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PHASE THREE GRANTEES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25, 2010
Contact: Carina Cristiano Leoni
(562) 760-8957
carinacrs@yahoo.com
LLB CONNECTED CORRIDOR COMMUNITY
GRANTS FOR PHASE THREE ANNOUNCED
Nine Community Groups Share
$80,000 in Grant Funding
With
funding from the Transformation Initiative by theJohn S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Long
Beach Community Foundation distributed $80,000 in funding
to nine recipients on February 22 as part of
the Leadership Long Beach Atlantic Corridor Phase Three
Project, popularly referred to as the Connected
Corridor. Phase Three focuses onthe Central and Wrigley areas.
With a mission to connect the
Atlantic corridor from the top of the town to downtown, Connected Corridor
has already successfully completed Phases One and Two. Grants forPhases
One, Two, and Three now total $240,000.
Jim Worsham, President
and CEO of the Long Beach Community Foundation,
commented: "As we progress along the Atlantic Avenue Corridor,
we’re encouraged by how many community members and groups are becoming
engaged in this process to connect and collaborate. The impact of the grant
projects in Phase 3 will be significant for all who live and work in Central Long Beach and the Wrigley District."
Tracy Colunga, Site
Director for the City of Long Beach Health and Human Services Weed and
Seed Program, received one of the grants. "With support from the
Connected Corridor, we can increase programs and activities to meet the needs
of low-income youth within the individual, school, family, and neighborhood
systems,” she said.
Key to the success of the Connected Corridor project is creating
collaborations among the multiple neighborhoods. Building on the success of
last year’s October arts tour that brought residents right into the studios
of talented local artists; Art City
Tours will use its award to ensure that there is always an annual art
tour during Long Beach’s October is Arts Month. This year’s event will take
place on October 2 and 3.
Since opening summer 2009, the Wrigley
Garden has fed more than 40 families from its raised garden beds on the
site of two former drug houses. A new grant-supported greenhouse will support
community outreach and help gardeners understand where their food comes from
while defraying the cost of new plants.
For The Long Beach Public
Library Foundation, the grant provides an opportunity to let Atlantic
Corridor businesses and residents know about the Burnett Library’s versatile
Learning Express Program. Today’s library is inside, outside and online and
offers business information services, community resource data, bilingual
academic and job skill building assistance, and practice job/career-related
testing programs.
Responding to the stated need in the Connected Corridor Phase Three area
for more youth after-school programs, Long Beach Weed and Seed Youth Leadership Program will use its grant to
expand its uniquely integrated offerings that combine individual growth and
opportunity, family support, and community for low-income youth. Jammin’ Music, a returning grant
recipient from Phase 2, will partner with Weed and Seed and other groups to
offer drum circles at King Park to bring the positive power of teamwork and
music to this neighborhood.
Working with Burnett Elementary School, Centro CHA will reach out to parents to help promote citizenship/civic
engagement and parent participation through parent education workshops. Using an innovative approach, Dramatic Results teaches measurement
and geometry through art-based basket weaving. The grant will fund four family
workshops at Burnett Elementary School.
For the past 25 years, Pan
African Art Gallery and Studio has combined art lessons with a curriculum
that includes social and cultural awareness and artistic expression while
enhancing leadership skills. Students develop ongoing connections with the
community through the gallery’s “open door policy”. The grant will help the studio continue its
work.
Thanks to its grant, The Long
Beach Central Area Association will incorporate three new components into
the 14th Annual Juneteenth Celebration by bringing academicians, community
leaders, city stakeholders, and the general public together to explore
building community. Juneteenth is the
oldest celebration in the nation commemorating the ending of slavery in the
United States.
Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership will again provide valuable
technical assistance and guidance to all grant recipients as it did for Phase
1 and 2.
Building momentum happens through the involvement and
participation of local residents, businesses, local organizations, and
neighborhood groups – both formal and informal. “The relationships we are
developing are growing and the meaning of working together is deepening
within the heart of the neighborhoods. I know these relationships will be
sustainable! Sharing resources and collaborating are all part of this
community building work, and it is an encouraging process as well,” said Carina Cristiano Leoni, Connected Corridor Project
Director.
For more detailed information on
these grantees and their projects, please visit www.connectedcorridor.org
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