The HeART Bridge centers the essential role of case managers and frontline staff, creating intentional, creative, and compassionate bridges between overburdened systems and the people they serve.
By CityHeART
A Name for What We’ve Always Done
For nearly a decade, CityHeART has quietly pioneered a unique and intentional way of showing up in community care, one that places peers and volunteers in thoughtful collaboration with case managers and frontline staff across housing, mental health, social services, and healthcare sectors. Long before it had a name, this approach has filled emotional, tangible, and relational gaps left by overwhelmed systems across Long Beach. Now, we are proud to name this approach The HeART Bridge, a reflection of our commitment to walking beside helping professionals and the people they serve, offering compassion, consistency, and connection at every step.
This is not a new initiative. The HeART Bridge simply names the creative, compassionate, and community-rooted way we’ve always done our work. It represents our commitment to building authentic relationships and sustainable connections between individuals impacted by trauma and the resources, community, and creative outlets we all need to heal and thrive.
Bridge: Connecting People to Possibilities
The HeART Bridge affirms our wholeheARTed respect for case managers and frontline staff who work within systems that are often overburdened. Rather than duplicating their efforts, our approach is designed to follow their lead, offer additional capacity, and extend their reach. We consider it a privilege to be invited into their work.
The bridge metaphor is central to our understanding of healing. Trauma often creates disconnection and seemingly impassable gaps between where someone is and where they want to be. The HeART Bridge offers a point of connection between individuals navigating trauma and the healing opportunities that might otherwise remain out of reach.
We know that people do not just need services, we need relationships, creativity, and consistent pathways to healing. A bridge is not a temporary fix. It is a lasting structure that turns what once felt impossible into something navigable. The HeART Bridge is not just for the clients we support; it is also for the case managers and care teams whose work we are honored to walk alongside.
Volunteer + Case Manager in CityHeART parking lot coordinating HeART to Home Resource Packages in Jan 2025
Evolution Through Experience: How the HeART Bridge Was Built
Before the HeART Bridge had a name, our team of volunteers and peers were already storytelling and creating artwork across Long Beach while also providing a smattering of outreach services that met people where they were. This groundwork starting in 2015 laid the foundation for the opening of our Resource Hub in 2018. We opened the Hub with a specific vision: to bridge the gap between service providers and the Veterans, seniors, and families they support.
We heard from helping professionals who wanted to provide more comprehensive support but were stretched by time and caseloads. At the same time, we listened to clients who felt stuck or unseen in large systems. The HeART Bridge emerged in response to both realities. It was designed to offer case managers extra hands, hearts, and creativity, while remaining deeply grounded in trauma-informed and relationship-based care.
We are proud to be the first organization in Long Beach to intentionally build our mission around supporting the work of case managers and frontline staff. This was never a strategy created in a boardroom. It grew out of real relationships, real service, and real stories. By listening closely and responding with empathy, the HeART Bridge took shape over time, crafted in community and held together by trust.
“CityHeART has been a valuable partner at Century Villages at Cabrillo for many years. Through The HeART Bridge, they walk alongside Oasis and other service partners, easing the load and strengthening our work with veterans, seniors, and families — helping us achieve our ultimate goal of collective impact for our community.”
— Kimberly Wee, Executive Director, Century Villages at Cabrillo
Century Villages at Cabrillo is a 27-acre supportive housing community that is home to 2k Veterans, seniors, and families with children; CityHeART has also called it home since 2017 and opened its Resource Hub launching the HeART Bridge in 2018.
Why Name It Now?
As we approach our tenth year of service in Long Beach, naming our approach allows us to:
- Honor What We’ve Already Done: The HeART Bridge is not new. Naming it is a way to celebrate and give language to what has always guided our work.
- Create Shared Understanding: Naming the approach helps us onboard new volunteers and communicate clearly with our community and partners.
- Clarify Our Role: We do not replace or compete with care teams. We walk alongside them. Naming the HeART Bridge helps clarify that.
- Build Toward Sustainable Growth: With a shared language and clearer framework, we can train volunteers and partners who want to support the model in meaningful ways.
Looking Ahead: The Future of the HeART Bridge
The HeART Bridge gives us a framework for continuing this work with deeper clarity and impact. Our next steps include:
- Strengthening Local Partnerships: We hope to embed our peer-based approach within more care teams across Long Beach.
- Building Our Volunteer Training Program: We are developing tools and resources to ensure new volunteers are well-equipped to walk alongside service providers in trauma-informed and intentional ways.
- Expanding UConnect Long Beach: Our local resource database continues to grow and is increasingly used by case managers, peer supporters, and volunteers navigating complex systems.
- Sharing the Story: We will continue telling stories that celebrate the service providers we work alongside and highlight the role of creative support in healing.
Join Us on the Bridge
At CityHeART, we have never claimed to do it all. We simply walk beside those who do, lifting the load, creating space for healing, and celebrating the work of case managers and care teams across Long Beach. The HeART Bridge is our name for this way of working, and it will continue to guide us into the next chapter of our story.
Whether you want to volunteer, donate, partner, or just learn more, we invite you to join us on the HeART Bridge.
