The goal of Around the Table is to connect individuals in the Long Beach community and provide them with an opportunity to discuss what makes Long Beach great as well as what we can do collectively to improve the city. Long Beach was one of 10 cities across the U.S. selected to replicate the On the Table initiative with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
The Long Beach Community and We Love Long Beach partnered to bring “On The Table,” to Long Beach on September 23, 2017. Three thousand Long Beach residents gathered around tables through the city in homes, coffee shops, churches, bars, nonprofit organizations, libraries and police stations on a single day to talk about how we can make our city even better. The results and impact of this event connected our community around issues they care about most. As a result of the discussions, the Long Beach Community Foundation will focus on the issues brought forward by residents and We Love Long Beach will continue to strengthen their position as the leaders of connecting neighborhood one block at a time. A full copy of the impact report is available here and interactive survey results are available here.
Please promote Around the Table through social media (#aroundthetableLB) and invite your neighbors, friends, family, and colleagues to GET CONNECTED.
In 2015, more than 55,000 people across the Chicago region gathered around tables to share a meal and a heartfelt conversation about their community.
Long Beach Community Foundation
LBCF is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, public organization that manages over 150 charitable funds including donor-advised funds, scholarships, planned gifts and community benefit funds. It was established in 1996 to make strategic grants to nonprofits, and assist individual donors with their philanthropic goals today and through planned giving. Fees charged to manage funds at the Foundation are invested directly back into the community. LBCF’s mission is to initiate positive change for Long Beach through charitable giving, stewardship, and strategic grant making with a vision of being the preeminent steward of endowments serving the needs of Long Beach in perpetuity. To learn more, visit longbeachcf.org
We Love Long Beach
We Love Long Beach, a volunteer-led 501(c)3 nonprofit is a catalyst of citywide neighborliness. Our desire is to create bonds of trust and care between neighbors, house by house, block by block throughout the city of Long Beach. We believe that each neighborhood has what it needs to build community, increase safety and raise the quality of life. Even more, we believe there is an inherent and untapped, abundance of gifts, talents, and resources within each of our neighbors just waiting to be discovered. These are the key ingredients toward building sustainable community together. To learn more, visit http://welovelb.org
Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation is a national foundation with strong local roots. It invests in journalism, in the arts, and in the success of cities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published newspapers. The foundation’s goal is to foster informed and engaged communities, which it believes are essential for a healthy democracy. For more, visit http://knightfoundation.org.