The action plan launched in April of this year after months of development and input through the work of the MBK Task Force, a group composed of more than 40 representatives that include community, educational and city leaders who collected data for the plan.
“It’s an official plan now. It’s a document we can work from as a community,” 8th District Councilmember Al Austin said in a phone interview with the Signal Tribune on Tuesday. “This plan allows us to bring it together and hopefully work in synergy as a city with our community-based organizations to really attack and address the needs of our young people in an effort to enrich their lives and obviously address the social issues they face and provide help through violence prevention and higher education and preparing them to be productive citizens in our workforce.”
The MBK Long Beach Local Action Plan is a direct result of more than 160 participants who provided their input on the MBK initiative and its six milestones of success— all directed at guiding youth toward colleges and their careers— at a summit last year at Ernest McBride Park, according to the City.
The six key milestones for success all stem from President Obama’s MBK initiative. They are: Enter School Ready to Learn; Read at Grade Level by Third Grade; Graduate from High School Ready for College and Career; Complete Post-secondary Education or Training; Successfully Enter the Workforce; and Safe from Violence and Provided Second Chances.
The next step is to reconvene the task force for the summer and develop a work plan to implement the milestones, according to Tracy Colunga, neighborhood relations officer with the City of Long Beach.
The milestones will be addressed individually, and the task force will gather input at future meetings in order to keep track of who will lead each objective and how.
“As we go forward, we’ll go back to the data and look and ask, ‘Have we made a difference? Have we increased grade-level reading for young people?’ Just as an example,” Colunga said in a phone interview. “It’s going to be a huge undertaking to develop this work plan, but it excites me… If we’re very detailed about what key partners are supposed to do what, what the timeline is for the activities, what are the outcomes, when are we meeting, then it’ll go well. There’s accountability built into the plan, so all the partners are in.”
She said the task force also receives consultation from Bloomberg Associates, a consulting group whose mission is to help city governments improve the quality of life of their citizens, and PolicyLink, a national research and action institute that advances the creation of sustainable communities of opportunity that allow everyone to participate and prosper, as defined by the City.
Colunga also added that task-force meetings over the summer will include involvement from young people. She said they were invited to some meetings last year, and the team found it “invigorating” to hear their input.
“The youth themselves were excited because their voices were heard and they got to provide input,” she said. “We need to support them as they become young adults. That part for me is super exciting. I’ve worked with youth for many years, so I’m excited we’ll have youth as part of that planning process… We really want this to be community driven.”
The Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) pledged $50,000 toward the MBK Local Action Plan in order to allocate the funds for advanced programming at local libraries for young boys who need support in school.
Felton Williams, president of the LBUSD Board of Education, said a troublesome task for students is their economic stability. He said 72 percent of the school district required free and reduced lunch. In some areas, he added that it’s 90 percent.
“So, what transpires when you have students that are in that kind of an economic situation? Well, they have difficulty focusing in the classroom,” Williams said during the June 21 council meeting. “Other issues take precedence over school. They’re sitting in a classroom thinking about food, shelter, and they become easy targets for gang recruitment. The need for the citywide partnership is necessary because we can enhance safety and security throughout the city.”
The MBK initiative is also under the umbrella of the citywide Safe Long Beach Violence Prevention Plan, which is focused on reducing family, school and community violence.
Officials agree that positive mentorship is one way to reduce violence in the community. The MBK initiative allows individuals to sign up as mentors to guide young people in the right direction.
Tyrone Lowe discussed his experiences growing up in Los Angeles at the June 21 Long Beach City Council meeting during public comment. As a kid, he would go out and try to attend Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs in order to be productive with his time.
One day, Lowe got “jumped,” and he opted not to go back to any of the Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs because of it. His support system soon became people he would find loitering around the block.
He called it “negative mentorship.”
After spending time in prison, he arrived in Long Beach. He took advantage of community organizations such as Long Beach Advocates for Change and called it a positive experience.
It wasn’t long before that Lowe started hearing about My Brother’s Keeper. In his experience, he said mentorship played a vital role in his psyche and his perspective on his own person.
“I realized how important it was for men of color to see other men of color do positive things in the community and have hope for themselves,” Lowe said during the June 21 council meeting. “You don’t have to be in a gang, you don’t have to be dealing drugs or hanging on a street corner— it’s a place for you to come where you can receive productive conversation.”
Ninth District Councilmember Rex Richardson agreed. In a phone interview with the Signal Tribune on Tuesday, he emphasized the significance of having a role model. He went on to say that anybody can assist in the MBK initiative by signing up as a mentor.
“All you need is time and the willingness to help lean your experiences onto someone else,” Richardson said. “For someone to be able to identify with somebody that has already achieved something, sort of been through something in life, it has tremendous benefits to help identify the next steps in life. And to help make sure the young people are on the right trajectory.”
Moving the My Brother’s Keeper forward is a step in the right direction, Richardson added.
“It’s an acknowledgement that the City is placing a real focus on equity,” he said. “We’re focusing on all of our kids. My Brother’s Keeper is about making sure that all of our children have an opportunity to succeed. It’s not just about making sure children of color have an opportunity to succeed.
Physically, the only way to make sure all kids can succeed is to address the systems and the barriers that are preventing some demographics from succeeding. You got 80 percent of the Long Beach Unified School District that are student of color. 80 percent. So, for My Brother’s Keeper, some might say that it’s specifically targeting one group or another. It isn’t. This is assuring that everyone has an opportunity to succeed and has a ladder to success.”
Austin said a “small investment in a young person today will pay off long-term.” He added that showing interest and talking about personal struggles is an important aspect of being a mentor.
The councilmember paralleled his efforts with the youth as his life’s work. Austin said if young people can “visualize themselves being you 20 years from now, then you’ve been successful as a mentor.”
He’s confident the success will spread in the community.
“With all due respect, I feel like this has been my work, without a title, for a long time in terms of mentoring, developing young people and just working and being a positive role model in the community,” Austin said. “I’ve strived to do that through my life work, and so I’ll continue to do that… I’ll continue to be a mentor to young people. I’ll continue to promote mentoring, promote good families for foster children. Like I said, this is an umbrella that can really capture a lot in terms of enriching lives and preventing negative outcomes. I’m committed to doing this, and I’ll continue to do this for many years to come.”
