MEET JEANNINE

The Second District is vast with boundaries that extend to unique locations. Councilwoman Pearce, has worked tirelessly to establish a pride among constituents by showcasing the diversity of experience that exists within their district. This starts by better communicating the geographic boundaries and then revealing how the vast offerings and experiences lead to their participation in a completely unique pocket of Long Beach. There truly is no other place in Long Beach like the Second District.

Councilwoman Pearce is a mother and a Long Beach City Councilwoman whose roots lie in community organizing and grassroots movements. Her focus as a representative is always on the quality of life for those who live and work in the 2nd district. Councilwoman Pearce was elected in 2016 to represent the Second Council District, where she lives with her daughter Jubilee, on the Long Beach City Council. The second district includes Long Beach’s downtown civic core, dining, and entertainment district; Alamitos Beach; the Aquarium of the Pacific; the Port of Long Beach (POLB); The Queen Mary, Rainbow Harbor; Retro Row; Shoreline Village; and the 7th and 10th Street Corridors.

While still in college, Councilwoman Pearce believes in bringing together diverse stakeholders to promote a thriving local economy with good jobs, to establish safer neighborhoods, and to help implement much needed regulations to short term rentals in the city. She has fought for the reduction in costs for conditional use permits while increasing community notification periods, twelve new second district development projects, and has secured a fully funded Homeless Engagement and Response Team.

Councilwoman Pearce is a fierce advocate for the protection of civil liberties for all Long Beach residents. Access to healthcare and to mental health services are cornerstone issues for Jeannine. Having suffered emotionally throughout her adult life, Councilwoman Pearce’s mother eventually succumbed to suicide in 2009. This is one reason she established the Long Beach Suicide Prevention Plan, addressing the second district’s suicide rates, the highest compared to all other city council districts.

As a child, Jeannine grew up in Pasadena, Texas, a suburb of Houston, and moved to Long Beach as a student to attend California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). As the first in her family to attend college, she graduated in 2009 at the top of her class with a Bachelor of Arts Degree majoring in Sociology.

While attending the university, Councilwoman Pearce spent a summer in Chicago with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) volunteering to assist homecare workers organize for better working conditions. The experience forged her passion for working people. Her career before City Council was as a union organizer with the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE).

While at LAANE she organized alongside Hotel Workers in the Long Beach and the surrounding communities. In 2012, her efforts changed the Long Beach Hotel Workers community forever with a hotel worker living wage ballot initiative, which passed with 64% of the vote. In 2018, she spearheaded the efforts for ballot initiative, Measure WW, which also passed and provided hotel housekeeping staff with emergency panic buttons and other protections.