California Conference for Equality and Justice

CCEJ was originally founded as the Long Beach branch of the National Conference for Christians and Jews (NCCJ) in 1963. CCEJ has served the Greater Long Beach community for 60 years, offering education and training to youth and adults throughout the city, county, and region. Our Building Bridges Camps have more than 15,000 alumni. Building on our long and successful history of promoting equity and justice in Southern California, CCEJ is also one of the leaders in the movement to reduce mass incarceration and divest from policing in Los Angeles County. CCEJ's Restorative Justice Youth Diversion program has been recognized as a best practice that can serve as a model for other organizations to adopt, and we help keep hundreds of youth out of the juvenile justice system each year.

CCEJ is known in Long Beach for leading people of all backgrounds in deep examinations of power and privilege at the personal and societal levels, inspiring them to build community across differences and work together to advance equity, inclusion and justice. CCEJ believes that everyone has a role to play in transforming our schools, workplaces and communities to be more just and equitable. We provide experiential, interactive training and coaching on inclusion, equity and Restorative Justice. Last year, CCEJ served more than 4,000 people, including hundreds of Long Beach residents, online through our main programs and our annual Interfaith Intercultural Breakfast, Racial Justice Roots Convening, Restorative Justice, Equity and Transformation trainings, and community dialogues and conflict transformation circles.

Your gift during Long Beach Gives will enable us to provide transformative education, training and Restorative Justice programs to further support our vision of a world where people live
free of oppression and thrive.

Thank you for supporting CCEJ!

Testimonials

CCEJ is known throughout Southern California as a leader in advancing social change through innovative education, training and dialogue.

"Sharing helps others feel safe. Connecting with others opens doors for us to be better leaders. I will use what I learn to be an upstander and advocate for others." - Youth participant

"CCEJ's diversion program helped me see that I'm not the only one going through things, and I learned how to deal with my emotions. We learned that we won't have to be defined by what some would consider our biggest mistakes." - Restorative Youth Diversion participant

"Being part of a CCEJ training cohort helped me see how to participate in a social justice movement in a way in which you can be gentle, center your values, and express care for self and others."- Adult training participant

"During our program, our facilitators emphasized that all humans want and deserve to feel seen, heard, and understood. This is a compass that guides the ways that I show up to conflict transformation work with others- it guides my self-reflection and awareness, my listening skills, my empathy, and how I hold other people's stories and needs." - Iluminar Training Participant