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During the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, overall deaths of homeless people in Los Angeles County increased by 56% compared to the previous 12 months—a spike partially attributable to the virus, though drug overdoses continued to be the population’s top killer, according to a report released today.

According to the report by the county Department of Public Health, a total of 1,988 homeless deaths were recorded from April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021, up from 1,271 during the previous 12 months.

Drug overdose remained the leading cause of death among the homeless during the pandemic-onset year, with such fatalities increasing by 78% during the first year of the pandemic, compared to the previous 12 months, according to the study.

The report found that 179 homeless people died from COVID-19 during the first year of the pandemic, meaning the virus was responsible for about 25% of the overall increase in homeless deaths during that 12-month period.

Excluding the COVID deaths, the number of homeless people who died in the county during the pandemic year still rose by 43% compared to the previous 12 months.

Between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, COVID-19 ranked as the third-leading cause of death among the homeless population, behind drug overdoses and coronary heart disease. Traffic injuries and homicide were the fourth- and fifth-leading causes of death during that period, according to the county report.

“The findings in this report reflect a true state of emergency on the streets across our county,” county Supervisor Hilda L. Solis said in a statement. “In a civil society, it is unacceptable for any of us to not be profoundly disturbed by the shocking needs documented in this year’s homeless mortality report. We must redouble our efforts to address this crisis. As part of our response, it is critical that we address the drug epidemic, particularly the rise of fentanyl on our streets.”

Overdose deaths among homeless people under age 50 doubled in the first year of the pandemic, compared to the previous year, according to the report, while overdose deaths among Latino/a homeless people jumped by 84%, compared to a 74% increase among Black homeless people and 67% among white homeless.

Methamphetamine was involved in the vast majority of deaths, at 75%, roughly the same as the previous year. But the involvement of fentanyl in overdose deaths jumped from 27% during the pre-pandemic year to 45%.

“While efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 remain critically important, we must also implement effective strategies that address the other leading causes of death among this vulnerable population, most importantly the tragic continued rise in drug overdose deaths,” county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement.

County officials said they have a series of steps planned in hopes of addressing homeless deaths, including an expansion of field-based substance abuse treatment services, increased distribution of naloxone to the homeless both on the streets and in shelters, and implementing more infectious-disease protocols in shelters and encampments.

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Changes may be coming to the way Long Beach spends its annual allotment of funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Long Beach is in the midst of updating its Consolidated Plan, a five-year document the city compiles as part of the application process for HUD funds, which city officials anticipate will total over $8 million this year. Final numbers have not yet been released by HUD.

The city spends the money on a wide range of programs to help support economically disadvantaged communities, including grants for small businesses, housing projects and repairs to public spaces. 

But during a City Council study session this week, Councilmember Rex Richardson criticized certain aspects of the city’s past use of the funds—and city officials have indicated that the draft document for 2023-2027, set to be released next month, could reflect some of that feedback.

Specifically, Richardson pointed to business grants, which have historically been capped at $2,000. Richardson said those grants could be more effective if they weren’t so thinly spread.

“When I started, grants were $2,000 then, and I think they are still $2,000 now,” Richardson said during the session. “I just don’t see much of an impact.”

City staff didn’t dive into specifics on those grants during the meeting, but documents show that 119 startups and businesses were awarded a maximum of $2,000 under the 2012-2017 Consolidated Plan.

Richardson argued that the grants should be much larger—anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000.

Another flaw in Consolidated Plan spending, in Richardson’s eyes, has been the lack of support for the city’s Business Improvement Districts. While Long Beach does work with BIDs as part of the plan’s conceptualization, he said that more BIDs should not only be consulted, but also considered for direct financial support.

“Some of these BIDs, they could use the money,” Richardson said.

While city staff did not directly respond to the councilmember’s comments at the time, a statement from the Development Services Department’s Housing and Neighborhood Services Bureau following the meeting said the bureau received “good feedback in particular from the council.”

“When finalizing the draft Consolidated Plan, staff will be taking into consideration the comments and suggestions from all the community meetings, the council study session and the 4/20 public hearing held by the Long Beach Community Investment Co.,” the bureau’s statement said.

While the city has wide discretion over how to spend the HUD funds, the money still must meet the needs of three specific HUD programs: the Community Development Block Grant Program, the HOME Program and the Emergency Shelter Grants Program.

Most of the funds Long Beach receives from HUD must go toward the CDBG Program. City officials expect to receive $5.4 million for the program each year.

CDBG funds can be used for a variety of community improvement projects, but they must invested in geographic areas in which at least 51% of the population is low income. Under HUD guidelines, households that bring in up to 80% of the area median income—meaning up to $66,750 for a family of one or $95,300 for a family of four—are considered low income. Most of the eligible areas are located in North, Central and West Long Beach.

The HOME Program, meanwhile, is estimated to bring about $2.3 million to the city this year. HOME funds must be spent on creating and maintaining affordable housing.

And another $500,000 is expected to come in from the Emergency Shelter Grants Program, which is reserved for use “to rehabilitate and operate emergency shelters and transitional shelters, provide essential social services, and prevent homelessness,” according to the HUD Exchange website.

The draft Consolidated Plan will be published May 14 and will available for public review and comment for 30 days. There will be a final public hearing with the Long Beach Community Investment Company on June 15, and the City Council is slated to accept the plan in July.

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Next month, over 3,000 members of the aerospace industry are set to converge in Long Beach once again.

The Space Tech Expo is making its return to the Long Beach Convention Center for its 10th iteration on May 24 and 25, with an invite-only preview the evening of May 23.

Exhibitors and speakers from the biggest names in the aerospace industry—from SpaceX and Lockheed Martin to NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration—will gather at the Long Beach Convention Center to connect and discuss new technologies and potential partnerships.

While many space conferences focus on niches within the broader industry, event director Gordon McHattie said that the Space Tech Expo is meant to be a conference with wide-ranging topics to address the needs of any and all attendees.

“We would like to be all things to all people in the supply chain,” McHattie said over Zoom. “We’ve always had this goal to be a very broad supply chain show, where engineers or a technical lead can come and discuss various aspects of a program with completely different types of companies under one roof.”

One way the conference plans to achieve that is through the B2B Matchmaking program, which was brought over from the show’s European counterpart, Space Tech Expo Europe. In the program, companies submit a summary of what they are buying or selling, and folks from other companies can sign up to hold a 20-minute meeting to potentially arrange to do business.

At its heart, though, McHattie said the Space Tech Expo is a trade show—a place where engineers and teams can come together to imagine new projects.

“Our job is to get the small companies exhibiting and get the large companies walking the show and discussing program opportunities,” he said, “and hopefully, purchasing products and services.”

New technologies will be on display, and smaller companies will be given the opportunity to advertise their work to the biggest players in the industry. Products will include satellite laser communications systems, custom hydraulic power units, tables built for running vibration tests and more.

“Where I think this industry is the most exciting at the moment is this huge number of small startup companies that are coming along with new technologies, and the older and bigger guys are interested to see this new stuff,” McHattie said.

Led by Smarter Shows co-founder James Reeder—who McHattie said has a personal interest in the aerospace industry—the first Space Tech Expo was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in 2011.

Unfortunately, the event did not go quite as smoothly as planned, mostly due to inexperience.

“It wasn’t without challenges in the early days,” McHattie said.

One of the biggest issues was the location, which was far too large for the small conference. So the event organizers set out to find a better spot—but staying in the Los Angeles area was also important.

“When you’re looking at El Segundo, you’re looking at proximity for SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon, so following them obviously seemed to make sense,” McHattie said.

In weighing both needs, Long Beach emerged as the perfect fit. The Space Tech Expo moved there the following year.

Aside from a brief stint in Pasadena, the expo has called Long Beach its home ever since.

While COVID derailed plans for the conference in 2020, McHattie and his team were able to host a conference with mandates in October.

“It was interesting because it went well,” McHattie said. “It was a good show, but we were down on numbers. I think we were around at least 25% down on numbers.”

It’s unclear whether attendance this year will match its pre-COVID level, but organizers expect significantly more interest this time around.

“People want to do trade shows again,” McHattie said. “They want to meet and shake hands and talk business.”

The invite-only preview, held in the evening to accommodate folks with busy work schedules, will likely help.

“This is an initiative to be able to bring some of these engineering and manufacturing teams to just preview the exhibits,” McHattie said. “We get feedback from a lot of the engineering groups that they would like to attend the event but can’t necessarily always do it in office hours.”

For those interested in attending the expo, registration is free. Event organizers first decided to eliminate the admission fee last year, which McHattie said was done in an effort to attract the desired audience.

“What we found over the years is that there’s been a bit of a disparity between who pays for conference passes and who exhibitors want to meet,” McHattie said. “The people who pay for a conference pass quite often are business development or C-level executives, not necessarily the technical type.”

McHattie said that the conference learned it would still able to function without that revenue after an initial test run at the European show, mostly because exhibitors still pay to be featured. Because of that, organizers agreed keeping attendance free was the best approach.

“We got huge numbers of engineers attending that show,” McHattie said, “and it was so successful, we stuck with it and we figured out how to do it in the U.S. show as well.”

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Meet Tex, who just a couple of weeks ago was a whisker away from death.

Tex was pulled from a shelter, clinging to life. Here, he receives therapy in an incubator. Photo courtesy of Helen Sanders CatPAWS

  “We picked up this very sick little boy who was declining in the shelter and wasn’t going to make it,” said Helen Sanders CatPAWS founder Deborah Felin-Magaldi. “He had a lot going against him—severely dehydrated, emaciated, underweight, hypothermic. He had no name at the shelter, only a number. I thought he needed a rootin’-tootin’ cowboy name.”

Tex also needed extreme lifesaving tactics, and right away. As soon as they got home, Felin-Magaldi warmed him with a blow-dryer and swabbed Karo syrup on his gums to revive him. For the first day and a half, Tex couldn’t produce waste and had to be syringe-fed every few hours. He finally started to eat on own and began to act like a playful kitten.

“Then, the virulent diarrhea hit,” Felin-Magaldi said. “He lost weight despite syringe feeding, fluids several times a day. It was a race between the several medications he was on kicking in before his body gave out.”

At one point, Felin-Magaldi took Tex on an outing in plein air, with plain love.

“I thought he was going to die, he was listless and weak,” she said. “I carried him to the beach so he could feel the sea air and warmth of the sun on his face, listen to the seagulls before he left.”

Tex hovered between recovery and relapse, while Felin-Magaldi followed a similar trajectory, from resignation to elation. As of this writing, Tex looks as if he’s going to make it to the adoption center.

  “He’s putting on weight again, even playing a little,” Felin-Magaldi said. “It’s not yet time to pop the sparkling cider, but I am more hopeful.” Video courtesy of Helen Sanders CatPAWS

Efforts like this one are what you don’t see when you take home a healthy, playful kitten from CatPAWS and other rescues. Tex, as you can imagine, isn’t Felin-Magaldi’s first rodeo, nor is she the only roughrider on the ranch. The kittens that CatPAWS gets from shelters aren’t the healthy ones—Felin-Magaldi said that they’ll get adopted reasonably fast wherever they are. It’s the sick ones, the ones with conditions that need surgery, and the ones who are hanging on to life by one paw that need to be pulled from the brink.

The fosters who volunteer for CatPAWS heck-bent on pulling every sick or injured kitten over the brink to life, and it’s always a 24-hour commitment.

“From the moment they come into my care, it’s nonstop support,” said Bev Vale, one of CatPAWS’ medical fosters. “After an initial assessment. I weigh them and record that, get their temperature and, if low, start to slowly warm them up. If they’ve had a chance to be with their mom, it can be a bit more challenging to get them to take the nipple. If I’m unable to get them to latch on, I’ll just tube-feed them.”

Vaccination schedules are set according to veterinary protocol at 4 weeks old, if the kitten is strong enough to handle them. Kittens with diarrhea are constantly hydrated with subcutaneous fluids. Vale is always on the alert for problems and signals such as movements and noises, which she says most people wouldn’t notice.

“The ones that show signs of trouble are supported with everything I have in our arsenal to throw at them, be that putting them in a temperature-controlled incubator with oxygen or in a chamber with a nebulizer,” Vale said. “When the parasites rear their ugly heads, I’m ready with the meds and the task of keeping their little rear ends from getting burned from the diarrhea that runs out uncontrollably. When one proves to be a fighter and against all odds comes out of it a champ, that is the most rewarding and heartwarming experience one could have.”

Here’s 10-day-old Gracie, whom Bev Vale helped to heal. This is what they mean by holding someone’s life in your hands.

  Sometimes, despite all efforts, the foster has to let go.

“One particular kitten I had was a tiny little preemie—he still had his umbilical cord,” medical foster Jennifer Coy said. “When he was brought to me, he was nice and warm and cozy in a fuzzy blanket. But underneath that blanket, his back legs were purple—he had been left in the cold for too long by the time he was found. He was a fighter, though. He was a good eater, and he literally fought right till the end. He had just finished nursing from the bottle and fell asleep in my hands with his front paws wrapped around my thumb like he was holding on to the trunk of a tree. He was still holding tight when he took his last breath. My heart broke into a million pieces.”

Coy said that she holds and comforts kittens when it’s obvious that they aren’t going to make it.

“I want to be sure that when they cross over, they feel my hands cradling them and that they know they are loved,” Coy said. “I don’t ever want them to be alone when they take their last breath.”

Vale said that the constant care that the sick kittens need is wearing after so many sleepless nights and the constant laundry, but the rewards of seeing them turn the corner are what makes the fosters soldier on. But she’s frustrated at seeing the number of kittens born during kitten season, which is still going on despite the efforts to trap and fix ferals and offering spay/neuter discounts to cat owners.

“Every kitten that I see born into this world that ends up dying, I want to scream at the person who somewhere down the chain caused this to happen by not getting their cat fixed,” Vale said. “I hear excuses like they thought it would be cute for their cat to have a litter but then they give the babies away to others without having them fixed, before they know it, that kitten is now pregnant and the cycle starts all over again. I know that our rescue’s efforts along with all the others that are out there trying to make a dent in the kitten population are making a difference, but there are still thousands that are euthanized every year.”

Victories over pain and death, though, are enough to keep any compassioned, impassioned rescuer to continue to throw themselves into saving little lives like Tex’s. Tex is now eating, playing, and nibbling on visitors’ toes. With the combination of care, luck and love he has, he’ll be lassoing your heart at the adoption center in no time.

Virtually pets

“If you’re adopting a cat or a kitten from CatPaws, you know without a doubt that you are adopting one that has had nothing but pure love poured into them,” Coy said. Here are a few cats whose stories won’t be complete until they go home. Visit the cat adoption center at the Seal Beach PetSmart, 12341 Seal Beach Blvd., Seal Beach, and check out all of them here. Adoption applications are available on the same link. To help CatPAWS continue to save lives, donate to one of these efforts. If you want to be a team member, inquire on the website about volunteering. Consider fostering as well.

And when you do visit, or adopt, be sure you pass on your thanks to the fosters who gave life to the silly little creature you fell in love with.

Meet Pebbles the Wobbly Cat! Pebbles has fortunately not experienced a severe health incident, but she does have a very mild case of cerebellar hypoplasia, a nonprogressive, non-life-threatening condition that she was born with and that affects her balance. She can use a litter box just fine and even chases the notorious red dot, albeit falling over a little occasionally while running!

One of the fosters found Monday at work, likely on a Monday. He’s a glossy fellow and is very adaptable—and adoptable. He loves playing as well as dogs and other cats. He’s been quite snuggly in his foster home.

    Mimosa is one of those cats who is so smart and full of personality. She is confident and funny and just a little sassy! Truly a beautiful cat—kind of a strawberry blonde!

  Like so many animal welfare organizations, after the passing of the iconic Betty White, CatPAWS named one of its newly rescued cats in her honor. This Betty White came into a public shelter with extensive injuries, possibly hit by a car. When she arrived, she  had nerve damage in her foot, which dragged on the floor. Under veterinary advice, the rescue started her on a physical-rehab regimen to strengthen her foot and regain function. She has been so good through it all! The technicians at the veterinary physical therapy place just love her! This special girl will be a delight to her adopter.

Great Furballs of Fun

Visit the Little Lion Foundation’s kitten nursery expansion! See flyer above for details.

Volunteers needed to bathe dogs: Sparky and the Gang, 1749 Magnolia Ave., Long Beach, in the Fix Long Beach clinic

Want a fun way to cool off? Come down to Sparky on a Saturday or any day you don’t work and help Sparky and the Gang bathe their doggies! This’ll be good for the dogs, since they’ll get attention from you, and good for you because you’ll be as damp as the doggies. As hot weather hits, that’s a plus! Email sparkyandthegang@yahoo.com for details.

 Adopt, adopt, adopt

Long Beach Animal Care Services open Sundays, with no appointment necessary

Please make our shelter at Long Beach Animal Care Service your first stop for adoption—it continues to fill with dogs and cats. LBACS is now open without any appointment necessary on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for adoptions and for intake of healthy stray dogs. . If you can’t come Sundays, appointments to adopt one of these sweet animals are readily available at PetAdopt@longbeach.gov or 562-570-4925.

Appointments are easily available Wednesday through Saturday at The shelter has also been open since June 2021 for redemptions of personal pets without an appointment during regular business hours and also accepts any sick, dangerous or injured animal without appointment during regular business hours. Appointments are still required to surrender a healthy owned animal or to adopt a pet during regular hours, excluding the above-mentioned Sunday hours

Foster for awhile—or furever!

May we couch-surf at your place?

“I wish more people would try a shot at fostering, but what I hear many times from them is that they are too afraid to do it because they don’t think they could give up the kittens after having fostered them and gotten close to them,” Helen Sanders CatPAWS foster Bev Vale said. “I tell them that the goal is to get them into homes—it’s an extremely rewarding experience.”

If you’ve always wanted a pet but aren’t sure if you’re ready for a lifetime (the animal’s) commitment, or if you’re past the pet-roommate days for any reason, fostering might be a great way to go, especially with one or more of the kittens popping up during kitten season. Every one of the organizations listed below is in desperate need of fosters who’ll social them and help save their little lives. Who knows—maybe one of those lives will change your mind about the not-ready-for-roommate thing!

These nonprofits also regularly feature cat, dog and rabbit adoptions. As of now, adoptions are mainly by appointment. Click on the links for each rescue in case of updates or changes. These organizations operate through donations and grants, and anything you can give would be welcome. Please suggest any Long Beach-area rescues to add to the list.

Ally’s Animal Rescue

Bunny Bunch

Cat Cove

Friends of Long Beach Animals

Fix Long Beach

Feline Good Social Club

Helen Sanders CatPAWS

House of Broken Cookies

Jellicle Cats Foundation

K-9 Kismet

Little Lion Foundation

Live Love Animal Rescue

Long Beach Animal Care Services

Long Beach Spay and Neuter Foundation

Newborn Feline Rescue

Pet Food Express Cat Adoption Center

SAFE Rescue Team

Seal Beach Animal Care Center

Sparky and the Gang Animal Rescue

spcaLA

Stray Cat Alliance

Wrigley Kittens

Zazzy Cats

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HawkEye 360, a Virginia-based radio frequency geospatial analytics provider, selected Rocket Lab to launch 15 satellites into low Earth orbit across three missions beginning later this year, the Long Beach rocket manufacturer and launch service provider announced this week.

The first of the three missions will be a rideshare carrying three HawkEye satellites among others. It is slated to be Rocket Lab’s inaugural Electron rocket launch from the firm’s Launch Complex 2 on Wallops Island, Virginia—the company’s first launch on U.S. soil.

Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 is located in New Zealand.

The rideshare mission will launch no earlier than December, the company announced. The remaining two missions—carrying six satellites each—are scheduled to blast off between the first launch and the end of 2024.

“Rocket Lab provides the flexibility we need to fill out our constellation and reach our desired orbits,” HawkEye 360 COO Rob Rainhart said in a statement. “We’re excited to be joining the inaugural launch from Virginia, as a Virginia-based company launching our satellites from our home state.”

Launch Complex 2 is located at Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. Rocket Lab has a dedicated pad for its Electron rocket launches.

The firm’s New Zealand launch site includes two pads.

“Operating multiple Electron pads across both hemispheres opens up incredible flexibility for our customers and delivers assured access to space, something we know is becoming increasingly critical as launch availability wanes worldwide,” Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck said in a statement.

Planetary Systems Corporation, a Maryland-based space hardware company acquired by Rocket Lab in December 2021, will supply HawkEye 360 with spacecraft separation systems.

The three missions will grow HawkEye’s constellation of radio frequency monitoring satellites, allowing the firm to better provide precise mapping of radio frequency emissions around the world. HawkEye combines this data with its analytical tools and algorithms to provide commercial and government customers with “insights that have helped detect illegal fishing poachers in national parks, GPS radio frequency interference along international borders and emergency beacons in crisis situations.”

The HawkEye contract is the latest in a string of multi-launch agreements for the Long Beach space company, including a five-mission deal with satellite operator and global connectivity provider Kinéis to be launched beginning next year, as well as a three-launch deal with the Earth-imaging company Synspective, the first of which successfully delivered a satellite into orbit in February.

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Getting connected to basic resources in Long Beach just got a little bit easier.

City officials announced today that they have expanded the LB Resource Line, a hotline providing free and confidential support and assistance for anyone who lives, works or attends school in Long Beach.

The hotline launched in March 2020 to help older adults get connected with community resources and social services at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has since expanded to be available to everyone in the city—and callers can now connect directly with a Health Department staffer during business hours, rather than leaving a voicemail and waiting for a call back.

The LB Resource Line can help assist people with housing, food access, physical and mental health, utilities, transportation and legal aid. Callers will be able to reach a staff member directly at (562) 570-4246 on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and they can leave a voicemail outside those hours and receive a call back within 24 hours. Those in need can also submit an assistance request form online.

“The expansion of our Resource Line is a valuable addition to the City’s supportive services and will continue to provide residents a starting point when they aren’t sure where to begin,” Mayor Robert Garcia said in a press release.

Since March 2020, the hotline has facilitated over 6,500 calls for support, according to the release.

The Health Department staffers answering the calls, known as “resource navigators,” are trained to assist and support the public. They will collect basic information like the caller’s address to help locate nearby resources, assess eligibility for programs and share relevant information to meet the caller’s needs. Staff on the hotline can provide assistance in English and Spanish and can also assist callers in other languages through interpreters.

Once nearby resources are identified, callers can reach out to the agency or organization themselves or allow the resource navigator to share their information directly with the service provider for a faster response.

The resource line is available to all, and folks are free to use the service anonymously. However, providing basic information like a name, address, date of birth and phone number will allow staff to “better serve you in locating nearby resources, assessing eligibility and sharing relevant information,” according to the website. The resource line will also not require a person to provide proof of citizenship.

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Mientras se acerca el día de las elecciones primarias del 7 de junio, hay algunas oportunidades en las próximas semanas en las que puede ver a los candidatos hablar o debatir entre sí para cargos que van desde alcalde hasta los cinco escaños abiertos del Concejo Municipal.

La próxima oportunidad de ver hablar a los candidatos será organizada por tres asociaciones de vecinos en el norte de Long Beach, incluidas las asociaciones de vecinos de Los Cerritos, Bixby Knolls y California Heights.

Los tres grupos están organizando dos foros de estilo de debate de candidatos, con un evento el 25 de abril dedicado a la contienda por el quinto distrito del Concejo Municipal y tres puestos en toda la ciudad: auditor de la ciudad, fiscal de la ciudad y abogado de la ciudad. Ese evento se llevará a cabo en el Expo Arts Building en Bixby Knolls a las 6:30 p.m.

El segundo evento, el 27 de abril, tendrá a los candidatos a la alcaldía participando en un foro en la Logia Masónica, también a las 6:30 p. m.

Un foro de candidatos el 3 de mayo en Bethany Lutheran School organizado por la Asociación de Vecinos de Lakewood Village contará con cuatro candidatos compitiendo para reemplazar a la concejal Stacy Mungo Flanigan, quien fue eliminada del quinto a través de la redistribución de distritos.

Un evento del 9 de mayo organizado por Leadership Long Beach (Liderazgo Long Beach) en el Acuario del Pacífico incluirá candidatos para alcalde, fiscal de la ciudad, auditor de la ciudad, fiscal de la ciudad y la Junta de Educación del Distrito Escolar Unificado de Long Beach (LBUSD por sus sigals en inglés) para un foro nocturno de candidatos.

En ese entorno, los candidatos responderán las preguntas planteadas por los graduados de Leadership Long Beach y otras preguntas seleccionadas de la audiencia. El espacio es limitado para este evento y se solicita a las personas que deseen asistir que reserven espacio en este enlace.

El 12 de mayo, los residentes del 1er Distrito de la ciudad, que ahora incluye todo el centro, podrían tener su única oportunidad de ver a los candidatos responder preguntas en persona durante un foro en el Scottish Rite Temple (Templo del Rito Escocés).

El foro es específicamente para los candidatos que se postulan para el distrito del Concejo Municipal del centro de la ciudad, que actualmente está representado por la concejal Mary Zendejas, quien busca la reelección.

Un encuentro y saludo con los candidatos está programado para las 5:15 p.m. con la parte del foro del evento programada para comenzar a las 6 p.m.

Aquí hay una lista de los próximos debates/foros, con las oficinas participantes entre paréntesis:

Brunch para candidatos el 23 de abril en la casa de Pressburg ubicada en 167 E. South St. El brunch está programado de 11 a. m. a 2:30 p. m. Confirme su asistencia al 562-572-1602 (Alcalde, Concejo Municipal, Junta de Educación de LBUSD)

25 de abril en Expo Arts Building, 4321 Atlantic Ave. El foro está programado para comenzar a las 6:30 p.m. (Distrito 5, Auditor de la Ciudad, Fiscal de la Ciudad, Abogado de la Ciudad)

27 de abril en Masonic Lodge, 3610 Locust Ave. (también se transmitirá). El foro está programado para comenzar a las 6:30 p.m. (Alcalde)

3 de mayo en Bethany Lutheran School, 5100 E. Arbor Road. El foro está programado de 6 a 8 p.m. (Distrito 5)

7 de mayo en el Museo de Arte Latinoamericano (MOLAA por sus siglas en inglés), 628 Alamitos Ave. El foro está programado de 10 a. m. a 12 p. m. (Alcalde)

9 de mayo en el Acuario del Pacífico, 100 Aquarium Way. El foro está programado para las 6 p.m. (Alcalde, Abogado de la Ciudad, Auditor de la Ciudad, Fiscal de la Ciudad, Junta de Educación de LBUSD)

12 de mayo, en el Templo del Rito Escocés, 855 Elm Ave. El foro está programado para las 6 p.m. (Distrito 1)

19 de mayo, en el Templo del Rito Escocés, 855 Elm Ave. El foro está programado de 6:30 p.m. a las 9 p. m. (Alcalde)

Traducido por Crystal Niebla

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Unemployment in Long Beach dropped half a percentage point to 5% in March, according to data published by the California Employment Development Department, marking the eighth consecutive month the rate has decreased.

The unemployment rate was 10.7% in July of last year and has steadily decreased each month.

The city’s labor force decreased slightly, from 235,400 in February to 234,800 in March. The number of employed Long Beach residents, meanwhile, increased from 222,400 to 223,100 in the same period. The number of unemployed residents decreased by 1,300.

Long Beach’s gains, however, still see the city trailing behind over 68% of Los Angeles County’s other 123 cities and recognized census areas, data shows. Only 35 cities and areas have a higher unemployment rate than Long Beach.

Five cities—Covina, El Segundo, Hawthorne, Los Angeles and Montebello—have the same rate as Long Beach, state data shows.

Countywide unemployment also dropped half a percentage point in March, now 4.9%, state data shows. The county’s labor force decreased by 9,200 from February to March to just over 5 million. The number of employed residents increased 15,100 to 4.8 million. The number of unemployed rose by 700 to 247,700.

Long Beach unemployment data broken out by ZIP code is not available, according to Nick Schultz, executive director of the city’s Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network. That is expected to change in the coming months, however, when the organization will begin compiling that data. Once the process begins, the findings will be reported quarterly, Schultz added.

Educational and health services sectors led growth countywide, adding 6,600 jobs—4,800 in health care and social assistance, and 1,800 in educational services—from February to March, according to state data. Leisure and hospitality, one of the leading sectors of the state, aded 5,800 jobs last month.

Year-over-year, the leisure and hospitality sector has increased countywide by 106,800, or 28%. The sector is leading the state’s post-pandemic economic recovery, accounting for 36% of the total nonfarm job growth over the last year.

The county’s professional and business services sector saw a decrease of 2,800 jobs from February to March, which is its greatest month-over-month shrinkage, the state report reads. Trade, transportation and utilities reported the loss of 1,200 positions month-over-month.

The statewide unemployment rate decreased from 4.8% in February to 4.2% last month, according to the EDD.

“The strong job gains relative to the nation will continue, since California has more ground to recover compared to the rest of the country,” Taner Osman, research manager at Beacon Economics and the Center for Economic Forecasting, said in a statement, adding that rising interest rates and inflation are not expected to slow employment growth.

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Two people were arrested Thursday morning in connection to an armed robbery and shooting near E. Shoreline Drive and Ocean Boulevard, authorities said.

Joshua Lima, a 19-year-old Oceanside resident, was arrested on suspicion of carjacking, robbery, assault with a firearm and receiving stolen property, LBPD police officer Paige White said in a statement Thursday. His bail was set at $100,000.

A 16-year-old boy from Altadena was arrested on suspicion of firearm-related crimes, robbery-related crimes and theft, Paige said. The boy’s name was not released because he is a juvenile. No bail was set for the boy, police said.

The relationship between the two suspects is unknown at this time, police said.

Police say the armed robbery and shooting occurred sometime around 3:14 a.m. in the 700 block of E. Shoreline Drive. A man and a woman were in the area when two assailants approached them on foot, police said. One of the suspects pulled out a gun and threatened the man, shot one round at him but missed, according to the LBPD.

The other suspect forcibly stole the woman’s car keys, police said. The two suspects then forced the man from one location to another at gunpoint until they found the woman’s car, police said. The two suspects then stole the vehicle and fled the scene, authorities said.

Police said officers located Lima and the boy and arrested them around 4:05 a.m., authorities said. No injuries were reported.

Evidence relating to the incident was seized at the scene, including a firearm, police said. Detectives are investigating this incident, the LBPD said.

Man arrested after shooting at the ocean in Long Beach, police say

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Authorities announced Thursday afternoon that a man in his 30s died at a hospital last week, two days after he was struck by a car near Long Beach’s University Park Estates neighborhood.

The traffic collision occurred around 6:04 a.m. Wednesday, April 13 in the area of Seventh Street and Pepper Tree Lane, the Long Beach Police Department said in a statement today.

A 40-year-old Long Beach resident was driving a 2008 Mazda 3 in the eastbound lanes on Seventh Street when they struck the man, who was outside of a crosswalk, police said.

When officers got to the area, they found the man in the roadway and rendered aid until Long Beach Fire Department personnel arrived and attempted life-saving measures, the LBPD said.

The LBFD transported the man to a medical center where he was hospitalized for two days before dying as a result of his injuries, police said. Detectives were only notified of the man’s death Thursday.

The driver of the Mazda remained on scene the day of the collision and cooperated with the investigation, police said. Officers determined that distracted driving, speeding and impairment do not appear to be factors in the collision, according to the LBPD.

The identity of the victim is being withheld pending notification to the next of kin by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office.

According to the Long Beach Police Department, nine pedestrians have died in traffic collisions so far this year.

Woman killed in West Long Beach hit-and-run, police say

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Friends and community members are rallying around a retired Long Beach lifeguard chief after he was followed home and robbed of a commemorative watch.

Richard Miller, 88, was sitting outside his Alamitos Heights home on the morning of April 14 when two men got out of their car, knocked him to the ground and robbed him, according to accounts from Long Beach police and a friend of Miller.

Miller suffered only minor injuries, but the robbers took the beloved watch that was given to him by the Long Beach Lifeguard Association about 30 years ago to commemorate his retirement. On the back was the engraving: Chief Miller.

“He’s doing well, but he’s disappointed it happened,” said Long Beach Fire Department Marine Safety Captain Scott Dixon, who talked to Miller about the robbery.

The two men who robbed Miller fled the area in an unknown vehicle before police could arrive, according to the Long Beach Police Department. No arrests have been made and detectives continue to investigate the incident, police said in a statement.

Soon after the robbery though, locals began to rally around Miller, who is well-known in the community for his decades-long career, Dixon said.

As a Long Beach native that came from a family of lifeguards, Miller spent most of his life surrounded by water. He has been rescuing people at the Colorado Lagoon since he was a teenager, according to his Aquatic Capital of America, a non-profit organization formed in 2008 that aims to promote aquatic activities offered in Long Beach.

From 1974 to 1984, Miller served as chief lifeguard before eventually being appointed as a director with the Long Beach Marine Bureau.

“I can’t tell you all the great things he’s done,” said Dixon, who was grateful for all the support Miller has received from the community. “It’s been so positive all around on such a negative situation.”

A GoFundMe page was created to cover the loss of Miller’s watch. It has raised $5,795 of the $10,000 goal as of Thursday afternoon.

“So many people have called to show support. People were calling asking what they could do,” Dixon said. “They wanted to put money together to buy him a new watch.”

Passersby and lifeguards team up to rescue dog stranded on a buoy

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The number of passengers traveling through Long Beach Airport continued to rebound in March, spurred by spring vacationers, airport officials announced this week.

A total of 270,210 people passed through the airport last month, an increase of over 135% compared to the same month last year, according to airport data.

“Commercial passenger” numbers, the airport’s director Cynthia Guidry said in an email, “surpassed the previous month and doubled the number of March 2020.”

March 2020, of course, is when air travel came to a halt at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re pleased to see spring travelers enjoying our easygoing, convenient travel experience and making LGB their airport of choice,” Guidry added.

Passenger volumes, however, continue to trail behind pre-pandemic levels by about 6.7%. In March 2019, 289,791 people traveled through the small municipal airport. That figure itself also signifies a 19% decrease compared to March 2018, airport data shows.

Long Beach’s recovery is faring better than national air travel overall, according to data from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. Last month, 63.6 million people traveled through U.S. airports, a 65% increase from last year and a 105% increase from 2020.

U.S. travel, however, continues to trail behind March 2019 figures by 12.4%, data shows.

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For those who enjoy an active lifestyle, preventing injury by prepping your muscles is key to enhancing performance and gaining the full benefits of exercise. Certain exercises like running, cycling, strength training, and others can result in tight or achy joints, especially if warming up and cooling down isn’t a part of your routine. Plus, knee and joint pain tend to worsen as we age, and specific exercises can go a long way towards alleviating it.

Be sure to consult a doctor or physical therapist if you have a severe injury before venturing into your exercises.

Step-Ups

Using a stool or staircase, use one calf to bend your knee upwards, touching your toes. Repeat this about 10-15 times on each leg. This exercise helps increase balance, stretch your legs out, and improve joint mobility. Step-ups are convenient and simple, they are good for injury as you don’t put much pressure on your knee, and they can be amped by including weights.

Straight Leg Raises

While lying on your back, lift both legs above your knees and chest. Straighten one leg out and lift it down in front of you, switch legs, and repeat about 10 to 15 times on each. Straight leg raises help increase flexibility and improve hip mobility.

Hamstring Curls

You can do hamstring curls standing, sitting, laying down, incorporated with equipment, or done on a curl machine at the gym. Bend your knees to the back of your glutes, repeat about 10-15 times on each leg. This exercise works the back of your thighs and knees while engaging your glutes and hamstrings to strengthen your upper thighs and improve knee support. In addition, this exercise helps prevent injury and promotes flexibility.

Wall Squats

These are ideal exercises for runners to prevent knee injuries, but you can easily incorporate them into any exercise routine. Aside from helping to build glutes, core, and legs, this is an excellent exercise to prevent injuries in the knees and increase mobility. Prop yourself against a wall, bend with your knees shoulder-width apart, and slide down the wall. Hold for about 20-30 seconds and repeat about 10 times. Strengthen your muscles and add weights to increase the cardio level.

Double Knee to Chest

In a lying position, bring your knees to your chest and hold them together for about 20 seconds; repeat about 10 to 15 times. This is a lowkey exercise that stretches your legs and core while helping to prevent strain on the knees, increase flexibility in the joints, and relieve pressure on the spinal nerves by working your lower and mid-back muscles. If you want a deeper stretch, try one knee and alternate.

Hip Abductions

You can do hip abductions on a machine or at home. Lying down, bend your knees towards your chest and open up your knees, bring them back together back and forth while keeping your back on the ground. Repeat this about 10-15 times. This is an excellent exercise for sensitive knees, hip, and pelvic muscles to prevent injury.

Calf Raises

Standing in a straight position, raise your heels and stand on your tiptoes. (You can position yourself near a wall if you need extra support or balance.) Repeat this about 10-15 times. These are excellent exercises to try if you have an ache in your knee, feel sore, or need to stretch out your calves and knees.

Swimming

Did you know that experts often recommend swimming for knee arthritis patients? This low-impact exercise is easy on the knees and a good cardio workout that doesn’t require too much effort. Plus, swimming is excellent for joint fitness and flexibility.

These exercises can help alleviate knee pain, strains, and more. Just be sure to consider an expert opinion before trying them on your own!

The Active Aging Series is brought to you by our partner, Cambrian Homecare. Cambrian Homecare has been assisting individuals to stay independent in their homes for 25 years. Flexible experience you can trust, when the best place is still at home. Click here to see all of Cambrian’s informative articles.

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Even if you’ve never tried Rad Coffee’s bone-shakingly intense drinks, there’s a good chance you’ve gotten a glimpse of their eye-catching skull logo or seen the viral video that introduced millions of people to their extravagant caffeinated concoctions often topped with colored whipped cream and bits of cereal like Lucky Charms and Cookie Crunch.

The punk-rock-themed and horror-inspired coffee shop has been around since 2015 and an online sensation since 2016, but later this month, the husband-and-wife duo behind it will bring the chain’s newest location to Bixby Knolls, taking over the Atlantic Avenue storefront that used to house Derricks on Atlantic.

The new location—their third in addition to Upland and Covina—was a no-brainer for Rad Coffee and its unique style that clicks so well with the city, said co-owner Jade Valore.

“Long Beach has so much culture and art to it,” she said.

Rad Coffee which has its own parking, plans to open soon on the 3502 block of Atlantic Ave in Long Beach Monday, April 18, 2022. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.

The shop will feature a similar ambiance to Rad’s other locations: lots of horror movie posters, concert flyer memorabilia and skateboard decks on the wall. Jade said this location will feel more retro thanks to the checkered flooring and neon-green walls. It will also feature a gaming area they’ve dubbed the “horrorcade,” a collection of horror-themed pinball machines that is a popular feature in their Covina store.

And then, there’s the coffee. Bright, sweet, and powerfully caffeinated. “The Great White,” for instance, is a four-shot espresso concoction with cold brew concentrate, white mocha, and organic almond and caramel sauces. Patrons can also opt to pour that drink over ice and top it with “Bones Brew,” which adds another two shots of espresso and more cold brew concentrate with vanilla and cream.

For the purists out there, Rad Coffee offers staples such as straight espresso, Americano, cappuccino and lattes. They also offer pour-overs and drip coffees, the beans for which are all roasted at their facility Upland. Rusty, Jade’s husband, helms that department.

Jade Valore, 31, and Rusty Valore, 35, are the owners of Rad Coffee, which is set to open its third Southern California location in Bixby Knolls. Photo courtesy Rad Coffee.

They had the idea for Rad Coffee in 2014 after Jade learned she was pregnant with their first daughter. At the time Rusty was working two jobs, one of them at Starbucks where the couple first met and fell in love in their early twenties, while Jade was a full-time student.

The couple wanted a way to spend more time together, raise their daughter and do what they loved, Jade, now 31, said. “So, I thought of a concept. We could start a coffee truck.”

That plan was too expensive, so they opted for a pop-up that would stand out against the landscape of corporatized coffee shops like Starbucks and Coffee Bean that dominated Upland at the time.

Drawing from their own personalities, they came up with the name “Rad” an adjective that was ubiquitous in Rusty’s beloved skate culture.

“He used to say the word all the time, and now when I tell people that he gives me the side-eye like, oh here she goes again,” Jade explained. “Now he literally never says it. I ruined it for him.”

But where Jade believes she struck marketing gold was with her idea to create an eye-catching skull logo. A horror fanatic who dreamed of directing films herself, the morbid theme fit perfectly for Jade, but it was unheard of in the world of coffee.

“Nobody had a skeleton logo. Nobody did. That was a really big deal for us,” Jade said. “In 2015 when we developed all this, our daughter was literally two weeks old. I have to blame the hormones for all the creativity that was going through my veins.”

With a vision in place and a $6,000 espresso machine Jade’s grandfather gifted them, the pair set about trying to get their name out. They would pass out free cold brew at skateboarding events and Jade would spend hours on social media. Today their following on Instagram clocks in at 117,000 followers.

Eventually, they landed a permanent pop-up location at a juice bar in Upland that would later become their first brick-and-mortar.

“The landlord gave us the spot,” Jade said. “We had enough money put together to decorate inside. We still have that same espresso machine, and we already had a customer base which was really cool. Then we opened the actual shop in September 2015.”

But it’s Rad Coffee’s creative take on blended drinks that, arguably, propelled the independent coffee shop to the heights of its popularity. In 2016, Rad Coffee caught the attention of Business Insider for its uniquely topped and colorful blended drinks.

The “Monster Mash” blended drinks at Rad Coffee, a punk rock and horror movie-themed coffee shop set to open in Bixby Knolls Monday, April 25. Photo courtesy Rad Coffee.

The video Business Insider published was short, only 51 seconds, but it catapulted the business into the spotlight.

“It got over 20 million views and the rest was history,” Jade recalled. “I mean, we had lines down the street. That was a pivotal point in Rad Coffee.”

In 2018 the couple started up their roastery in Upland, a necessary move due to high demand, and just last year they opened their downtown Covina location. They also were finally able to achieve their initial idea of a coffee truck, which travels to various cities around Southern California—including Lakewood and Whittier, where the couple was able to test the demand in the Long Beach area before committing to the Bixby Knolls shop.

Last year Jade made the 2021 Forbes 30 under 30 list for Rad Coffee. The company, Jade said, made almost $5 million in 2020.

“I always wanted people to know that we did not come from money, nobody gave us a ticket, we worked our butts off,” Jade said. “It’s really important (to us) for people to know that there are two young people out there making a difference in the coffee world.”

Rad Coffee in Bixby Knolls will open Monday, April 25 under limited hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. until May 8 when hours of operation will be from 6 a.m. to midnight every day.

Rad Coffee is at 3502 Atlantic Ave.

First ‘Bored Ape’ crypto art food concept to debut to Long Beach

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A woman died Wednesday night after being struck by a car in West Long Beach, and police are looking for the driver, authorities said.

Police say the woman was struck sometime around 11:35 p.m. in the area of Pacific Coast Highway and Harbor Avenue. When officers got to the scene, they found the woman unconscious and lying in the roadway suffering from critical injuries, the Long Beach Police Department said in a statement today. Long Beach Fire Department personnel arrived soon after and pronounced the woman dead at the scene.

Authorities said she had been walking in an unknown direction within a marked crosswalk at the intersection of PCH and Harbor Avenue when she was struck by the driver of a 2002 Toyota Avalon traveling westbound on PCH.

The driver, who was traveling at an unknown rate of speed, fled the scene and was last seen going northbound on Santa Fe Avenue. Officers located the driver’s car nearby, but there was nobody inside, police said.

The coroner’s office is working to identify the victim and notify her next of kin, police said. At this time, she has only been identified as a woman between 30 and 40 years old.

Police urgeed anyone who may have witnessed the collision to contact detectives at 562-570-7355.

The LBPD has reported 15 traffic fatalities so far this year, with eight of the victim having been pedestrians.

UPDATE: Man arrested on suspicion of DUI after deadly crash on 710 Freeway

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A Huntington Beach man who was killed Tuesday night in the Belmont Shore area of Long Beach was identified today by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office.

County authorities identified Justin Morris, 27, as the victim of the fatal shooting that took place in a beach parking lot near Rosie’s Dog Beach.

Police say Morris was practicing for a dance routine sometime after 10 p.m. in the 4300 block of Ocean Boulevard when he got into an argument with a group of males.

The argument escalated into a fight in which Morris was shot in the upper body, according to the Long Beach Police Department.

When officers arrived at the beach parking lot around 10:35 p.m., they found Morris unconscious and rendered first aid to him until Long Beach Fire Department personnel confirmed he was dead. No other injuries were reported.

As of Thursday morning, police are still looking for the group of males that were involved in the fight and fled the scene following the shooting, authorities said.

Detectives are also working to determine the number of suspects involved, the LBPD said.

The investigation is ongoing.

UPDATE: Man killed in shooting at Belmont Shore beach parking lot, police say

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The aerospace industry in Long Beach has changed so much in recent years, with the departure of Boeing and the arrival of newer companies like Rocket Lab and SpinLaunch. But one constant throughout Long Beach’s aerospace history has been the expertise coming out of Cal State Long Beach.

I was curious to hear how the university sees its place in the rapidly evolving local industry, so I reached out to Hamid Rahai, who is the associate dean for Research & Graduate Studies for CSULB’s College of Engineering and a professor in the Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department, to get his perspective.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

HAYLEY MUNGUIA: First off, can you tell me a little bit more about the department? Is there a lot of overlap with how CSULB approaches mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering, or are they two very distinct paths that students can take?

HAMID RAHAI: Generally, these are two different majors, and they are managed by one department: the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Initially, until 2000, they were separate departments, but in 2000, the faculty—because of the similarity and also kind of joint operations that they had been doing in terms of research and also sharing labs and resources—they decided to merge.

Now, these are two different degrees, although generally the foundations are all the same in terms of the math and science. Up to the junior level, students are all taking the same classes, and then at the junior level they start branching out into more specific courses. So aerospace engineering is taking aircraft design, space vehicle design, avionics and controls—it’s more major-specific curriculum, and mechanical engineering is more machine design, manufacturing thermal design, general control systems for all these things and so on. So they branch out, but they are very similar in the sense of engineering fundamentals.

HM: So what has CSULB’s relationship with the local aerospace industry been like over the years?

HR: Our relationship with aerospace in the city actually goes way back to the time of McDonnell Douglas. At the time, there was no aerospace engineering—it was all mechanical engineering. So McDonnell Douglas had great internship opportunities, and we also did a lot of services for them in terms of testing and in terms of design and design optimization services, and then we also had research projects that were more focused on optimizing aircraft structures and understanding the fundamentals of airflow characteristics around vehicles and the new generation of aerospace technology and so on.

There was a lot of work done during that period, and later, when McDonnell Douglas became the Boeing Company, then we also started working with Boeing, and we established a Boeing manufacturing lab on campus that was a hub for more research and contract opportunities, including internship opportunities for our students. Boeing engineers and researchers came and worked on campus, allowing students and faculty to work on different projects. It was a great lab on our campus. There were actually three new technologies that were developed that are now being used in 737 and 747 manufacturing.

But then before COVID hit, with everything happening with Boeing, they decided to actually reduce operations here. There was not much needed in terms of the kind of activities we used to do. So Boeing left, but the partnership is still continuing in the form of service contracts and internships for our students.

HM: OK, and what about this newer crop of aerospace companies coming to Long Beach? We’ve got Virgin Orbit, Rocket Lab, SpinLaunch and Relativity, to name a few. Does CSULB have any type of relationship with them?

HR: Yes, we have a great relationship with them, with Virgin Orbit and with the other newcomers that are coming here including Wisk, which is establishing a kind of air taxi that is going to be starting at the Long Beach Airport. We are part of the Long Beach Economic Partnership, and as part of that partnership, there is a group called the Air Mobility Working Group, and this group is with Wisk. We’re looking at what kind of engagement we can have with this company. They actually gave a contract to the Economics Department to look at feasibility studies on routes that they have to choose and the type of customers they can serve, so they have a prototype and autonomous aircraft right now that they are testing, and they’re hoping this is the first generation of aircraft.

HM: Interesting. So how is your department involved?

HR: The Engineering Department is involved in the technical analysis, but we are just getting started. The partnership is very new, and this is a Bay Area company that is coming to Long Beach, so we’re still exploring the engagement and the type of relationship that we’ll have.

HM: OK, so bigger picture: Can you tell me about what these types of partnerships mean for students and how it affects their job placement after they graduate?

HR: That’s something we’re always thinking about. So in addition to partnering with these bigger companies, we also try to engage with their suppliers, which is a much bigger pool. For example, Boeing has 20,000 suppliers. So we think that if we can engage with these suppliers, then first of all it creates opportunities for our students in terms of jobs or internships. And at the same time, we are positioned to really serve this group because these are small companies that produce single components or small parts and different kinds of services, and being a large engineering school here, we have more than 150 joint faculty. We have more than 35 research labs. We have all kinds of capabilities.

I say this because we’re kind of in a moment of flux. Up to 2019, before the pandemic, we have had structured internship programs. On average, we had, for example with Boeing, we had 15-20 paid internships each year, and I can tell you more than 90% of them got offered permanent positions.

But the pandemic has disrupted a lot of things. We couldn’t sustain our service contracts. Our student interns could not work on site. So a lot of things were discontinued. We are trying to re-establish those programs, but the pandemic has changed the business world. Boeing has gone through a restructuring and has different objectives—the same as many other companies now. So we are trying to re-establish the same kind of activities that we had with these companies, but it could be in different forms.

They’re still offering some kind of internships, but we used to have structured internships before—guaranteed internships for our students on an annual basis. We don’t have that now, and I do not see the companies committing to that kind of relationship, so it is a work in progress.

HM: So do you have a sense yet of what these relationships will look like moving forward?

HR: We have to come up with new ways of doing things. We need to figure out what the new norm is for us and how we can take advantage of this new norm.

But I think we’re in a good position to do that. We have hired more than 50 new faculty over the past six, seven years. We’re hiring another eight this year. It’s basically a really new generation of faculty that we are bringing on board with significantly different advanced expertise, and our goal is to serve our local community and local industries around us. That’s where we are going. We are going to see a significant increase in our partnerships—obviously the aerospace industry is dominant here, so we are looking forward to re-establishing and expanding our relationships with the aerospace industry, but at the same time we are looking to expand our relationships with utility companies, with the ports, with biomedical companies and so on.

There is a lot happening, and we’re looking forward to continuing to serve our local industries in new ways.

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