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 (LBPL), has launched its second year 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, managing behaviors and early start intervention. This initiative works to ensure Long Beach families experiencing developmental concerns about their child are connected to services in a timely manner.  

“We are committed to supporting families and giving every child the best start in life,” said Mayor Rex Richardson. “By providing these workshops, we’re ensuring parents and caregivers have the tools they need to nurture their children’s development and build a brighter future for our community.”

The informational workshops, which will also serve to connect families to resources, will begin this month and will be taught by local experts who specialize in various fields of early childhood. Interested attendees are welcome to attend multiple workshops. No registration is required. The schedule is as follows:

• Early Vision Development – Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 12:30 p.m., Billie Jean King Main Library (200 W. Broadway)
• Supporting Healthy Speech Development – Saturday, March 8 at 11 a.m., El Dorado Neighborhood Library (2900 N. Studebaker Rd.)
• Guiding Positive Behaviors – Saturday, May 31 at 11 a.m., Bay Shore Neighborhood Library (195 Bay Shore Ave.)
• Supporting Healthy Speech Development (Spanish language presentation) – Saturday, June 14 at 10:30 a.m., Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library (5870 Atlantic Ave.)

“These workshops address the unique challenges parents face and connect them to services that can make a real difference in their child's development,” said Health and Human Services Director Alison King.

The Parent Information Workshop series is also part of LBPLs 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.

“The Long Beach Public Library believes in empowering families with the resources and education they need to foster growth and learning at every stage," said Director of Long Beach Public Library Cathy De Leon. “It’s important to embolden parents to build a stronger, more informed community for our youngest learners.”

People can sign up for the LBPL 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, 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 Health Department is currently in its third and final year of funding. 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.

About the City of Long Beach
Long Beach is nestled along the Southern California coast and home to approximately 466,000 people. As an award-winning full-service charter city, Long Beach offers the amenities of a metropolitan city while maintaining a strong sense of individual and diverse neighborhoods, culture, and community. With a bustling downtown and over six miles of scenic beaches, Long Beach is a renowned tourist and business destination and home to the iconic Queen Mary, nationally recognized Aquarium of the Pacific and Long Beach Airport, the award-winning Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center and world-class Port of Long Beach.

For more information about the City of Long Beach, visit longbeach.gov/. Follow us on social to keep up with the latest news: Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube. More information about the Health Department is available at longbeach.gov/health and on social on Facebook, X and Instagram.