I hope our newsletter finds you well. We are really excited to once again partner up with Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office and the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State Los Angeles to offer the Neighborhood Council Civic University 2.0. This is an amazing hands-on workshop on effective advocacy techniques from our BFF Raphael Sonenshein, the Executive Director of the Pat Brown Institute.
[insert pic from previous 2.0 of Raphe if you have it] You’ll receive practical training around a group project selected by the participants in order to learn and practice the tools you need to understand and influence City Hall. I know our past graduates found the program to be very effective so I highly recommend that your Neighborhood Council send folks to participate in this class, which we are offering for free. For more information, please click here.

The City Council approved a section of Council File 15-1022 on Tuesday, which will allow the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners to further explain the terms of “substantial” and “ongoing” regarding the Community Interest Stakeholder definition.  Currently, the words are interpreted using typical dictionary definitions.  The Commission will now have the ability to tailor these terms towards the Neighborhood Council system.  Please be a part of the upcoming dialogues on this important matter.   

We’ve been busy little bees working on a variety of projects from our Fiscal Year 2018-19 proposed budget, which is due on November 17th, to conducting Neighborhood Council 101 workshops around the City. If your Neighborhood Council would like us to do a Neighborhood Council 101 in your community, please contact your Neighborhood Empowerment Advocate. We would love to partner with you! Other things we are working on include providing access to all Neighborhood Council board members to the City employees online training portal. This particular project has been a goal of mine for some time so I’m thrilled that we were provided some funding this year to make it happen. Neighborhood Council board members will have on demand access to trainings, such as ethics and funding that will be tracked by the portal, which will also provide renewal and deadline reminders.
Don’t forget the Neighborhood Council Emergency Preparedness Alliance will be meeting tomorrow. Our EmpowerLA staff wishes you a happy and safe Halloween next week!
 Have a wonderful weekend!