Civic U 2.0 successfully concluded on Tuesday night with five excellent group presentations based on Mayor Garcetti’s Back to Basics Priority Outcomes, which are available for viewing:
- Make Los Angeles the best run big City in America
- Create a more livable and sustainable City
- Ensure our communities are the safest in the nation
- Promote good jobs for all Angelenos all across Los Angeles
- Partner with citizens and civic groups to build a greater city
The groups presented their potential project ideas before a panel of three judges: Miguel Santana, City Administrative Officer of Los Angeles; Ana Guerrero, Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Chief of Staff; and William Covino, the President of California State University at Los Angeles.
The first group to present was focused on making Los Angeles the best run big City in America; Their project proposal, dubbed “911 for 311” reiterated that 311 City Services ought to be trusted as much as 911 Services, as improving 311 will improve overall quality of life. Their ideas to expand 311 included increasing app presence on smartphones, incorporating multilingual capabilities, engaging with youth, marketing 311 citywide, incorporating Neighborhood Councils into the customer management system, dropping wait times, and finally lowering costs by incorporating an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system. The judges agreed that the idea was worth pursuing, and they were especially interested in exploring how the Mayor’s office can help elevate 311, more specifically with getting youth involved.
The second group presented on creating a more livable and sustainable city by presenting a “New Avenues Initiative: City Data, Neighborhood Power” with the goal of creating a dashboard on the Mayor’s data panel that contains information pertinent to the sustainability and livability of neighborhoods, sorted by Neighborhood Council. This dashboard will be used to concerns such as gentrification, traffic, parking issues, crime and safety, the environment and climate change, and the state of the LA River, to name a few. The judges particularly enjoyed the way the group highlighted the importance of a variety of issues to different Neighborhood Councils; they also felt that this would be a great tool for partnership and accountability, and would be particularly helpful in identifying neighborhoods based on their priorities.
The third group presented on ensuring communities are the safest in the nation, presenting a project called “Eyes Across LA”, a two-phase project that consists of building out an app and website, followed by maintenance and upkeep by Neighborhood Councils for the project. The app and website will have a function that enables users to instantly upload photos and videos that will go to the appropriate department, as determined and managed by the Neighborhood Councils. The group then outlined the funding for the project, with an ask of $1,000 per NC (totaling $96,000) to be matched by City Council. This money will be used to provide marketing support, engage other city departments and partner with neighborhood groups to implement the program. The judges agreed that it would be interesting to explore how this app could be used in conjunction with LAPD to report crimes and suspicious activities, and to bolster partnerships with LAPD.
The fourth group presented on the promotion of good jobs for Angelenos all across Los Angeles by taking a unique position on what helps good jobs. With the program “JobCare”, the group focused on finding affordable, safe, and decent childcare so that parents are then freed up to work, thereby bolstering the economy. They introduced the idea of using social impact bonds to be modeled after partnerships that the Cities of Chicago and New York have with Harvard, using Harvard’s analysis of what makes a successful investment and a low-risk social impact bond from private investors in conjunction with the City. The judges were particularly impressed by the ease with which social impact investing was explained, and they considered the incorporation of social impact investing truly innovative.
The fifth and final group presented on partnering with citizens and civic groups to build a greater City. This group, made up entirely of youth, named their project “Civic DiverCity” and hoped to start a program teaching civic engagement to youth and minority groups in order to increase youth participation and numbers of youth voters. The judges asserted that being aware of the power young people possess, and harnessing it, is vital to democracy, and advised that the group learn from other models that aim to increase voters.
Mayor Garcetti concluded the evening with remarks on marrying the best of knowledge and government, and the importance of not only reacting and responding to concerns but also creating a vision for the city. His advice was for all of us, as citizens, stakeholders, and Neighborhood Councils, to come together, find each other, and focus on what we want to have accomplished 10, 15, 25 years from now.
Thank you to everyone for making Civic U 2.0 a great success, and especially to photographer David Ng for sharing his photos!
