The Funding Equity Working Group met on the evening of Thursday, February 15. Thank you to Nick Greif, Policy Director for Councilmember David Ryu, for acknowledging Neighborhood Council Funding Equity Work Group members for their leadership on this issue and for encouraging the work group to come up with a variety of policy options for how Neighborhood Council funds would be allocated. Thank you also to the Office of City Clerk and City Attorney’s office for their participation.
There was a robust discussion on office space, meeting facility rental costs, translation costs, and analysis of data. There was an analysis based on population presented at the meeting showing that the smallest Neighborhood Council would receive just over $4,000 and the largest Neighborhood Council would receive over $100,000 based on population. Another analysis presented had a floor operations costs of $10,000 with funding by population after operations floor. A third analysis presented information with a floor on operations of $10,000 and a floor of $5,000 for Neighborhood Purpose Grants and funding by population after operations & Neighborhood Purpose Grants floor. A fourth analysis included a floor on operations costs of $10,000 and a floor of $5,000 for Neighborhood Purpose Grants (NPG), and a Community Improvement Projects (CIP) floor of $5,000 and funding by population after Operations, NPG, and CIP Floor. In terms of facilities, another idea also included a l discussion with Los Angeles Unified School District to assist with a policy of making it easier to rent a facility space.
The group was scheduled to meet for a total of four meetings. A motion for two additional community meetings was made and approved at this meeting to expand the total number from four to six meetings. These two additional community meetings will be held in late March/April.
The next meeting is on Tuesday, February 27 at 6:30 pm at Van Nuys City Hall. Thank you to the boardmembers and stakeholders of various Neighborhood Councils for your participation in the Neighborhood Council Funding Equity Work Group.
