Last week, we announced the Kaiser Permanente HEAL Zones grant, to help create healthy eating and active living programs in North Long Beach.

This initiative will support some useful programs in the Houghton Park, Grant, Hamilton and Starr King neighborhoods, focused around creating healthier and safer routes to school, creating healthier and safer corner markets, and investments in exercise and fitness infrastructure among numerous other things.

This week, we kick off our Building a Better Ninth District, Phase III program, themed "Partnership, Progress, Possibility."

The mission of the Building a Better Ninth District program is to make the Ninth District a great place to live, through consensus-based governing, effective communication, and by empowering families and businesses to thrive.

 Phase III will focus on building long-standing partnerships in the community around creating policy, systems and environment change. We'll continue to improve on our existing programs, such as the District Captain program and the Inside District 9 newsletter, while placing new emphasis on the possibility of new ideas in the community.

In the days to come, look out for more details on the Building a Better Ninth District, Phase III program, and learn how you can get involved.

Have a great week.

Your Neighbor,

Steven Neal
Long Beach City Councilmember, 9th District