CAMBODIAN AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER

In 2022, the City of Long Beach initiated a planning process to consider a future Cambodian American Cultural Center in the city. Intended to honor the large Cambodian American population and their contributions to the Long Beach community, tell their stories and share their culture, the CACC took shape through a year-long intensive community engagement process. Utilizing a number of planning and facilitation tools, the engagement process included four formal steering Committee meetings, countless small community events, surveys, many discussions and bi-weekly planning and reporting virtual events. Working with city staff, the United Cambodian Community (UCC) and CityFabrick (a local planning firm), Lord Cultural Resources worked in concert with the team to develop the concept and program for the new Center and consider its operating requirements.

Using the outcomes of the community engagement process, the Feasibility Study synthesized and the closely reflected back what we heard from hundreds of participants: a focus on the Cambodian American experience, traditional language and cultural classes, performances, programs and events, (such as Cambodian lunar new year), ways for elders and youth to share knowledge and for parents to share traditional  art forms with their children. We also utilized a matrix of Cambodian and other Asian American Cultural Center examples on the west coast and elsewhere to give form to the space and facilities norms at existing successful institutions to develop high-level space and facilities requirements and operating projections.