PRESS RELEASE

Long Beach, CA – The City of Long Beach is encouraging residents and local small business owners to participate in Small Business Week, taking place Sunday, April 30, through Saturday, May 6, 2023. Celebrated since 1963, Small Business Week is an opportunity to celebrate the contributions of small business owners to our city and community. This year, the City will host a Small Business Resource Fair and Small Business Workshops to support entrepreneurs in growing their businesses.

“Small businesses are a central part of our local community. We are committed to making sure we create a thriving culture, with jobs and investments here in Long Beach,” said Mayor Rex Richardson. “I encourage our local business owners to participate in Small Business Week.”

Starting April 30 and continuing throughout the week, the Department of Economic Development will share information about small business resources and services available for Long Beach businesses on their webpage at longbeach.gov/SmallBiz/WeekLB and on social media. Follow @lbecondev and the City’s main account at @longbeachcity to learn more and join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with #SmallBizWeekLB.

Small Business Resource Fair
Small business owners are invited to attend the Small Business Resource Fair on Saturday, May 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Civic Center Plaza (411 W. Ocean Blvd.). This one-day free resource fair celebrates and supports small businesses as they continue to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. There will be a variety of business resources and assistance options available to attendees including:

• The BizCare team, which supports small business and nonprofits in accessing resources and information such as grants, loans and technical assistance.
• The City’s Business Licensing and Purchasing teams will be available to answer questions about business licenses and doing business with the City.
• The Port of Long Beach Procurement team will be available to answer questions and share opportunities to do business with the Port. 
• Long Beach Public Library (LBPL) will be available to guide businesses to resources available through the Library.
• The City’s Inclusive Business Navigators and Long Beach Small Business Development Center will provide free technical assistance and business coaching/advising services to Long Beach small businesses. Assistance is available in multiple languages.

Free Parking will be available in the West Broadway Parking Garage, located at Broadway and Chestnut Avenue, and will be open for resource fair attendees until 5 p.m.

Small Business Workshop
Small business owners are also encouraged to attend the Small Business Workshop, hosted by LBPL, on Tuesday, May 2 at 9 a.m. The free, online workshop will be held in English with live Spanish translations and will teach attendees how to conduct market research, craft effective business plans and reach new customers using Reference Solutions. Powered by Data Axle since 1992, Reference Solutions provides exclusive data on over 80 million businesses and 272 million consumers. Everyone who signs up for the workshop will receive a recording of the event, so people are encouraged to register even if they cannot attend live. Reference Solutions is one of many business resources available in the LBPL Digital Library and is made available by the efforts of the Long Beach Public Library Foundation and its generous donors.  

Small Business Week is an annual event created in 1963 to celebrate small businesses and their contributions to the local economy and community. Residents can participate in Small Business Week by shopping locally at their favorite local businesses. Shopping locally also reduces one’s environmental impact, encourages local businesses to reinvest in their communities, and increases local competition and innovation among small businesses.

This effort is made possible in part by the Long Beach Recovery Act, a plan to fund economic and public health initiatives for Long Beach residents, workers and businesses critically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. More than $200,000 in funding has been allocated to support business activation, which includes support for the Small Business Week. Additional information about the Long Beach Recovery Act is available at longbeach.gov/recovery.