People’s State of the City Event to Advocate for Long Beach To Be A Sanctuary

Long Beach, CA

Building Healthy Communities, a funded 10-year public health initiative by the California Endowment, LAANE (Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy), and other groups are advocating for “Long Beach to be a sanctuary that protects residents and embraces our diversity,” according to their advisory notice of the upcoming event People’s State of the City.

The 6th Annual People’s State of the City will be held on Wednesday April 5th, at First Congregation Church located at 241 Cedar Avenue, in Downtown Long Beach, an area undergoing a transformation with an influx of higher income residents moving in.

Amber Rose Howard, one of the speakers for this year’s program states “Since the November 2016 election, the combination of the federal government’s actions, the continued policing of our community’s most vulnerable instead of social and emotional support, and the lack of real policy action from our local leaders have had chilling effects on low-income families of color.”

People’s State of the City is organized by Long Beach Rising who according to their website “is a civic engagement program in partnership with local organizations to promote civic participation, alliance building, voter engagement, and community organizing amongst communities historically marginalized from the political process, including low-income communities.”

Some of Long Beach Rising’s more locally well known member organizations include:

  • Housing Long Beach
  • Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)
  • Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs and  Healthy Community
  • Unite Here Local 11
  • Filipino Migrant Center
  • The LGBTQ Center of Long Beach
  • Khmer Girls in Action
Photo of graduates of Long Beach Rising’s 2015 training. Pictured to the right, 2nd District Council member Jeannine Pearce, and former City Clerk Maria de la Luz Garcia who resigned earlier this year.

Extensive community outreach to bring individuals to People’s State of the City were coordinated with recruited volunteers canvassing neighborhoods as seen in this picture:

People’s State of the City community fair starts at 5:00pm with an indoor program beginning at 6:30pm

For more information on People’s State of the City Event, click here

For more information on Building Healthy Communities, click here

For more information on LAANE, click here