I hope our newsletter finds you well. I had an excellent time last Friday sharing about our Neighborhood Council system in Sacramento at Center for California Studies’ Our Voices: Advancing Civic Engagement in California Conference. It was especially good given the fact that many players in the civic engagement world in California did not know about Los Angeles’ Neighborhood Council system. I am happy to say that several folks came up to me after the presentation to ask how they could start one in their cities, including in Sacramento! We continued sharing about our awesome Neighborhood Councils with an international delegation from the State Department on Wednesday. BIG thanks to our Neighborhood Empowerment Advocate, Melvin Canas, for coordinating and presenting to a group from Central and South America! 
As usual, we impressed the heck out of them. I also received a nice write-up from LA 32 Neighborhood Council President Jen Markewych on her experience hosting the all women Saudi delegation last week. See below!
With the county and national elections upon us, there’s a great opportunity for Neighborhood Councils to step up and conduct voter education and registration campaigns. We are assisting the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs to distribute voter postcards to the community, which also gives us the opportunity to talk about Neighborhood Councils to people as well. I learned about a website called Voter’s Edge, which is produced in partnership with the League of Women Voters, to assist folks in dissecting their ballots just by typing in your registered voter address. Neighborhood Councils can also take position on ballot measures at their board meetings or on citywide issues, which is another great way to involve your stakeholders in the great work of Neighborhood Councils. Check out SORO Neighborhood Council’s upcoming town hall on homelessness for example. Please pass this information on to your community members either at meetings, in newsletters or on your website. It’s a win-win outreach approach.
Don’t forget the Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates meet tomorrow, and the Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance is doing a Cool Blocks presentation. Ciclavia is also back in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday. Have a wonderful weekend!
