Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
Newsletter 9/27/02

September 27, 2002

Re: Funding Program Advances/CAO Report, Free Internet Training, other Events.

NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL FUNDING PROGRAM/CAO REPORT

When we left off, the City Council's Personnel Committee could not discuss the Neighborhood Council Funding Program because they had not yet received the required report from the City Administrative Officer (CAO) – the city's management and budget experts.

That report has been received. It is attached as a .pdf document. The committee has the report on their agenda for its meeting on Tuesday, October 1 at 2:00 p.m. on the 10th Floor of City Hall. Call your City Councilmember or us for free parking. The committee members are Dennis Zine, Cindy Miscikowski, and Nate Holden. The next step would be the Budget and Finance Committee. It's meeting of October 2 has been cancelled, but they meeting every week.

If you need the most recent copy of the funding program proposal, send an e-mail to Barbara Arita at barita@mailbox.lacity.org. We're working toward getting all these reports on the Web site. The most recent verison is dated August 2. A couple of you may have been mistakenly sent a draft version dated July 21.

FREE INTERNET TRAINING

This information came to us from Pat Griffith at Arroyo Seco:

FREE one day Internet Fundamentals Class at CTEC at the Los Angeles River Center and Gardens in Cypress Park.

Saturday, October 12, 2002, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

If you are interested or know someone who is or you would like some more information about this class or about CTEC please contact Melanie Guerrero at (323) 223-0604 x29.

VISIT FROM ST. PAUL?

Greg:

Thanks very much for your response. I look forward to meeting you, if I am able to arrange the trip to LA.

Do you think that there are any community organizations in Los Angeles that might be interested in the workshop that I have to offer (see below) on setting up an online community issues forum (or city issues forum)?

In Los Angeles, such a forum might be used to: - set up a city wide discussion on important issues- set up a forum to facilitate discussion between neighborhood councils and their staff - used within a particular neighborhood to distribute announcements and share important information.

Please forward this to anyone who might be interested.

Tim Erickson

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** WORKSHOP **
Setting Up & Maintaining An On-line Community Issues Forum =================================================

The purpose of this workshop is to help your community or city plan, set-up, and maintain an ongoing online public forum for policy discussions on issues of local importance.

Using the simplest of e-mail technologies, you can bring citizens, community activists, and public officials in an electronic discussion that can help shape public policy in your community.

However, experience suggests, that online public policy discussions require planning, structure, and active management to be successful. Online facilitator, Tim Erickson can walk your group through the steps of setting up an online commons, establishing rules and guidelines suitable to the particular needs of your community, how to recruit participants, and how to manage the ongoing discussion.

Here are some of the concerns that he will address:

1) Planning for Success. What you need to do before launching your online forum to make sure that it is successful.

2) How do you get both citizens and public officials to participate?

3) Basic rules and guidelines to ensure a civil and productive discussion?

4) How do you deal with flame wars and aggressive posters?

5) How does online discussion become political action?

6) Integrating online communication with traditional means of communication in an effective strategy for public involvement in decision making.

7) How to deal with the digital divide?

8) More.......

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COST OF WORKSHOP = Travel Expenses
(Can be shared among organizations for multiple presentations. For Los Angeles, we are looking at about $350 in expenses.)
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Presenter:

Tim Erickson has been facilitating online public policy discussions for several years now. He is the founder of Politalk, an online discussion forum that invites citizens, policy experts, and policy makers to participate in moderated discussions on important and controversial issues. Last fall, Politalk worked with the TransAtlantic Information Exchange Service (Paris, France) to bring over 300 people, representing more than 12 countries together in a TransAtlantic Response to September 11th.

As a volunteer with Minnesota E-Democracy, Tim has managed online candidate debates for US Senate, St. Paul Mayor, and the St. Paul School Board. Tim is also the list manager for the St. Paul Issues Forum, which brings over 300 residents and elected officials in St. Paul, Minnesota together in public policy discussions. The St. Paul Issues forum is part of the Minnesota E-Democracy Network, which has received international attention for their innovative and successful forums.

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Tim Erickson http://www.politalk.com
St. Paul, MN - USA 651-643-0722
tim@politalk.com ICQ: 105978430
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FROM THE COMMISSION FOR CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND THEIR FAMILIES:

Come and find out if you can get Free Cash For College at the College and Career Convention 2002, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 7th, 8th and 9th, 9am to 4pm at the Los Angeles Convention Center, 1201 S. Figueroa Street in Petree Hall.

The City of Los Angeles will provide free round trip bus transportation for schools within the City of Los Angeles. For more information contact your Assistant Principal, Secondary Counseling Services (APSCS), or call 213.978.0735.

Sponsored by Mayor James Hahn and the City Council of Los Angeles.

FROM THE MAYOR:

September 26, 2002 213/978-0741

MAYOR HAHN ANNOUNCES YOUTH PROGRAM LINK WEB PAGE LOS ANGELES

- In his effort to engage youth in positive after school activities, Mayor Jim Hahn has created a web page that identifies youth-related programs and activities in Los Angeles. The website is part of the Mayor's Los Angeles Safe Neighborhood Action Plan (L.A. SNAP). These programs range from traditional after school recreational sports, homework assistance, specialized leadership training and art and science related programs.

"It is important for our children to have a safe and fun place to go after school," said Mayor Hahn. "This website is a great resource for parents to learn about after school programs in their neighborhood."

For more information, please visit www.lacity.org/mayor/youth/set1.htm.

Greg Nelson

213 / 485-1360
866 / LA HELPS toll-free
213 / 485-4608 fax
done@mailbox.lacity.org email