our city. When COVID began its destructive 18-month reign, that material support took on life-and-death importance.<\/p>\n
I began writing about the Church Collective back then. One of my good friends, Pastor Tim Culling, joined the staff there, and I got to know more about them. Once we made it past COVID, the group turned back to community building, including a citywide volunteer work day called Love Our City. I played a small role in the inaugural event last year, and will be volunteering again this year.<\/p>\n
This is a Christ-based outfit with one goal \u2013 to support our community and faith leaders as Jesus Christ would. At least that\u2019s the way I see them.<\/p>\n
So back to what Pastor Eric Marsh (the executive director) and his team dubbed the City Leader Listening Tour. They started with an expansive definition of city leader \u2013 there were some elected officials, but there were more community leaders from churches, nonprofit organizations and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Fifty-two interviews later, the team decided it was time to see what they learned. Last week, they released their findings at a lunch, and asked attendees what we (yes, I was there) thought we should do about it.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with the good. A majority of the interviewees said they love the diversity of Long Beach\u2019s people, and how community-minded they are \u2013 for both the city as a whole and their own, smaller communities. It\u2019s hard to beat the weather, and the location between Los Angeles and Orange County is great.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a cliche, I know, but almost everyone mentions the \u201csmall town feel\u201d even if we\u2019re a big city (around 450,000 people, the 45th largest in the country). I think that means people talk to each other, and believe they can make a difference, at least in their immediate community.<\/p>\n
The next two questions are two sides of the same coin \u2013 what are your dreams for Long Beach, and what are the biggest challenges? In most cases, the dreams equate to the challenges being solved.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s broken in Long Beach? There is a list, but for almost all those interviewed, number one is homelessness. People living on the streets, in cars, along the rivers or in shelters who struggle to stay alive, let alone be a part of society.<\/p>\n
Several of the other issues on the problem list are or can be related to homelessness. Economic disparity is on top of that list. Homelessness happens when people can\u2019t afford to pay the rent for the most basic of necessities. A woman at my table made the point well. \u201cIf it comes down to feeding my kids or paying the rent, I\u2019m going to feed my kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that means there soon won\u2019t be a roof over their heads.<\/p>\n
Define affordable housing for me. I don\u2019t think $2,000 a month for a one-bedroom apartment qualifies, do you?<\/p>\n
Mental health issues and addiction to drugs and alcohol made the list for many. It\u2019s tough to be gainfully employed under those circumstances, and the downward spiral is far too common without help.<\/p>\n
The reasons for crime \u2013 another real problem in Long Beach \u2013 are many; almost as many as the reasons for homelessness. Economic disparity is one, but there are other factors, too.<\/p>\n
The list goes on. But this isn\u2019t just an exercise to come up with problems. We need to come up with solutions.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no one answer. Short of the Second Coming and Heaven on Earth, I don\u2019t think there is a total solution. But we can make things better.<\/p>\n
Suggestions include more collaboration \u2013 there is strength in numbers. Better coordination among existing services, a longtime goal of the MultiService Center and other city initiatives, continues to be a need. Early intervention can help, and a focus on helping children learn to succeed may avoid later problems.<\/p>\n
The best takeaway I heard was perhaps the hardest. Stay committed to doing something to make things better.<\/p>\n
I asked Pastor Marsh why this whole exercise mattered. Here is his answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope more people will work together. It\u2019s hard to collaborate with someone you\u2019ve never met.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also think that 10 years from now, we may look back and be surprised by a thing or two that began at this lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Give it some thought. Long Beach is your city. Long Beach is my city. How can we make it better?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What do Long Beach\u2019s leaders think about our city? What\u2019s good? What\u2019s bad? What can we do about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,8462,8461,131,133,132,137,3738],"class_list":["post-452193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-california","tag-grunion-opinion","tag-grunion-pinch-of-salt","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-the-grunion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452193","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=452193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}