Long Branch Partners – Community and Community-Building

On March 5, the Long Branch Partners held a meeting at the Long Branch Community Recreation Center. Twenty-six people participated, and a range of organizations was represented. While CHEER facilitated the event, Morris Buster, the Director of the Long Branch Community Recreation Center, hosted and provided set up.

Created nearly five years ago, the Long Branch Partners is a hyperlocal group of community service providers that serve the Long Branch area. To improve service to community members, they develop meaningful relationships and share information at their regular meetings. At the March meeting, partners engaged and focused on community and community-building.

The Partners discussed a range of topics at the meeting, including public safety issues led by District 3 Community Service Officer, Glenda Franco. There were also updates on the ongoing construction of the Purple Line, the 2020 census, and many other partner announcements, such as food distributions and the offering of Spanish and computer literacy classes. (You can check out the meeting notes here.)

In addition to sharing information, the Partners discussed three collaborative projects, the Long Branch Collective Action for Youth Initiative, the Long Branch Vision Committee, and the Long Branch Emergency Preparedness Committee.

Bruce Baker, CHEER’s Executive Director, described the network as “a big, wide, collective effort.” He believes these meetings foster an essential spirit of collaboration. “Collaboration is always more effective than doing things in silos,” he says.

The network meets quarterly; the next meeting is scheduled for June 4 and will be hosted by CASA.