Long Beach Briefs: City Launches Youth Poet Laureate Program and Increasing Fresh Produce in Neighborhood Markets

Long Beach Public Library Launches Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate Program

The Long Beach Public Library or LBPL, in partnership with the Arts Council for Long Beach and supported by Urban Word NYC, is launching the inaugural Long Beach Youth Poet Laureate or YPL program, after two years of planning and a long pause due to the pandemic. Applications for the program, which brings Long Beach youth the opportunity to enact positive change in their communities through their activism and art, open Jan. 10 to Long Beach residents ages 13 to 18. 

The YPL program, which began in New York in 2008, has expanded to more than 70 communities across the nation. YPL participants from around the country have gone on to compete in national poetry competitions, start independently-owned publishing presses and most notably, as seen with Amanda Gorman, perform at a presidential inauguration.

Details: https://tinyurl.com/LB-youth-laureate-poet 

City Seeks Partners to Increase Fresh Produce in Neighborhood Markets

The City of Long Beach is seeking to partner with one or more qualified organizations to increase the availability of low-cost, culturally relevant, produce in priority neighborhoods in Long Beach through its produce to market program.

Due to high procurement cost, markets in low-income neighborhoods are limited in their ability to stock and sell fresh produce. The Health Department will support one or more qualified organizations to plan, implement and evaluate a sustainable program that will allow small- and medium-sized food stores in Long Beach the ability to procure fresh, quality produce at comparable prices to larger grocery markets. The produce to market program will include grants of up to $250,000 max per award to markets who best demonstrate how funds will be used to reach this goal and thus contribute to increased access of fresh produce in priority neighborhoods throughout Long Beach.

Details: https://tinyurl.com/LB-fresh-produce