Huge thanks to all who joined us at Congress of Neighborhoods last weekend. We love this pic by Liz Chavez from the Mayor’s Office, showing as many of the 1,000 attendees that could squeeze into one frame!
Here’s another great pic showing this year’s capacity crowd from above:
Photo by Grace Kim for EmpowerLA
Opening Session featured an overview from Mayor Garcetti on how NCs impact homelessness, resiliency, and preparedness in our communities, as well as talks from our former GM, Grayce Liu, and Rampart Village NC President Rachael Rose Luckey, who is the first transgender President in the NC system.
At Closing Session, our current GM, Raquel Beltrán, talked about how LA’s dual democracy Neighborhood Council System represents one of the first manifestations of bringing the communities’ voice into the policy considerations of our local government. She encouraged NCs to continue their outstanding work to increase the number of Community Impact Statements on City Council matters. NCs were also encouraged to expand the participation of LA’s diverse populations on their councils.
Material from our Congress Outreach workshops
One of the highlights for us at NC Congress each year is sharing tools and best practices to help make your NC work easier and your achievements greater.
This year, our staff taught two outreach workshops – one on NC Outreach Strategies, such as asset mapping and building community partnerships, and another on Digital Outreach Tools for NCs, such as social media, Nextdoor, Canva, and newsletters.
Want a copy of the Digital Outreach Tools presentation? Text NCOutreach — that’s all one word, no spaces — to 555-888 to get the link!
If you like that text-to-download tool, details on the app we use (which is one of several such apps) are in the slideshow. It’s an easy and inexpensive way to share meeting agendas, for example – we use it for Commission meetings.
Survey & message from the Congress Planning Committee:
While the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment is proud to support the Congress of Neighborhoods every year, the real heavy lifting is done by the Congress Planning Committee: a group of volunteers from the Neighborhood Council system, chaired by Cindy Cleghorn, who work year-round to stage this large-scale event, curating the 30 workshops; speakers list; and featured elected officials and City departments.
The Planning Committee would like to share the following message and survey about the 2019 Congress:
“Thank you for attending the Neighborhood Council Congress last Saturday. We hope hope that you had a great day seeing friends, making new connections and participating in some great workshops. We understand that the caterer has accepted full responsibility for the mistakes in his schedule and we apologize for how this disrupted the great day we had planned for you.
We have a short survey that will only take a few minutes. We welcome your ideas and feedback on the NC Congress and on plans for the 2020 Congress. Neighborhood Councils in the City of Los Angeles will soon be 20 years old, and we will have much to celebrate.”
