This year, we accomplished so much together and we're thankful for your partnership in improving the lives of Long Beach residents through civic technology. We're grateful for the community members we get to work with to ensure that Long Beach residents are included in the decision-making process for technology projects. With the support of city staff and technology partners we're building a team of instrumental and like-minded individuals to respond to the most-pressing civic challenges we're facing today.

Most notably, this year we celebrated the end of the Long Beach Co-Lab technology program, we launched civic user testing, the City was named a Top Digital City for the 13th year in a row, we made strides on digital privacy, and we formed a new Technology Planning and Partnerships Division under Technology and Innovation.

Our job is to provide the public with information about emerging civic technology and demystify fears about technology to ensure it can be an asset rather than a burden. Our work puts people first and it is our hope to continue connecting with members of the community to earn public trust, promote transparency, and build civic resilience. Last but not least, we're grateful for the growth of our Smart City Initiative team and we're hopeful for another collaborative year to work with the Long Beach community.

We wish you a restful and joyful rest of the year and we look forward to another wonderful year in 2024.

Warm regards,

Smart City Initiative Team

Ryan Kurtzman, Lesly Figueroa, Michael Criste, and Omar Moncayo

We celebrated the conclusion of LB Co-Lab!

Over the last eight months, we hosted nine Long Beach Collaboratory (LB Co-Lab) workshops to bring together 27 participants from four Long Beach neighborhoods, Hamilton, Ramona Park, Willmore, and Westside to learn about new technologies to solve neighborhood issues. We celebrated the program accomplishments alongside Long Beach residents, tech experts, and City staffers to mark a significant achievement for the City and the community.

We're hopeful that civic technology programs that engage community members and provide skills training demonstrate the need to establish programs like LB Co-Lab. In collaboration with our partners at LBTV, we put together a video highlighting the hard work of residents during the program and the technology projects that will soon be deployed at the various neighborhoods.

What's next? Our community workshops may have wrapped up, but the work is just getting started. Beginning in 2024, the City will install pilot technology projects in the four LB Co-Lab neighborhoods that address the issues identified by residents. Stay tuned!

On November 14 2023, the City of Long Beach was subject to a cybersecurity incident that led to an investigation with a contracted cybersecurity firm and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This led to cautious efforts that took City systems offline for several weeks that caused delays in internal and external services such as utility payment services.

The investigation is still ongoing, however, many of the City's online systems have been restored and are working as they were before. We're thankful for the tremendous collaboration and quick response from city staff and especially our colleagues at Technology and Innovation who dedicated their time to monitor and secure our systems.

Now more than ever it's critical to take action and learn about ways to avoid cybersecurity incidents and protect your privacy.

Learn more about City of Long Beach cybersecurity mitigation efforts here

This year, the City of Long Beach allocated resources to create a new division in the Technology and Innovation Department called the Technology Planning and Partnerships Division, to continue the work of Smart Cities and Data Privacy initiatives, lead technology strategic planning, and partner on citywide initiatives.

We look forward to collaborative partnerships and innovative solutions to meet the goals of the 2030 Strategic Vision.

Read the FY24 TID budget overview here