For the fifth consecutive year, the Uptown Jazz Festival is back!

North Long Beach will feature a taste of southern sounds during its 5th Annual Uptown Jazz Festival, with Goapele and DW3 headlining the show. Goapele, also referred to as the “spiritual love child of Sade and D’Angelo”, has inspired the world with heartfelt songs like "Closer to my Dreams". DW3 tore down the stage at last year's festival, which we hope to expect this time around as well. Check out a recent live performance of theirs, here.

From 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., come out and music, food, vendor booths, a Kids Zone, and much more at this free community event. The free community concert, hosted by Councilmember Rex Richardson, will take place on Saturday, June 11th at Houghton Park. Save the date and share the news!

RSVP for the 5th Annual Uptown Jazz Festival in order to stay in the loop with updates! If you missed out on last years' Festival, check out some great pictures from the day here.

$1 million dollars in grant funds were received by the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for enhancement of the HEAL (Healthy Eating Active Living) Zone Initiative, an effort launched in in order to foster healthier lifestyles in North Long Beach. Kaiser Permanente was responsible for awarding the funds, honoring a larger part of their HEAL Zone investment to promote healthy communities across Southern California.

The presence of HEAL Zones foster a chance for direction towards a healthier lifestyle, more specifically, those met by challenges in undeserved communities. Reducing the likelihood of developing diseases such as diabetes and hypertension is a probable outcome for this initiative, and a constant goal for DHHS and the Coalition for a Healthy North Long Beach since asserting partnership in January 2012.

“Poor nutrition and lack of exercise are key drivers of diabetes, obesity and heart disease,” Kelly Colopy, director of health and human services, said in a statement. “Increasing education, access to healthy foods and safe, fun places to exercise makes health easier. It takes all of us working together to make this possible.” - Read more from the Press-telegram, here!

One of the best strategies to reduce childhood obesity is to improve the food and physical activity environments of a neighborhood while also improving the nutrition and exercise habits of entire families. Since establishment in 2007, the City of Long Beach DHHS Childhood Obesity Prevention and Advocacy Program is tirelessly reaching towards that goal.

The Coalition for a Healthy North Long Beach meets regularly - learn more and get involved with the coalition by emailing: [email protected]

The third mural from the Creative Corridor Challenge has been completed! Beautifying North Long Beach has been the objective of this challenge, combining community narratives with artistic taste and touch.

Artist Jose Loza added the finishing touches to the "Twelve Steps" inspired mural, which is still undergoing final naming. Inspiration behind the mural title stems from the Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) Twelve Step program, which is well known for its use in treating addictive and dysfunctional behaviors.

The first 12 step program began with A.A. in the 1930s and has since grown to be the most widely used approach in dealing not only with recovery from alcoholism, but also from drug abuse and various other addictive and dysfunctional behaviors.

View the artwork today, located at 5881 Cherry Ave (Intercity Fellowship Hall). Also, watch the first Community Paint day of Loza's mural in North Long Beach, here!

Read More: New North Long Beach Mural Symbolizes Rebirth; Artist Leaves Interpretation to Viewer

This Friday, May 13th, North Long Beach residents are invited out to Ramona Park for a movie and Participatory Budgeting (PB) project voting!

We will be presenting Hotel Transylvania 2! PB Voting will take place from 5:30-8:30 p.m. The movie will start around 7:45 p.m.

For more information, contact (562) 570-6137 or visitwww.pblongbeach.org

The National Earthquake Conference was held in the City of Long Beach, bringing scientists together from all over the world. Gathered, some of our top experts discussed California's biggest fault and potential danger, with projections for an overdue earthquake reaching a magnitude of 8.0.

A U.S. Geological Survey warns a quake that size could cause more than 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries and $200 billion in damage. In comparison to the Northridge Quake that occurred in 1994, our next quake along the San Adreas fault could be almost 60 times stronger.

For the fifth consecutive year, the Uptown Jazz Festival is back!

North Long Beach will feature soulful sounds during its 5th Annual Uptown Jazz Festival on Saturday, June 11th at Houghton Park, with Goapele and DW3 headlining the show. Goapele, also referred to as the “spiritual love child of Sade and D’Angelo”, has inspired the world with heartfelt songs like "Closer to my Dreams". DW3 has been a staple at the festival every year, and we can expect an awesome set. Check out a recent live performance of theirs here.

The Sewer Design Section of the County Sanitation Districts (CSD), is a confederation of 24 special districts that provides wastewater conveyance, treatment and disposal services to most of the County, including the City of Long Beach. Sanitation district boundaries are based on topographic, not political, boundaries so the City of Long Beach is served by several of our sanitation districts – specifically, County Sanitation Districts Nos. 1, 2, 3, 8 and 19. The Board of Directors of each sanitation district is comprised of the mayors of the cities served by that district. Thus, Mayor Robert Garcia is on the Board of Directors of County Sanitation Districts Nos. 1, 2, 3, 8 and 19.

County Sanitation District No. 2 owns and maintains a 10,400-foot long, 63-inch diameter sewer that runs along 65^th Street (from Cherry to Myrtle), then west through Jordan HS and Villa Park, and then south through Villa Park and De Forest Park. See the attachment below for sewer alignment. The sewer was constructed in 1927 and is in need of repair. Rather than construct a new sewer (which would be very disruptive and costly), CSD intends to rehabilitate the existing sewer by “sliplining”, which involves inserting 10-foot long segments of plastic pipe inside the existing pipe. This is done by excavating approximately 15-foot wide by 30-foot long pits every few thousand feet along the sewer alignment so that it is possible to access and remove the top of the sewer pipe and insert the plastic pipe inside. See attachment for proposed location of pits. A special machine inside the pit then joins and pushes the segments of plastic pipe upstream and downstream through the sewer. The work is performed while there is flow in the pipe, so sewer service is not interrupted.

The construction drawings and specifications for this project are currently at 90% design completion. Anticipated advertising of the project is expected to occur in May and recommended that the Board of Directors of County Sanitation District No. 2 award the project to the selected contractor in August. Construction is anticipated to start in late 2016 and conclude in late 2017. Please note that sewer projects are linear in nature, so the work will progress from one area to the next – the work won’t be in one location for the entire project duration.

On Friday, April 22nd, Hamilton Neighborhood celebrated Earth Day by planting 95 trees in front of Hamilton Middle School and the surrounding area. Over 400 volunteers were welcomed, combining teamwork to make the dreamwork. Long Beach Development Services, CD9, the Port of Long Beach, and many other organizations also lent a helping hand in the effort.

Check out more photos from the event here!

From May 7-14, if you're 14 years of age or older and live in District 9, YOU can VOTE on how to spend $250,000 of Councilmember Rex Richardson’s discretionary funds. Projects on the ballot include park improvements, safety upgrades, community art, and more.

We would like to extend a thank you to the Long Beach Unified School District for donating $100,000 to the My Brother's Keeper Long Beach Community Challenge.

Born out of an understanding about the issues facing both boys and men of color and their surrounding ecosystem, MBK Alliance’s vision is to make the American Dream available to all boys and young men of color by eliminating gaps in their opportunities and outcomes.

Read the full story from PressTelegram here!