The North Long Beach Higher Education Center opened its doors on Monday, serving as a place for residents to access academic and career resources right in their neighborhood.
The center will offer tuition-free, non-credit courses from Long Beach City College like business and English as a second language, services and workshops supporting small businesses, workforce training and a computer lab to use for classes and enrollment.
Those interested in signing up for classes, training or other services can do so online here. LBCC will also hold a registration workshop at the new space Wednesday, June 5 and host information sessions throughout May. A calendar for these sessions can be found here.
The center, at South Street and Lime Avenue, will be open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
As a partnership between the city and LBCC, the facility aims to address the need for access to higher education in the Northside community, said Uduak-Joe Ntuk, who is on LBCC’s board of trustees.
At the grand opening, Ntuk also hailed the development of a $30 million affordable student housing project near the Michelle Obama Library in the coming years.
“This is about moving resources the community needs the most. This is about investing where we’re going to get the most bang for our buck,” said Ntuk.
Ntuk also said he hopes to bring in more students to LBCC and more workers for the city.
One Northside resident, who attended LBCC before earning her doctorate, said that the college gave her the “tools to persevere,” and that she will be taking a course on Microsoft Excel at the new Higher Education Center.
“To have this in the community where I live, I wish to God we had this when I started,” said Dr. Sheree Danetta. “This is incredible.”
The outside wall of the building features a vibrant mural painted by artists with the Puente Latino Association, emphasizing the “evolving dream” that the community has, said association president Hilda Gaytan.
The North Long Beach Higher Education Center is at 635 E. South Street. For more information, visit its website here or email [email protected].