Projects & Programs

We help you to connect, collaborate, and share resources. More specifically, we are creating projects, programs, events, and activities that help to inspire empathy and understanding between people.

Here are some of our projects and programs:

Catalyst Giving Chain

Through this project, we are using giving and receiving as a way of showing the interconnectivity within our community and to let people tell some of their personal story so that the rest of our community can get to know them a little more.

Each participant receives a gift from Catalyst because someone else thought of them. They share their story with us on video and we post it online. Then they choose the next person who does the same.

This forms a person to person chain of people considering the people in their lives for whom they want to show gratitude or support towards. 

3 Meals

Both a project and a campaign, we bring together individuals who are characteristically different from each other (e.g. sexuality, gender, ethnicity, religion, economic class, education level, etc.) to spend a full day of sharing stories while sharing three meals for the explicit purpose of being better known and to better understand others. The experience is produced into a documentary and then screened at a public event for Q&A with the participants.

Long Beach Free School

Everyone a teacher; everyone a student. An alternative and supplemental system of informal education for people to engage in lifelong learning and the sharing of knowledge and experiences. The city is our campus - classes are held for free in pre-identified “alternative classrooms” throughout the city (ie. parks, coffee shops, businesses, etc.). Teachers can be anyone that would like to teach what they know well or can do well. We will offer equipping support for potential teachers.

Long Beach Free Store

A way for people to share what they have and to find what they need. People can donate items in good condition; anyone can shop free of charge.

Human Library

An event collaboratively organized by Catalyst Network of Communities, Long Beach Public Library, Long Beach Free School, Long Beach Time Exchange, and Eayikes. The Human Library helps break stereotypes by assembling a collection of "human books" (people who share unique or interesting aspects of their lives like an open book). "Readers" can check out a human book to spend 15-20 minutes hearing and sharing stories while answering questions.