By Dianne Anderson

Finding secure housing and decent nutrition in Long Beach food deserts, or making it to school without being jumped into gangs are just a few predictable factors that keep childhood poverty playing out for generations.

Nonprofits do whatever they can, but usually get bogged down in daily operations and emergencies. Many juggle two or three high needs areas of community need, all while trying to keep the lights on with their own programs.

Community activist Darick Simpson understands. He’s been down in the trenches for decades, and sees the determination of nonprofits working against the odds.

Simpson, president of the Earl B. and Loraine H. Miller Foundation, said they recently finished reviewing proposals, deciding on 51 organizations that will receive just over $1 million for their work in the city for the new fiscal year.

It was a decent amount of funding, but still fell short of the great need. They received 103 grant proposals for over $2 million in requests for help.

“It’s a big ask, but no one foundation can help everyone. We have a fair process to evaluate grants,” he said, adding, “They are going to be held accountable for doing what they said they’ve done in their proposals.”

Simpson, also former executive director of the Long Beach Community Action Partnership (LBCAP) served 13 years, and helped lead and grow that effort from a staff of 24 and a $1.3 million budget to a staff of 80 and a $10 million budget.

The Miller Foundation supports programming in areas of arts education and health. Within those categories, he said some nonprofits support families living in high-poverty areas in the city, and they all have powerful stories to tell.

“You hear a nonprofit say their data is showing upwards of 80% of African American students are one to two years behind academically in Long Beach Unified, or 56% students are struggling to pass English as a second language, therefore they’re reluctant to go to school,” he said.

Students who feel unable to make the grade often drop out, and being uneducated or under-educated typically spirals into bad behavior through adulthood and lower income opportunities.

Over the years, the foundation has held high impact collaborations with CSULB, the Hunter’s Heart Foundation, the Boys and Girls Club, and Long Beach Unified Strengthening Youth Resiliency.

These days, soaring housing costs create another layer of intensity for struggling families. Nonprofits can offset or mitigate some economic challenges.

When he meets with nonprofits that the foundation has not been able to fund, he reminds them success is not just about the money, but what money can buy. He advises them to get more parents to bring their students into their programs by offering incentives, like healthy food.

For the last two years, the food bank has considered Simpson a key strategic partner. When he meets with nonprofits, he always pitches the food bank.

“I know Long Beach Food Banks have two 18-wheelers,” he said. “Loads of food coming in each day and they are looking for distribution partners to distribute food into the community in a thoughtful manner.”

Getting more families into good programs could be as easy as offering them a box of nutritious food to take home.

It is harder to think on an empty stomach, or if students are stressed about where they will sleep next. All eyes are on the education system and what it will take to get students prepared.

He said it’s a big concern if the difference is 102 points between the lowest and highest-performing students.

“Often students are minority. Many cases are low income, and these kids are likely a bubble in a pipe being pushed through the system uneducated or under-educated at best,” he said.

Dr. Alejandra Albarran-Moses said that her program, housed at the city’s health department, oversees the Early Childhood Strategic Plan, and is soon to launch an updated plan.

The program works across the city with partners to link families to some direct services and host events aligned with community needs. Their food access team gets more food boxes out to the community. This year, they are pushing to learn what families need the most in raising young children in Long Beach.

“One thing we found out, not a surprise, but a strong piece of information is that those who knew of resources in the community were very well connected. However, those who didn’t know had no clue of any services,” said Moses, Early Childhood Strategic Initiatives (ECSI) Program Manager.

Her department doesn’t offer direct housing support, but they collaborate with homeless services.

“We do a lot of prevention work, sometimes that means ensuring children have childcare so parents can work, ensuring that childcare is flexible so that they could work various schedules,” she said.

Their website also updated with the early childhood education program page through the city’s health department, offering a long list of resources from community partners to learning and development.

For parents without time or access to peruse the internet, her program is covering more work at the ground level, at public libraries and laundromats and they also have a resource line for callers to get the help they need.

“Our partners, the Mayor’s Fund for Long Beach, are working with us, and operating the Long Beach Early Learning Hub with access and information at your fingertips for childcare. [Families] in the process of searching for childcare, they are also informed of different financial supports they can receive,” she said.

In the last report “City of Long Beach, California Early Childhood Education Strategic Plan,” findings show the median income in Long Beach is $55,1514 and the poverty rate is 22.9% in zip codes 90808 and 90803, the poverty rate for children under 18 living in poverty is 46.1%.

City data also shows that long-term poverty and living in neighborhoods with less access to healthy fresh foods or limited safe spaces, and those in high levels of poverty face the lowest life expectancy.

“The average life expectancy of residents in Central Long Beach is 75.2 years of age, whereas the life expectancy of residents in East Long Beach is, on average, 82.6 years of age. It should be noted that there is only a five-mile distance between these two areas of Long Beach,” the report says.

For Early Childhood Resources, see https://bit.ly/3W69U6o

For the City of Long Beach, California Early Childhood Education Strategic Plan report,
see https://bit.ly/4crSsPu

To learn more about the Miller Foundation, see www.eandlmillerfdn.com