I hope our newsletter finds you well. It was a busy Saturday with the LANCC taking on issues of homelessness funding and advocating for Neighborhood Councils to have priority along with other City agencies for unused City properties. I was happy to catch up with busy LANCC Chair Terrence Gomes to present him with his Neighborhood Council Spirit Award for his amazing work with our Councils for Councils as a mentor to other Neighborhood Councils, particularly in assisting with catching them up on their Monthly Expenditure Reports. 
After that, I headed over to Granada Hills for the awesome 8th Annual Valley Disaster Preparedness Fair. Twenty-seven Neighborhood Councils participated in the Fair, included some over the hill beyond the Valley, which was packed with community members learning how to be safe in a disaster. Kudos to Neighborhood Councils and the Neighborhood Council leaders led Southern California Preparedness Foundation for their wonderful work!
The Board of Neighborhood Commissioners met on Tuesday and are tackling the issue of requiring minutes for Neighborhood Council meetings. Please let them know how you feel about this proposed policy by emailing Commission@empowerla.org. Their next meeting will be at City Hall on October 19th.
I’m excited to share that the planning for the next phase of the famous Neighborhood Council Civic University is in the works. Graduates of the first Civic U will have the ability to sign up for intensive sessions that focus on how to effectively advocate on an issue of their choosing. The tentative start date is in February of 2016. More information to come soon!
Next Saturday is the Neighborhood Council Budget Day with 6 regional workshops around the City. Check out our EmpowerLA Calendar for the locations. Many thanks to the hardworking Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates for organizing this opportunity for stakeholders to learn about and weigh in on the City budget. I hope to see everyone there.
I stopped by the VANC monthly meeting last night to present Neighborhood Council Spirit Awards to the remaining VANC Executive Committee members I’d missed at our EmpowerLA Awards and Neighborhood Council Volunteer Recognition Event last month. The VANC was busy educating themselves on the LADWP Rate Request and planning their VANC Forum for November 12th to educate Neighborhood Council folk on “What it means to be on the Neighborhood Council,” “Developing Leadership Skills,” and “How and WHY to file a Community Impact Statement.” HUGE thanks to the VANC Executive Committee, led by Chair and Founder, Jill Banks Barad, for their tireless work on making the Neighborhood Council system better for everyone!
You may have caught our mascot ELA in action at City Hall on Tuesday on our Instagram. 
ELA also made an impact in the Harbor on Wednesday night at the HANC meeting. Many thanks to Neighborhood Council Advocate, Octaviano Rios, for taking such a cool pic!
Don’t forget that PlanCheckNC meets tomorrow and that our offices are closed on Monday, October 12th, in observance of Columbus Day.
Have a great weekend!