Field Placement: YMCA of Greater Long Beach, Community Development Branch
Location: Long Beach, CA
Preceptor: Ralph Hurtado, M.S.W., (now retired)
Student Name: Karen Michail
Year: 2002

The YMCA Community Development Branch is the home for the Community Partners (CPC), a group of community members, agency representatives, health care providers and local government representatives that convene monthly to discuss the issues affronting different communities in Long Beach, specifically the 90813 zip code, and try to work together to solve community problems. The CPC was born 7 years ago as an oversight council for a social service agency that has since closed down. Without funding and staff support from the closed agency, the CPC has begun a slow but looming demise, as community members and agencies alike have somewhat lost the vision that once carried the CPC. During my internship I worked with various agencies, community members, and especially the YMCA of Greater Long Beach Community Development Branch to begin the long process of re-visioning, strengthening and redefining the structure, goals and role of the Community Partners Council in Long Beach.

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