Click here to make your tax-deductible donation today!
CityHeART began as a grassroots artist collective in January, 2016. Our goal was simple: tell true stories about the city. As we went out into the community to learn about the topics we wanted to cover (homelessness, human trafficking, addiction, PTSD, sexual assault, etc.), we met people like Jo-Jo, living on the streets of Downtown Long Beach.
We discovered that, of course, Jo-Jo needed food, water, clothing, blankets, toiletry items … but she would also need help finding a job, help finding a rehab program, help filling her soul as well as her stomach so that she could make it all the way through the journey of recovery that she would be walking.
We told Jo-Jo’s story to raise awareness of what she had been through and how she ended up living along the LA Riverbed, but we discovered that telling stories and raising awareness would never be enough — we wanted to take action on behalf of the stories we told.
So we began building a program that would not only feed the bodies of those in need in Long Beach, but one that would feed their minds and souls as well.
Through much collaboration and community partnerships, we have grown into an elaborate community outreach program that ties art to community service. We now have five programs that work side-by-side to “wholeheARTedly love our city and tell its stories.”
Supporting CityHeART means supporting an organization that:
- Feeds nearly 1500 people per month
- Clothes approximately 200 people per month
- Offers free peer-led support groups for those who cannot afford professional mental health care [that offers childcare for parents!]
- Leads therapeutic art workshops all over the city for folks in recovery, veterans, and people living in affordable housing
- Brings arts and crafts to disadvantaged children through community events and local shelters
- Raises awareness of the wide variety of social issues present in our community via original artwork created by local artists — and calls the city to action!
Please make a year-end gift so that we can continue to help the many people in our community struggling with mental health issues like Jo-Jo to make it across the finish line along the road to recovery. Your support of our work inspires men, women, veterans, children, and senior citizens to take the obstacles that life throws at them one day at a time.
Your gift of $50 could offer an art experience for 30 children at a local shelter.
Your gift of $100 could feed 50 people.
Your gift of $150 could offer 6 free peer-led support group sessions for up to 10 battered women as well as child-care for mothers in the group during meetings.
Your gift of $200 could offer a 10-week therapeutic art workshop series to 5 veterans in recovery.
Your gift of $500 could sponsor one family for a month with meals, clothing, child-care, and therapeutic art and support.
Opt to sponsor us with a monthly gift, and receive a hand-made thank-you package from one of the many who will benefit from your generosity!
Click here to make your tax-deductible donation today!
