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Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
Newsletter
May 12,
2004
SUBJECT: Policy No. 2004-01
Financial Support to Neighborhood Councils
The Department of Neighborhood Empowerment will pay for election-related
items to Neighborhood Councils, regardless of funding enrollment
status, to ensure that the best possible effort has been made to
involve all of the stakeholders in the election.
The normal items paid for by the Department include:
| 1.
|
Printing
and delivery of one election announcement notice that tells
people about the election, and how to run for office and vote.
It may contain an application for a ballot; |
| 2. |
Printing
and delivery of one election reminder postcard; |
| 3. |
Use
of a facility to hold the election; and, |
| 4. |
Services
of a third party administrator and/or arbiter of election challenges. |
Neighborhood Councils that are not enrolled in the Funding Program
will be provided with:
| 1.
|
Monthly
meeting space, and |
| 2. |
Printing
and delivery of quarterly one-page meeting announcements. |
Once
enrolled in the Funding Program, the Department’s budget will allow
us to spend money on elections only. Anything else will need to
be paid from the Neighborhood Council’s funds.
Background
The Department of Empowerment began accepting applications for certification
on October 1, 2001.
Since that time the Department has provided extensive support to
the new Neighborhood Councils, including:
| 1. |
Securing
facilities for conducting thousands of Neighborhood Council
meetings.
|
| 2. |
Printing,
mailing, and distributing millions of announcements, flyers,
maps, and Neighborhood Council information bulletins. |
| 3. |
Providing
computers, computer software packages, and many hours of technical
assistance to Neighborhood Councils to ensure that there would
be no digital divide between the Neighborhood Councils and our
department. |
| 4. |
Providing
interpreters and translation professionals that allowed the
broadest variety of people to participate in Neighborhood Council
activities and events. |
| 5. |
Training
of Neighborhood Council leaders that is unparalleled in the
nation.
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Current Situation
The proposed city budget for 2004-05 will reduce our department’s
budget by 12.7%, and we will lose seven positions, including four
Project Coordinators. We accept these reductions without complaint.
We understand the magnitude of the state’s fiscal problems, and
we want to do our fair share.
We are actively involved in assisting the remaining “forming” neighborhoods
with their efforts to develop certified neighborhood councils. We
are also heavily involved with training and empowering the Neighborhood
Councils that have elected their board members, and are developing
budgets, setting goals, and getting things done. We understand that
once you’ve had an election, you cannot be abandoned. Yet, the reality
is that the proposed city budget assumed that you would need less
help from us after certification.
So, we are faced with taking a sober look at our priorities. Those
priorities begin with the duties that the law requires us to do,
and the services that we must provide.
Our budget reductions, which have already begun, include reducing
staff, printing, office expenses, translation services, and most
other expenses.
Neighborhood Council Funding Program
The good news is that the proposed budget calls for the Neighborhood
Council Funding Program to continue to provide each Neighborhood
Council with $50,000 for operating expenses or neighborhood projects.
Now, Neighborhood Councils enrolled in the Funding Program will
be able to pay for their non-election related services and activities.
The Department’s staff will continue to serve the Neighborhood Councils
as advocates and advisers. We can connect you with the vendors you
need, help you to secure space for your meetings, identify a variety
of translation services, help you with your mailings, and so on.
In order to assist Neighborhood Councils with financial record keeping,
starting July 1, 2004, the Department will provide expense summaries
to Neighborhood Council treasurers that itemize all services or
activities paid with money from the Neighborhood Council Funding
Program.
Bottom Line
The Plan for a Citywide System of Neighborhood Councils calls for
Neighborhood Councils to be as independent, self-reliant, and self-sufficient
as possible from government. The fiscal crisis is causing us to
accelerate this process. We strongly urge you to attend the Empowerment
Academy classes that have been designed to provide Neighborhood
Council leaders with the training they have told us they need to
reach that level of independence.
Please visit our home page at http://www.lacityneighborhoods.com/.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Greg Nelson
Department
of Neighborhood Empowerment
340 E. 2nd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
866 / LA HELPS
213 / 485-1360
213 / 485-4608 fax
done@mailbox.lacity.org
email
www.lacityneighborhoods.com
website
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