Long Beach
Innovation Team

The community is invited to the 2018 Equality Plaza Induction Ceremony on Thursday, May 17, 2018, at 11:00 am. Six leaders from the Long Beach community who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer will be inducted into the newly designed Equality Plaza Honor Wall at Harvey Milk Promenade Park (Harvey Milk Park), located at 185 East 3rd Street. 

 “We created Harvey Milk Park to honor the legacy of civil rights leader Harvey Milk and our local LGBTQ heroes who have advocated for equal rights,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “I’m excited about the construction that has taken place so far and the investments and improvements coming to the park.”

 Every year, the Harvey Milk Promenade Park Equality Plaza Committee nominates and selects honorees for induction. The committee’s nomination process requires that the person, living or deceased, must be LGTBQ+ and have made exceptional or outstanding contributions to the greater Long Beach area LGBTQ+ community. At the upcoming ceremony, the honorees, which include John Newell, Raúl A. Añorve, Jewels, Reba Birmingham, Mina Meyer and Sharon Raphael, will receive a plaque to be displayed on the newly designed Equality Plaza Honor Wall.

 “The leaders of the Harvey Milk Park Equality Plaza Selection Committee are a dedicated and diverse group of LGBTQ+ leaders in our community,” said Councilwoman Lena Gonzalez. “I am grateful for their continued advocacy and leadership to design a park that truly celebrates the legacy and history of the LGBTQ+ community in Long Beach.”

 Thursday’s Induction Ceremony will serve as a first look of the improvements being made at Harvey Milk Park. The process began in December 2016 with a vision to transform the outdoor space into a public space that connects people through a shared sense of purpose. In mid-March 2018, the Department of Public Works started construction on the newly envisioned Harvey Milk Park, converting the existing 500-square foot space into an outdoor public space that encourages collaboration and connectivity, and celebrates the legacy of Harvey Milk and the local LGBTQ+ community. The grand opening of Harvey Milk Park is planned for June 2018.  

About the Innovation Team

Launched in 2012, the Innovation Teams Program is one of seven Government Innovation offerings at Bloomberg Philanthropies. Innovation teams (i-teams) function as in-house innovation consultants; helping agency leaders and staff go through a data-driven process to assess problems, generate responsive new interventions, develop partnerships, and deliver measurable results. The City of Long Beach is one of 20 cities around the world that are participating in the program. Launched in 2015, Long Beach’s i-team works closely, and supportively, with their colleagues across city government — offering them a different set of tools and techniques to innovate more effectively. In partnership with these colleagues, the Long Beach i-team aims to deeply understand the problem they are trying to solve by building empathy for the people impacted by it and then work quickly and creatively to co-create and test solutions that deliver meaningful results for residents.

For more information on the City of Long Beach Innovation Team, please visit www.longbeach.gov/iteam or follow them on Twitter @iteam_LongBeach and Facebook.

About Public Works

The Long Beach Public Works Department strives to operate, preserve, and enhance the City's physical infrastructure and transportation systems. The Department provides a variety of community services including the repair, rehabilitation and general upkeep of City streets, trees, sidewalks, and City structures. Public Works also provides emergency support services throughout the City. Visit us at http://www.longbeach.gov/pw/, "Like" us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Long Beach Community Foundation

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Long Beach Community Foundation provided a $50,000 matching grant to make the City’s partnership with Citymart possible. The Long Beach Community Foundation is a nonprofit, public organization with over $25 million in assets and 96 charitable funds, whose mission is to initiate positive change for Long Beach. The Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.