PRESS RELEASE

Long Beach, CA – The City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services (Health Department), in partnership with the Long Beach Public Library, has launched another round of the Parent Informational Workshop series. The workshops will offer parents and caregivers of children ages 0 to 5 years old an opportunity to learn about various topics, including speech and language development, special education and early start intervention. This initiative aims to ensure Long Beach families experiencing developmental concerns about their child are connected to services in a timely manner.  

“Through these workshops, we hope to empower families to raise healthy and thriving children,” said Mayor Rex Richardson. “The City recognizes the importance of investing in our youngest residents.”

The parent information workshops, which will also serve to connect families to resources, will resume July 2024. The monthly sessions will be taught by local experts who specialize in various fields of early childhood. Qualified attendees are welcome to attend multiple workshops. The schedule is as follows:

• Supporting Healthy Speech Development – July 18 at noon, Billie Jean King Main Library (200 W. Broadway.)
• Connecting to Early Intervention Resources – Aug. 7 at 12:30 p.m., Burnett Library (560 E. Hill St.)
• Supporting Emotional Development and Regulation– Sept. 11 at 11 a.m., Brewitt Library (4036 E. Anaheim St.)
• Supporting Healthy Speech Development – Oct. 5 at 2:30 p.m., Mark Twain Library (1401 E. Anaheim St.)
• Special Education – Nov. 16 at 10:30 a.m., Michelle Obama Library (5870 Atlantic Ave.)
• Supporting Healthy Speech Development – Dec. 7 at 11 a.m., Bay Shore Library (195 Bay Shore Ave.)

“These workshops have become a safe space for parents and caregivers to learn about their child’s early development, ask questions from trusted local experts, navigate available resources, and connect with other families about shared experiences,” said Health and Human Services Director Alison King.

The Parent Information Workshop series also supports the Library’s Dive into Learning program, an early learning initiative that supports early education for children ages 0 to 5 by incentivizing reading and providing school readiness and parent education workshops.

People can sign up for the Library reading programs by visiting longbeach.beanstack.org or by downloading the Beanstack Tracker app from the App Store or Google Play.

The workshop series is supported by Help Me Grow LA, which is a collaboration between First 5 LA and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. In 2022, the City of Long Beach was awarded as one of seven community collaboratives to receive $500,000 over the course of three years as part of First 5 LA’s investment to strengthen and expand referral pathways to better connect families with services and supports to address their child’s developmental concerns. The investment is part of Help Me Grow LA’s effort to improve connections between providers so that every child receives support for developmental concerns.