PRESS RELEASE

The City of Long Beach yesterday launched My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Local Action Plan, a significant endeavor to establish and implement new approaches to address the needs and priorities of youth and ensure that all young people, including boys and young men of color, have the opportunity to succeed. The MBK Local Action Plan includes a call to action for mentorship, as part of the City’s Safe Long Beach efforts.

“As a nation, we have a shared responsibility to address the challenges facing our young people,” said Mayor Robert Garcia. “We are proud to join 200 cities from across the country in support of the President's plan to ensure that all youth are safe from violence and have the opportunity to succeed.”

The MBK Local Action Plan focuses on the six crucial milestones for success, as recommended by the Obama Administration:

• Ensure that Long Beach youth are physically and mentally prepared to start school
• Read at grade level by the third grade
• Graduate from high school
• Complete post-secondary education or training
• Successfully enter the workforce
• Remain safe from violent crime

A key element to the success of building an MBK Community is mentoring. The call to action encourages Long Beach residents to commit to volunteer to be mentors through an established network of mentoring agencies. For more information, or to sign up to be a mentor, visit www.longbeach.gov.

“The City’s commitment to President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative brings together every corner of our City to harness the success of young people from cradle to career,” said Councilmember Rex Richardson. “This collaborative process builds on the many existing programs and services the City offers to create more opportunities for young boys and men of color.”

The MBK Long Beach Task Force consists of City officials, representatives from the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), Long Beach City College, California State University, Long Beach; local hospital executives, community-based organizations, faith leaders, and members of the community. They convened yesterday evening at the Molina Event Center to mark the year-long effort to date, and to discuss next steps for achieving the goals of the MBK Local Action Plan. The LBUSD provided $100,000 to support efforts to carry out the MBK Local Action Plan. A portion of the funding will be used to provide after school programs for youth.

In January 2015, the City Council adopted a resolution supporting President Obama’s MBK Community Challenge, based on an agenda item brought forth by Councilmembers Richardson, Lena Gonzalez, Roberto Uranga, and Al Austin. The initiative calls upon City leaders to work collectively to help close opportunity gaps facing youth and ensure that all young people have the resources and tools needed to achieve their full potential.

The MBK Long Beach Task Force is an ad hoc committee of Safe Long Beach, the City’s Violence Prevention Plan. Adopted by the City Council in May 2014, Safe Long Beach addresses a broad safety agenda aimed at reducing all forms of violence, including domestic abuse, child abuse, elder abuse, hate crimes, bullying, gang violence, and violent crime. The Plan draws upon the City's many existing assets to target violence at its root and attain its goal of building a safer Long Beach by 2020.

In February 2014, President Obama issued a nationwide Challenge to cities across the country as a call to action to encourage communities to implement strategies for improving the life outcomes of all young people, regardless of who they are, where they come from, or the circumstances to which they are born.

For more information on MBK, visit www.lbvpp.com.