Collective Impact in North Long Beach is Underway

What a wonderful opportunity to witness the beginning of North Long Beach’s community pathway to prosperity. It started with community members coming together, and sharing ideas and aspirations at the North Long Beach Community Dialogue hosted by United Way of Greater Los Angeles on March 15 in Long Beach.

Nearly 50 community leaders and residents gathered to foster relationships, learn about the community’s strengths and economic power, and share their love for this vibrant community in the south of Los Angeles County. They participated in meaningful conversations and group activities — available simultaneously in English and Spanish — designed to empower collective action that ensures financial stability and opportunities to thrive for all people in North Long Beach.

Rudy Melendez, community prosperity network manager at United Way noted there is already a rich history of collectivism in North Long Beach. “By partnering with Puente Latino, GP Cares, Orale, Libre and other amazing partners, we’ve been able to see how folks were already supporting one another,” he said. “Coming and partnering with them, United Way is just bolstering what’s already been in the neighborhood for a while, and using that energy, that collectivism, that solidarity, to build these economic engines that will hopefully benefit all the people who live in this community.”

These nonprofits bring valuable resources to this community from food distributions, and support to unhoused neighbors, to beautification and cultural events.

“The partnership with United Way has given us a lot of opportunities to be able to come as one body to make a big difference, and a lasting impact, do more things that are needed for the community, and just be able to thrive together and grow together,” said Eloise Parker, founder and executive director at GP Cares and Blankets of Love.

Norma Rodriguez, director of community prosperity at United Way of Greater Los Angeles, shared that expanding our neighborhood network to North Long Beach will help enhance this community’s strengths by facilitating an asset mapping and commissioning an analysis done by Mastercard, to show an economic snapshot of the community.

“All those things together really got us to a place where we have the data and information that our community can sit with, reflect on, and then also brainstorm with us,” Rodriguez said. “That’s what today’s conversation is about. What do they think about this data, what opportunities do you see. From there, United Way will take that and look at which projects we can invest in resources and provide technical assistance to pilot projects in North Long Beach. Our goal is to scale these projects and center collectivism in the community.”

The Community Prosperity Initiative’s long-term vision is to develop models that promote shared ownership of assets within underinvested communities. We begin by mapping the assets of the communities. We work with community partners to gather qualitative and quantitative data to understand existing strengths and opportunities and use this data to seed or advance projects. Our vision is that every community in our network is able to develop collective projects such as cooperative business models and community land trusts (CLTs), which help keep money and resources within the neighborhood and benefit everyone who lives or works in the community.

Some of the findings shared at the convening focused on the community’s spending. According to the analysis, North Long Beach residents have a collective buying power of $1.34 billion, yet only 26% of their spending goes to local businesses.

A survey of 350 residents revealed a strong interest in developing projects around youth resources, community beautification, and increasing food security.

Octavio Mujica, a community leader with Puente Latino Association, expressed his deep connection to the community. He grew up in Long Beach, attended local schools, and raised his children here.

“We are part of this community. We have so much love for Long Beach. I grew up here, graduated from the high schools in this area, and now work for the Long Beach Unified School District. I am a product of this community and continue to contribute to it. I am thankful for the resources that helped me get here. In everything I do, I love Long Beach!”

To learn more about our shared prosperity initiatives, visit https://unitedwayla.org/our-work/creating-shared-prosperity/.

You can make a valuable contribution to our prosperity initiatives in Pico-Union and North Long Beach by donating to these programs. Thank you for supporting us in helping these communities thrive!

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