Love Your Block<\/a> program in February. Following the application period, which ran from Aug. 27 to Sept. 26, the Office of Civic Innovation led the project selection process; that process included a panel comprising city staff, and candidates were scored on and selected for their proposed project, according to a press release.<\/p>\nThe proposed project had to support reducing exposure to poor indoor and outdoor air quality; promote clean air education, behavior and tools; enhance pedestrian, bicycle and rolling safety; and\/or build community capacity to advocate for street and environmental improvements.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, on Dec. 3, city staffers hosted the Love Your Block Mini-Grant Kickoff meeting, during which they welcomed and on-boarded this year\u2019s five community grant awardees. The event marked the start of the 2025 Love Your Block project cycle and provided an opportunity for staffers and community partners to connect with the grantees, according to a press release.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe impactful initiatives Westside residents are leading not only enhance their environment, but also foster community engagement and pride,\u201d Lea Eriksen, director of the Technology and Innovation Department, said in a statement. \u201cBy promoting cleaner air and addressing safety and quality of life outcomes, we are paving the way for a brighter, healthier future for all residents.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Love Your Block team will work closely with each awardee to support project implementation, connect awardees with appropriate city departments and resources, and ensure alignment with city policies and community goals, officials said.<\/p>\n
Each of the five selected resident-led initiatives will receive mini-grant funding and direct support for city staffers to plan and implement their initiatives by March.<\/p>\n
The five selected initiatives and awarded projects include:<\/p>\n
Legacy in Bloom: Community youth-led tree planting and clean-up initiative engaging local support from West Long Beach schools and residents to improve air quality and neighborhood pride.
\nBreath of Fresh Air: Promoting cleaner air and respiratory health through educational sessions regarding diesel awareness for West Long Beach residents and encouraging a vape trade-in for air purifiers.
\nCommunity Bee Apiary: A new community-led bee sanctuary located in West Long Beach that will focus on supporting plant health, contributing to cleaner air with urban beekeeping and educational resources.
\nWestside Clean & Green: West Long Beach community-led neighborhood clean-up to address urban decay and promote safer, walkable streets, and provide plant and air purifier giveaways for participation.
\nCommunity Garden: A new green space and community garden providing fresh produce and wellness programming to promote healthy eating, mindfulness and outdoor education for local residents of all ages in West Long Beach.<\/p>\n
Residents interested in applying for future rounds of Love Your Block mini-grants are encouraged to follow updates on the Office of Civic Innovation webpage at longbeach.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Beach\u2019s Office of Civic Innovation has selected five community project awardees for the Love Your Block mini-grant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,179,23,131,133,132,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-98990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-community","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-long-beach","12":"tag-long-beach-headlines","13":"tag-long-beach-news","14":"tag-los-angeles-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98990","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=98990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}