To the Neighborhood Councils of Los Angeles: for the next few weeks, UCLA undergraduate students under the direction of Kathy O’Byrne from the Center for Community Learning at UCLA, as well as Stephen Box, director of the EmpowerLA initiative, will be working with the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment to create a project that will capture and share the stories of Angelenos to make a great city even greater.
Pictured above from left to right:
Cristhian Lin Cobos is a transfer student in his senior year studying Political Science and pursuing a minor in Public Policy. He hopes to learn through first hand experience the ways in which politics play an important role in the lives of everyday people with a focus on disenfranchised groups and newly arrived immigrants.
Karina Valdez is a second-year majoring in Sociology and History and minoring in Civic Engagement with the hope of becoming a high school counselor for communities lacking college preparation resources. Learning how to empower people of all ages through this project will help prepare her for the career path she plans to embark upon.
Daija Moss is a second-year at UCLA majoring in English and Italian. She is a native Angelino and her goal for this project is to be able to successfully share the stories that the group captures through various social media networks and to help create a website so that everyone can view the groups’ work.
Emma Finn is a second-year majoring in Geography/Environmental Studies and minoring in Civic Engagement and Urban Planning. She hopes that this project will instill passion and civic engagement in all Angelenos of varying age and demographic backgrounds, and particularly amongst underrepresented youth living in underserved areas.
Together, these L.A. Storytellers will be collecting stories through online response forms and interviews. They will publish them in hopes to inspire other Neighborhood Council volunteers and local residents to share their vision for a greater, more civically engaged Los Angeles.
To get the campaign started, please share a short narrative of one of your council or community members by filling out the following form. A template for the short story includes three points, such as: an issue that someone identified in their community, how they went about changing it, and its outcome. Photos of the community member(s) and/or the outcome of their actions are strongly encouraged.
The L.A. Storytellers look forward to hearing from you!
