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#ConnectWithRespect highlights positive school relationships
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 During the first week of October, youth leaders with the BHC Youth Committee relaunched the Every Student Matters campaign to highlight how schools can be places where everyone feels valued and respected. In coordination with the Dignity in Schools Campaign’s Week of Action, youth and parents had the opportunity to raise awareness about positive and respectful relationships at school via social media. Instagram and Facebook posts included selfies and “us-ies” with supportive teachers, school staff, and counselors who promote school environments built on respect and trust among all members of the community. Sarai, a youth leader at Jordan, recognized Ms. Beltran at Jordan Plus for “holding positive and respectful relationships with her students [because] she takes the extra time after school and during lunch to tutor them if they are need of help in her class.” To see a collection of posts from youth and parents, visit their spotify article online.
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Minimum wage poll: BHC partners support raising the minimum wage
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 As the City of Long Beach explores raising the minimum wage, BHC Long Beach surveyed nonprofit partners and community members to bring their perspective to the minimum wage discussion. A supermajority of the 80 respondents, including 75 percent of our organizational-partner respondents, support the minimum wage increase without exceptions. The support of our nonprofit community is crucial as we work to raise Long Beach residents out of poverty and create strong protections against wage theft. To learn more about the Raise the Wage campaign, click here.
Economic Roundtable recently released a study on the impacts of raising Long Beach’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. Here are some key takeaways:
- The annual earnings of workers in Long Beach will increase by about $405 million, with almost $130 million going to workers who also live in the City of Long Beach.
- Added income from a $15 minimum wage will help over 6,500 workers with jobs in Long Beach rise out of poverty by 2020 and will reduce public assistance expenditures by $78 million.
- More than 11,700 Long Beach residents now commute to low- and mid-wage jobs in the City of Los Angeles, where they will benefit from the recently approved $15 minimum wage in that city. This will raise the economic stimulus within Long Beach to over $174 million a year in increased sales within Long Beach.
- The strongest impacts from raising the minimum wage will be felt in Long Beach’s lower-income neighborhoods, with total earned income increasing by as much as 4 percent in neighborhoods with the most low-wage workers.
- Over 74 percent of low-wage Latino workers will be affected by the wage increase, followed by younger, female, and African American workers.
For the full report, click here.
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Food Week brings discussion on healthy and equitable food systems
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 October 24th marked National Food Day with the goal of inspiring Americans to change their diets along with our food policies. Locally, a group of organizations and individuals with Food Day Long Beach organized a series of events to foster discussion and action around good, equitable food systems in Long Beach. Food Day Long Beach kicked off by announcing the first annual local “food champions” at the Sustainable City Commission. The awardees represented each of the nine city council districts, plus one city-wide champion. Food Day Co-Coordinator Valerie Smith noted “that those awarded highlight the variety of exemplary people, businesses, and organizations that make the food movement so strong in Long Beach.” In addition, MADE in Long Beach hosted a night of “Reel Food Docu-eateries” which premiered film collaborations between VoiceWaves and The Long Beach Grocery Co-op. The week culminated in the annual festival “Dia de los Verdes” which mixed arts and entertainment connecting sustainability, diversity, and creativity and hosted at The Growing Experience Urban Farm in North Long Beach. For more information about future food movement events, contact Long Beach Fresh.
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Sign-up for BHC’s weekly event announcements!
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 Looking to have community events and actions emailed directly to your inbox every week? Sign-up your email address for BHC’s new weekly event announcements to see all the activities happening in the next week around community issues like community safety, environmental health, and much more. Emailed out every Monday, the weekly email digest will highlight the events happening by BHC and our partners that directly impact the health and safety of West and Central Long Beach residents. If you would like to get more community announcements in addition to our monthly BHC News, our weekly event emails will be the best fit for you. To sign-up, subscribe here.
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