LBRA Update
Applications are now being accepted for the ActivateLB grants, providing Long Beach Recovery Act funding to support neighborhood cultural events and activate small businesses. The application period is open through July 21, 2022.
ActivateLB is offering the following grant opportunities:
Neighborhood Activation Seed Grants: Twelve seed grants of $5,000 each are available for the small-scale, neighborhood, and first-time cultural events. This grant opportunity is available to Long Beach nonprofit organizations conducting events aimed at fostering community resilience and creative well-being within neighborhoods that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
Business Activation Grants: $100,000 will be distributed in $5,000 and $10,000 grants to support local events and promotions that increase consumer spending at small businesses in Long Beach. Events and promotions, which must be free and open to the public, must focus on commercial corridors that are not supported by a Business Improvement District and must measure the impact on consumer spending and/or foot traffic
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Bradley Bounds, Ombudsperson (DV)
In his new role, Bradley will help Permit Center customers through the permitting process, bring resolution to conflicts or concerns related to issues that may arise on individual projects, and facilitate process improvements for customers and staff. Bradley holds a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning and a Certificate of Design and Development from the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in geography from California State University, Long Beach.
Please join us in welcoming Bradley into his new role by sending an email to Bradley.Bounds@longbeach.gov .
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Long Beach Accelerator
The Long Beach Accelerator has opened its application cycle for its Winter 2022 Cohort. Apply by the Early Bird Deadline of July 8th for optimal consideration. The Long Beach Accelerator has graduated 20 cohort companies, 5 of which have received acquisition offers, and collectively raised over $12M in capital and earned over $2.3M in revenue since February 2021.
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The City of Long Beach Publishes First Smart Cities Initiative 2022 Annual Report
The City of Long Beach Department of Technology and Innovation has published its first Smart City Initiative 2022 Annual Report, which showcases key accomplishments and outcomes regarding how the City has used technology and data to manage change and expand capacities to better the daily lives of Long Beach residents, enhance City operations and make the best possible use of resources across all City Departments.
"Our Smart City Initiative has made incredible progress in helping us use technology and data to create innovative, equitable solutions for both City practices and public services for our community,” said Mayor Robert Garcia.
The 2022 Annual Report features notable Smart City Initiative accomplishments including:
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Equitable Data Collection Toolkit, launched in January 2022, to guide City employees as they design, distribute and share insights from demographic surveys.
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Pitch Long Beach!, launched in February 2022, is a program that allows vendors to pitch an idea for a project directly to the City. The ideas that offer promising solutions to legitimate City needs will be shared with Department subject matter experts, evaluated with transparent criteria, and may be implemented as pilot projects.
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Long Beach Augmented Reality (AR) Challenge, a festival in August 2021, that featured interactive AR experiences for members of the Long Beach community to enjoy.
“Our Smart City Initiative is one that is inclusive, responsible, resilient, and above all community-centered,” said Director of Technology and Innovation Department Lea Eriksen. “We are now so thrilled to be able to share our accomplishments with the community! We look forward to continuing our work to improve the lives of all Long Beach residents through the adoption of new technologies.”
The Smart City Initiative, launched in 2019 and led by the Technology and Innovation Department, aims to advance solutions to civic challenges by engaging the community, City staff, and the private sector to explore and implement emerging technology. It is built upon principles of equity, inclusion, transparency, resilience, innovation, and community collaboration and is founded on guiding principles that provide a framework for the City’s technology projects, goals, and outcomes such as:
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Design for Equity: Reducing historic inequities and disparities by ensuring technology advancements are accessible to all and improve the quality of life for communities that have been underserved.
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Earn Public Trust: Building public confidence through excellence in data privacy, data transparency, and community engagement.
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Cultivate Local Expertise: Promoting place-based growth by supporting Long Beach entrepreneurs and businesses, improving workforce job readiness, and building partnership networks.
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Build Civic Resilience: Improving capacity to respond efficiently and effectively to the most-pressing civic challenges using data-informed decision-making.
The annual report follows the 2021 recognition of the City being named Top Digital City in its population category by the Center for Digital Government as well as one of 10 new US cities to achieve a What Works Cities certification for its exemplary use of data to guide decision-making and improve residents’ lives.
More information about the Smart City Initiative, including guiding principles, pilot programs, and exciting new projects, is available on the Smart City Initiative webpage. The full 2022 Annual Report is available here.
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For more information, please contact Mary Frances Torres, SR/WA, Acting Real Estate Development Bureau Manager, Economic Development Department, at mary.torres@longbeach.gov.
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