Ongoing Projects

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

Grocery Delivery

In response to the mid-March 2020, shelter in place orders, DAYS Long Beach contacted our youth and their families via text and phone calls, checking-in, sharing Long Beach Unified School District distance learning or online learning information (e.g. Chromebook distribution locations, internet hot spots, and accessing the district learning platform) to ensure our students could transition to learning at home. We learned that families primary wage earner had either lost their job entirely or had their hours reduced significantly. As a result starting last April, DAYS-LB developed a grocery distribution/delivery program, providing weekly grocery packs full of fresh produce (provided by Food Forward, a LA-based non-profit), a protein and non-perishable goods. With the support of numerous volunteers, we now serve over 110 families weekly, providing much needed nutritional support to over 1,760 individuals every month.

Completed Projects

Habitat Los Angeles Rental Assistance

Last fall, 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-LB staff and Habitat LA distributed over $100,000 in rent relief to qualified community members.

Leyendo de familias

DAYS-LB launched Leyendo de familias, Reading in Families, funded by Best Start Long Beach and facilitated by Lilia Ocampo, a community member and DAYS-LB 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-LB 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-LB 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.