The majority of jobs today require digital skills, and the emergence of AI is advancing digital inequities, so experts advise digital literacy programmers to include AI. Governments from New Jersey to San Jose are investing in upskilling workers to leverage AI.
Long Beach’s new training initiative focuses not on government staff, but on creating opportunities for residents. The city has taken a community-centric approach to technology innovation, from its Digital Rights Platform to its Digital Inclusion Implementation Plan.
"Our goal was to design workshops around the topics our residents are most interested in learning about," Omar Moncayo, data privacy analyst at the Long Beach Technology and Innovation Department (TID), said via email, noting that the curriculum was informed by a community survey on AI. It was developed internally by the TID team with support from the Technology and Innovation Commission and Data and Society.
This new workshop series is part of the city’s celebration of Digital Inclusion Week 2025, an annual, nationwide week of awareness and celebration of this work. The series will be hosted by TID.
The workshops will center on generative AI, digital skills, and data privacy, giving participants practical data privacy and cybersecurity tips, and experience using AI tools safely.
The 90-minute workshops are free to attend and open to all community members, regardless of their level of familiarity with AI. Each workshop will cover the same content, to ensure access to this information is available for all participants.
Notably, interpretation services will be available on request in Spanish, Khmer and Tagalog.
The workshops will be held Oct. 8, Oct. 13, Oct. 15, Oct. 20, and Oct. 22 at community centers, a senior center, and a library in the city.
City officials have applied for a California Advanced Services Fund grant to support additional workshops next year, which Moncayo said would focus on serving older adults.
"Beyond that, we’re eager to continue if there’s strong community interest as post-workshop feedback will guide where we go next," he said.
Officials will gather community feedback through a post-workshop participants’ survey, to better understand the impact of the series.
These workshops support the city's ongoing efforts in digital inclusion and strengthening public awareness of data privacy and AI.
Long Beach has previously created resources to support digital inclusion among residents, including its Digital Inclusion Resource Guide and Digital Inclusion Resources Asset Map.
“The more that we connect with residents, the more we learn from them, too,” Lesly Figueroa, the city’s administrative analyst and Smart Cities Communications Fellow, said last year.
