Recommendation to receive and file a presentation on Success In Challenges, Inc. and the Long Beach Freedom School.
Item number 23, communications from Councilman Al Austin and Councilmember Rex Richardson. Recommendation to receive and file a presentation on success and challenges and the Long Beach Freedom School. Gentlemen, also. Thank you. And it is a real pleasure for me to recognize a nonprofit in our city that is doing exemplary work with with our young people, with families, particularly in the North Long Beach, Uptown communities. Success and Challenges is a Long Beach based nonprofit grassroots social service organization. It was founded in 2001 by our own Reverend Leon Wood and its executive director, his wife, Paula Wood. In 2005, successive challenges established the Long Beach Freedom School, the first of its kind in Southern California. Today, there are dozens of Freedom Schools operating throughout Southern California, impacting thousands of young kids. The Freedom School is a six week summer reading enrichment program that is part of the National Children's Defense Fund Freedom Schools Program. It's based on a motto of high quality literacy programs parent and family involvement, civic engagement and social action. Inter-generational Leadership development and health and mental health and nutrition. In addition, Freedom Schools to Freedom School Success and Challenges provides a number of other valuable resources and services to the community, including Saturday Tutorial Academy, Youth and Art Program and After School Program at the North Point Apartments. Providing homework assistance, enrichment activities and healthy snack to a population of more than 500 at risk youth. Mr. Mayor, a city council. I just felt compelled to recognize this exemplary work from a couple who have dedicated and dedicate and do dedicate so much of their time, their heart, their resources, their their, their intel and collaborative approach to bringing our community together. And I wanted to recognize success and challenges. And more importantly, Mr. Leon and Paula would I'd like to bring them forward to say a few words after Mr. Richardson. Councilmember Richardson. I want to thank Councilmember Austin for for taking the lead on recognizing freedom, schools and success and challenges. I got to tell you, this is an organization that finds this program finds its roots in the civil rights movement, the Mississippi Freedom Summer program in the 1960s. And here here we have it today. It's a high quality program that really works with with with our youth from north along the north Long Beach area. We've been tremendous supporters of this program. It's bounced between all corners of North Long Beach. It's been at Hamilton, I think it's at Perry Lindsay now. And so this is a program that we're all we're all tremendously supportive of. My predecessor, Councilmember Neal, is now on the board, I believe, and we're in and his his wife, Tanya, was, I think was she the fundraising chair this year? So so this is this is very much so an important priority to North Long Beach. Just a couple of weeks ago at our state of the ninth District, we recognized the now president, Paula Wood, for her leadership here with an Empower Uptown Community Partner Award. And it was the first first of its kind. And we had to obviously go back to Dr. Wood and Mrs. Wood for this award. So it absolutely makes sense. Again, I want to thank Councilmember Austin for his leadership. I really want to thank you for your hard work in keeping this program going for so many years. Thank you so very much. I would like to know where. Go for it. Thanks for doing the video first. Okay. On the screen, you'll see some of the highlights from our summer program that we just completed. Like the council member said, our program was at Perry Lindsay this summer in North Long Beach and in our district, actually. And we served 110 youth and the program is a six weeks program. It finished on August the seventh. And so these are some of the highlights from that program. While we're here, I'd like to introduce some of the staff that work our hard working staff that I have behind the scenes. I'd like to introduce our program director, Yvonne Nuttall Pace. And our sister site coordinator for Freedom School this summer was Vicki Oliver's. And our youth organizer was joined on the block. He works very hard with our teenagers. And so I was going to just take a lot of what I was going to say, our council members covered . So what I would like to do is just kind of have a very quick, brief remarks by each one of our staff and how they're involved with Freedom School and what keeps them coming back every year. Ms.. Ms.. Oliveira is actually a kindergarten teacher, but every summer she manages to arrange her schedule so that she can be involved with Freedom School. We are the longest operating Freedom School in Southern California and we've been operating now for 11 years. The program is free to the families that we serve, but we do have to raise a lot of money in the community to serve about 100 children. It costs us about 85000 to 100000 each year. And so we have a gala that we put on in the spring. And this year we were very pleased and honored to have Mayor Garcia as our guest speaker for our gala in the spring. And I'd also like to thank Councilman Urunga for his support with this program as well. And many people in the Long Beach community as well, we really have reached out and so many of the community leaders have come forward and are working to help us put on this program, either financially or serving in some capacity as a reader during our R&B portion in the morning or coming in the afternoon and providing skills where they can help with a craft or a special project. So just briefly, I'd like to have Ms.. I'll start with Ms.. Yvonne. It's an honor to be here today to talk about Freedom School. Freedom School, I mean, a lot to me, cause I started off as a college student. Going back to Tennessee for training, and it was extremely a lot of work. And for the 11 years I have been a part of this movement, it has been awesome. I have taught students, they came back and now they begin to be certainly the interns. So now we actually have our scholars that grow up in a program and come back and actually do the work as well. So it's just a love and a joy. Each scholar walk away with six books from our program, and they actually began to build their library and me as a mother first. It was a great opportunity to have my daughter there in the program. She'd been a part of the program now for ten years, so just extremely blessing. I turn over to my sister. Thank you so much for your time. Reading is Power and Language Freedom School. We encourage reading over the summer six weeks reading program. As an educator, I am excited to be part of the program. Been there for 11 years and will continue. Working in the community. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having us. As a fellow. Long Beach native, born, raised and educated, I feel it's my duty to give. Back to my city. So this is. What keeps me going and keeps me. Helping the youth of the city. Thank you. I'd like to have our youth center here. Stand up. And we have come here. All right. And I won't take too much more of your time. But I did want to mention, I think Councilmember Austin mentioned that we started an after school program this year. We were blessed to get a contract to do an after school program about the Northpoint Apartments. And we completed a full year. We served over 70 to 100 children every day there. And we also, while we were doing Freedom School, we had a summer enrichment program going on at North Point as well. So we just want you to know that we are out there. We're actively engaged working with the youth in Long Beach, and we encourage you to check us out at our website. WW W dot success and challenge dot com and look up information about our programs and we hope that we've maybe inspired some of you who might want to call and volunteer. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor MacGregor. Thank you, Mayor. I want to extend my congratulations to the previous group for all the work they've been doing around the community. And of course, Reverend Leon and his wife, Paula. I've known them for many, many, many, many years. And you continue to be an amazing couple with all the work that you do. And I congratulate you on this presentation tonight. And I join Councilmembers Austin and Richardson in this recognition. And congratulations to you. Thank you, Councilman Andrews. Yes, thank you, Mayor. I also would like to thank Councilman Richards in Austin for bringing this to the nation tonight. I would really want to give a special thanks to Dr. Leon Wood. And Paula was for all they have done for our youth and family throughout the city with this program. You know, it's educated on many levels and most important, it restores hope in many lives that participate in this. And I really don't see how Dr. Woods can be in many places that he goes to and still run a school. So efficient as this. Dr. Woods, I'll take my hat off to. I can't say I take my hat. I don't have it on tonight, but I just give you all the thanks and pleasure for that. Thank you so much, Doctor. What you and your wife and your staff, you guys are doing a great job. Thank you again, Councilman Austin. Yes. I'd like to also just just close by asking the woods and the staff and all the children to join us down here for a photograph. I can't tell you how important this Freedom School is and just how I've personally witnessed over the last few years young people who have come through the program and now who are coming back in and acting as as kind of camp counselors and leaders and inspiring young people, paying it forward. And so I loved to hope that this Freedom School is around for another 11 years and another 50 years doing and continues to grow throughout our city doing positive work for behalf of families throughout Long Beach. So if I could get Councilmember Richardson, the mayor, to join us up front for a photo, please. Okay. I'll call for public, obviously the vote real quick and also the photo call for public comment. Okay. Great. Please cast your vote and I will do the photo for to receive and file on this. Motion carries eight zero. Okay, we'll do the photo. What I'm doing. Why don't we just. Why don't we? Come on. Hey, man know. They always made me think. You look good. Yeah. Look good. You go out on the ground. Thank you. Very much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Great job, Dr.. Okay. We're going to try to get through a couple two quick items as well, and then we'll get to our budget hearing. Since we're on a roll here, so why don't we go ahead and do item 22? Actually, let's actually let's do 24, which I believe there's a folks here for its 24. 24 is a Cultural Heritage Commission ordinance. So why don't we do 24 since I know there's people here for that and and then we'll go from there. So, Madam Clerk, item 24.