I hope our newsletter finds you well. We have partnered with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs to conduct Know Your Rights workshops in the community along with our Neighborhood Council 101 outreach to do our part in Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Executive Directive No. 20 – Standing with Immigrants:  A City of Safety, Refuge and Opportunity for All. Our entire staff is now trained to give this presentation so if your Neighborhood Council would like this presentation in your community, please let us know at NCSupport@lacity.org.  We will offer this workshop in English, Spanish, Korean and Mandarin. 

Yesterday, I attended a memorial service for one of our Neighborhood Council board members that we lost way before her time. Park Mesa Heights Community Council’s Youth/Educational Representative Khalillah Marie Johnson-Butler recently passed away from cancer at only 26 years old. Khalillah served on the PMHCC board with her mother, Kimmarie Johnson, and was studying to become a school counselor at Loyola Marymount University where she received a remembrance plaque. To learn more about Khalillah, please see our staffer Brett Shears’ article below.  Our hearts and condolences go out to Kimmarie. Khalillah will be missed!

Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso presented her report today to the City Council Budget & Finance Committee. BIG thanks to her team for their great work in such a short time period! Our budget request for additional resources for Neighborhood Council training was included for final vote at City Council next week.  We were also requested to provide reports back on the necessary amounts needed by Neighborhood Councils to provide translation/interpretation in their communities and on the consequences of pushing the Neighborhood Council elections from 2018 to 2019. If your Neighborhood Council hasn’t gotten your Neighborhood Council Elections Timing Form (word, PDF) for back to us, please do so as soon as possible. Thus far, out of the 19 we’ve received, 12 Neighborhood Councils have voted for pushing the elections from 2018-2019.  

Tomorrow, PlanCheckNC will have Diana Kitching & Michelle Levy from the LA Department of City Planning provide a General Plan update. On Monday, the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners will be meeting at City Hall. On Tuesday, don’t forget to vote!

Have a wonderful weekend!