Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell

2:55pm | Long Beach BLAST (Better Learning for All Students Today) is gearing up to host its fourth annual fundraising breakfast, and on Tuesday the organization announced that Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell will speak at the event.

The breakfast is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 8, at the Long Beach Yacht Club.

McDonnell, who recently joined the BLAST Board of Directors, will report on the state of the city’s youth, said BLAST Executive Director Ray Thomson.

BLAST mentoring programs place, train and support college volunteers at 20 school and community sites citywide, where they work one-on-one or in small groups with local at-risk children and youth.

BLAST mentors provide academic assistance and enrichment activities that help these students succeed academically and set goals for their futures. The mentors are also important role models for the youth, who aspire to be college students just like them, Thomson said.

Founded 11 years go, the organization has provided more than 7,000 disadvantaged children with services from 5,167 college volunteers, Thomson said.

During the 2010-11 school year, BLAST supervised 652 college volunteer mentors who provided services to 1,140 at-risk youth, he said.

The volunteer mentors, college students from Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Long Beach City College, also benefit. Thomson said they report that helping at-risk kids through BLAST allows them to learn their own class work better and to become confident contributors to their local community.

“The BLAST program is an effective model of how to keep the kids who might otherwise end up in the criminal justice system in school, which is how they will succeed in life,” McDonnell said in a statement. “BLAST’s college mentors give the younger kids a vision of what their futures could look like and the encouragement to make that vision a reality.”

Breakfast sponsors include BP, AAES Alamitos and NRG Energy West and the Port of Long Beach.

For tickets or more information, visit LBBLAST.org or call 562-437-7766, ext. 200.