Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
Newsletter

June 4, 2004

Opportunities for Neighborhood Council and Department of Recreation and Parks Partnership

As you are aware, the City has been challenged with a significant revenue shortfall for the next fiscal year (July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005). As a result, most departments have had to cut back significantly on programs and facility improvements. The attached list was compiled by the Department of Recreation and Parks. It identifies numerous programs, services, and park repairs they consider critical but which they will not be able to undertake during fiscal year 2004-05. A frequently identified item is that of “summer day camp subsidies”. The Department of Recreation and Parks has limited funds to subsidize the participation of neighborhood youth in their summer camps. There is an allotment for each park. When the allotment is used up on a first come, first served basis, youth would be required to pay the regular fee of $85 per week’s participation. Your Neighborhood Council could choose to subsidize the participation of additional youth or fund other critically needed items using your Neighborhood Council (NC) Funding Program dollars.

We are urging all Neighborhood Councils identified on the attached list to review the items identified for their area and consider whether you would like to encumber some of your current unspent Neighborhood Council Funding for any of them. If you chose to do so, simply include the information as part of your encumbrance request and submit it to DONE by June 16, 2004 (Please note - you could also choose to fund these activities with your next year’s new NC Funding Program $50,000 allocation, and this would allow for more planning time). We realize the information provided and the time until June 16 is brief. If you need more detail or questions answered, the person to call at the Department of Recreation and Parks is: Lilyan Ordania at (213) 485-8744 or (213) 485-4876. Ms. Ordania will put you in direct contact with the correct Recreation and Parks staff person.

Background on Encumbrances:

As summarized in our Department of Neighborhood Empowerment Fund ing Information Bulletin NO. 04-001 (Re: Procedure to Encumber Funds for Special Projects), under normal City procedures, Neighborhood Council Funding Program funds unused by the end of the City’s current fiscal year (June 30, 2004) will revert back to the City. Then, on July 1, 2004 a new $50,000 will be available to each funded NC. The one exception to this is when any Neighborhood Council encumbers its unused funds for a specific project to be completed by December 31, 2004 in the subsequent fiscal year. The request for such an encumbrance needs to be submitted to DONE by June 16, 2004 to ensure the funds are retained for the Neighborhood Council. The Recreation and Parks activities identified in the attachment are eligible items for encumbrance should you chose to do so.

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Greg Nelson

866 / LA HELPS
213 / 485-1360
213 / 485-4608 fax
done@mailbox.lacity.org email
www.lacityneighborhoods.com website