Come Alive LB empowers and encourages under resourced youth, children and their families through creative experiences in the city of Long Beach. We are dedicated to inspiring the next generation toward their full potential through creativity and intentional relationships, equipping them to explore beyond existing limitations.
History
About The
Founder
Come Alive Long Beach was inspired by camp designer Anjelica Vargas and her passion to work alongside families with life experiences similar to her own. Having grown up in Long Beach with a single mother and two siblings, Anjelica witnessed her mother endure emotionally taxing situations alone. Her family's lack of social-emotional support and access to resources resulted in a cycle of poverty, dysfunction and hopelessness.
By junior year in high school, Anjelica began working with students and their families through her position with the City of Long Beach Parks and Recreation, commencing a career in helping professions. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies followed by a Master of Arts in Leadership and Leadership Development at Azusa Pacific University to inform her community development work with nonprofits domestically and abroad. She has worked primarily with low-income, disenfranchised children and families in Southern California & abroad.
A few of her past roles include championing causes youth in foster and adoptive care, advocating for struggling families in Great Los Angeles, empowering poverty-stricken youth and children in remote regions of the Philippines and in the town Copán Ruinas, Honduras, an area just outside of the murder capital of the world.
Although previous roles helped shape and define her leadership, it has been Anjelica's deepest desire to address the opportunity gap for under-resourced students and families in her hometown of Long Beach.