Grocery Distribution

At the onset of the 2020 COVID pandemic, DAYS Long Beach contacted our youth and their families via text and phone calls to check-in and share Long Beach Unified School District distance learning and online learning information to help ensure our students could transition to learning at home. During those conversations, we learned that families primary wage earner had either lost their job entirely or had their hours reduced significantly and food insecurity was a growing problem. As a result, DAYS-LB developed a grocery distribution program to provide weekly grocery packs full of fresh produce contributed by Food Forward, a LA-based non-profit, a protein and non-perishable goods. With the support of numerous volunteers and partners, since 2020 we continue to serve over 110 families weekly at convenient locations in the neighborhood, providing much needed nutritional support to over 1,760 individuals every month. For more information, email [email protected].

Community Ambassador Program (CAP)

DAYS Long Beach, AOC7, and Long Beach Forward are part of the Long Beach Safe Passage Initiative launched in Spring 2024. Our program, Community Ambassador Program (CAP), will increase presence of adults along routes that children, youth, parents, and caregivers travel through on their way to and from school. The role of adult supervision is to reduce the chance that students, parents, and community members experience violence, harassment, and other unsafe situations. Safe Passage Volunteers will monitor street intersections and walkways near Lincoln and Whittier Elementary School and Franklin Middle School. Learn more at lbsafe.org.

Completed Projects

Habitat Los Angeles Rental Assistance

DAYS Long Beach secured a contract with Habitat LA to help implement a rent assistance program to provide financial assistance to tenants who reside in the Washington neighborhood of Long Beach. Applying the techniques and strategies created for the COVID-19 LB Undocumented Fund, DAYS Long Beach staff and Habitat LA distributed over $100,000 in rent relief to qualified community members.

Leyendo de familias

DAYS Long Beach launched Leyendo de familias, Reading in Families, funded by Best Start Long Beach and facilitated by Lilia Ocampo, a community member and DAYS Long Beach parent. Under Ms. Ocampo’s direction, parents and caregivers take a deep dive into early child development specifically related to babies and young children between the ages of 0-5, learn how to search and find appropriate age level books, strengthen reading strategies, share and write family stories, encourage parents and children to read aloud, discuss a variety of educational issues and learn from child development experts. Lilia has created a safe space for families to share and strengthen family bonds.

Long Beach Covid-19 Undocumented Fund

To address the COVID-19 lack of financial resources available to families, DAYS Long Beach and several community non-profit partners created the Long Beach Covid-19 Undocumented Fund, distributing over $200,000 to families that were not eligible for government benefits, struggling to pay for rent, utilities, and groceries. DAYS Long Beach was the fiscal the agent for the fund, helped identify eligible families, and hired several DAYS Long Beach young adults to administer the program. Using social media, text, and telephone outreach, staff quickly distributed emergency grants to needy families.

Essential Measures for a COVID Free Long Beach

DAYS Long Beach COVID-19 campaign, Essential Measures for a COVID Free Long Beach, is designed to interrupt and reduce the community spread of COVID-19. Recently, DAYS Long Beach secured funding from Together Toward Health, an LA non-profit that creates and amplifies public outreach efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

To support the targeted efforts, DAYS-LB employs virtual community outreach and health education opportunities by telephone to provide information, survey and interview residents to identify gaps in public awareness and public health information. DAYS-LB works to enhance COVID-19 public awareness about COVID-19 transmission and provide critical information about vaccines. Our goal is to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in vulnerable and highly susceptible populations.

Leaders Long Beach

Leaders Long Beach (LLB) mobilizes students ages 15-24 to address community issues and support DAYS Long Beach programming.

LLB cultivates and engages alumni of our Summer Day Camp program to volunteer their time and help their peers become future leaders. Recent successes included an innovative on-line curriculum pilot for elementary and middle school aged students that made topics of history, math, science, and literature more accessible and relevant for youth, while still aligning with LBUSD standards. LLB also includes a peer-to-peer youth training program to teach life skills, designed to improve personal and professional outcomes.

College Bound

College Bound provides workshops targeted to middle and high school students who experience barriers to a higher education, and who are often from undocumented, very-low income families.

​Attendees receive assistance in writing personal narratives, and completing college and financial aid applications. Parents are also involved through workshops and family classes, and are provided English as a Second Language resources.

Scholarships

DAYS Long Beach is honored to help make post secondary education a reality for many local areas students through our Reverend Jerald R. Stinson Scholarship Award. This annual award, started in 2014, is awarded to local high school seniors and college students that are making a difference by giving back and supporting the community through programs and services offered by DAYS Long Beach.

The Reverend Jerald R. Stinson Scholarship was established in honor of his contributions to expand and promote the mission of the DAYS Long Beach program. Through his words, actions, and vision, he has held a light to guide us as we found our way on our new and expanded course. He has been instrumental in introducing DAYS Long Beach to organizations that share our vision of Empowering Children, Supporting Families and Building Communities. He has inspired so many of us to demand more of ourselves and each other and to push the children we are charged to help and care for to a greater sense of responsibility for themselves and each other.

Scholarships are awarded annually and the Reverend Jerald R. Stinson Scholarship is available to any college or trade/technical school student at any level. Qualities to be considered by the Scholarship Committee include: academic/career goals, financial need, and/or community service. Higher acceptance criteria is given to individuals who have participated, as a camper, counselor or volunteer, in DAYS Long Beach program. Most scholarship recipients are involved in many different aspects of the DAYS Long Beach organization.

Service Learning/Internship

Since 2018, DAYS Long Beach has worked in close partnership with the CSULB Center for Community Engagement, welcoming service learning students and interns through the Long Beach Community Internship Program and College Corps. These students are integral to supporting services related to physical and mental health, academic success, college access, and community safety. 

Through these programs, students receive hands-on training, applying their academic knowledge and skills to design curricula and lesson plans for youth aged 5-17.

Additionally, they develop communication skills by leading workshops, conducting community outreach at schools and partner events, participating in our grocery delivery initiative, and supporting violence prevention through the Safe Passage program.