By Dianne Anderson

For their part in climate action, environmentally conscious youth will get a $100,000 boost from a recent grant to power up their designs and spotlight some of Long Beach’s pressing climate issues.

The ClimateLB Youth Microgrant Program is also pushing priorities on the City’s 10-year community investment plan – the Westside Promise, the Long Beach Climate Action Plan, the Strategic Plan for Youth and Emerging Adults, and Racial Equity and Reconciliation Plan.

Mayor Rex Richardson said the new round of ClimateLB funding is allowing the city to double the reach and impact with innovative opportunities for young people to lead sustainable initiatives in their neighborhoods.

“It’s inspiring to see the Long Beach youth community taking up the mantle of environmental stewardship and justice, and I look forward to seeing how their projects encourage more people to take further climate action,” said Richardson in a statement.

Fern Nueno said the program paves the way to a wide-ranging creative climate solutions with $5,000 funding for the 17 projects led by youth for youth 15 to 24 years old.

“This program is unique in that the youth are proposing, leading, and implementing climate action projects that will have a positive, lasting impact on the Long Beach community,” said Nueno, Long Beach Climate Manager.

Youth will get real world experience in their communities that are already hit the hardest with climate stressors.

Air pollution is high, and heatwaves are hotter than ever.

As the climate agenda projects take off, the whole community can get involved to support the youth-driven initiatives and resources created by the youth leaders.

“We hope to see immediate impacts from the projects, such as an enhanced urban tree canopy, more native plants, environmental-themed public art, and climate education. From these projects, we are working to motivate youth to continue to educate the community on how people can make a difference in reducing emissions and confronting climate impacts,” she said.

She commended program funders Bloomberg Philanthropies in partnership with United Cities and Local Governments and the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University, as well as Youth Climate Action Fund, for awarding the City of Long Beach a total of $150,000 over two rounds of funding.

Nueno wants to see community inspired to beautify the city, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and provide youth with experiences to carry sustainability into the future.

“The projects are primarily focused in West Long Beach and were selected in part for centering equity and environmental justice. In addition to the youth leads, the projects will include additional outreach to strengthen youth engagement and participation in climate action,” she said.

Of the 17 microgrant recipients, Carolyn Bell is also energized around helping youth understand climate, care about the trees and the oxygen they provide, learn to cut back on waste and create their own sustainable gardens.

Her program will spur a sense of self-preservation through healthy eating, but also to avoid any harmful substances for their bodies or the climate.

“We hope to bring beauty to concrete and dirt areas, in hopes of creating an atmosphere of a well-groomed neighborhood. I believe if we see beauty, we feel better and we look forward to preserving it,” said Bell, executive director of the Long Beach Bar Foundation.

Youth are involved in planning, implementation and education of the project. A local farmer will educate on sustainable gardening, cool and warm plants, native plants, soil, propagating, bee pollination and more.

She said one of their youth recently shared how he never participated in any club before at school, but was eager to give their Green Team a try.

Community members with a green thumb are also invited to share their skills in building or donating garden boxes, providing garden art, or creating small pergolas to shade the work from extreme heat.

Bell feels the funding will go a long way toward deepening their climate work.

“This will be our second project. We started with creating green teams on a few school campuses and now we’ll take our projects out into the community and our youth can share their creations with other youth,” she said.

At the Youth Leadership Institute, youth ages 18 to 24 are also ready to share real stories of growing up in West Long Beach. High smog, lack of green space, and climate change impacts on their health and their future.

“Many youth come from BIPOC and/or migrant communities that have long practiced sustainability out of necessity, and they want to make sure those stories and solutions are part of the climate conversation,” said Mason Lam, program manager at Youth Leadership Institute (YLI) in Long Beach.

After producing “An Intro to Climate Justice in Long Beach” zine last year,  the youth wanted to take their vision to the next level through film. Stop-motion storytelling spotlights local issues and solutions from their perspective.

With the recent funding, he hopes their film project brings visibility to environmental injustices that West Long Beach residents face from refineries and freeways, limited green spaces, and unequal access to healthy food.

They also want to highlight youth-led solutions rooted in cultural knowledge and lived experience. By producing original films and hosting interactive community screenings and workshops, he wants young people to see themselves as storytellers and climate justice advocates.

“We also hope community members walk away with a deeper understanding of how climate issues intersect with everyday life and how they can get involved in shaping a healthier, more sustainable Long Beach,” Lam said.

Young organizers run weekly meetings on community-building events, they attend and speak out at city council meetings. They research, survey, interview and campaign around powerful stories to push sustainable change.

Events are pulling community support from school wellness centers, libraries, city organizations, and local partners that understand what’s at stake.

“Beyond this single project, we see it as a stepping stone for deeper climate organizing and skill-building. Youth will leave with creative and technical media production skills, [plus] research and facilitation experience they can carry into other advocacy and professional development opportunities,” he said.

For more information,

See, Long Beach Bar Foundation http://longbeachbarfoundation.org/

and https://yli.org/