What would happen if everyone in Long Beach stopped, sat down and talked to each other for an hour or two?

That’s what an initiative called Around the Table is designed to do. First tried in Chicago, the idea is to connect people and collectively improve the city.

A grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is financing Long Beach and nine other cities across the country in an attempt to replicate Chicago’s success. The grant, like others from Knight, is being handled through the Long Beach Community Foundation. Long Beach’s event is scheduled for Sept. 23.

Foundation leaders turned to the grassroots We Love Long Beach group to help organize Around the Table. We Love Long Beach has been fostering community collaboration through neighborhood breakfasts, ice cream socials and more for the last nine years.

“Around the Table aims to connect individuals and communities of differing perspectives and backgrounds,” Scott Jones, We Love Long Beach executive director, said. “Talking and listening to neighbors is an important first step toward bridging our divides. When we come together as a community to learn from and with each other, we have the power to transform neighborhoods, and lives.”

Jones, Foundation president and CEO Marcelle Epley and others already have signed several table hosts. All 12 Long Beach libraries, Rancho Los Cerritos and The Attic restaurant all have agreed to be super hosts, meaning there will be five or more tables of eight to 12 at those sites. The Long Beach Fire Department has pledged to have a table at every fire station in the city.

“The Around the Table initiative capitalizes on that tradition of gathering around a table for a meal and provides a platform for diverse populations, as well as like-minded individuals, to gather and share dialog that will move the Long Beach community in a positive direction,” LBCF Board Chair and former Third District City Councilman Gary DeLong said.

Epley said the initiative is going public now to attract more table hosts and to start signing people up to participate that day. The goal is to have more than 1,000 tables and more than 10,000 participants, she said.

A table can take place anywhere — in front yards, in homes, at the beach, in the park, at schools, at a hospital, at coffee shops, on boats, or in restaurants, the release said. It can be over breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner, potluck, happy hour or simply wine and cheese. Individuals can be hosts as well as nonprofits and businesses.

A new website, www.aroundthetablelb.com, has more information about becoming a sponsor, as well as ways to register as both a table host and a participant.

Harry Saltzgaver is executive editor for Gazette Newspapers. He can be reached at hsalt@gazettes.com.