Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
Newsletter

May 20, 2005

Re: EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AMBASSADORS. NEW FUNDING PROGRAM FAQ.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AMBASSADORS

Last Saturday, the Empowerment Academy graduated ___ new Emergency Preparedness Ambassadors as part of an incredible new training session that was designed by the Emergency Preparedness Department, and which was promised by Mayor Hahn at the last Congress of Neighborhoods.

We will be providing another round of training ASAP. The graduates attended three Saturday morning classes. The training went far beyond the kind of training that individuals normally get, and was aimed at training those people who understand the importance of ensuring that every neighborhood has an emergency preparedness plan.

Instruction was provided by the Fire Department, Police Department, Gas Company, DWP, Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness, American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles, Dept. on Disability, Dept. of Aging, School District, Animal Services Dept., Human Relations Commission, Emergency Network Los Angeles, Operation Hope, Crisis Response Team, Housing Dept., and the 311 system people.

We will be posting the handout materials on our website soon in the Training section. We’ll tell you when it’s up.

This is especially exciting to those who were around at the beginning of the Neighborhood Council concept. The original draft of the City Charter amendment included the requirement that each Neighborhood Council have an emergency preparedness plan. That was omitted when many specific items were removed from the draft.

It is, no doubt, one of those things that Neighborhood Councils can do that truly involves life and death. Expect that these ambassadors will return to their Neighborhood Councils, begin designed plans, and asking the Neighborhood Council for funding to buy and store the supplies and equipment.

You can also expect that we will find a way for you to easily identify them at the Congress of Neighborhoods. Here’s who they are:

Ernest Sanchez, Olga Arroyo, Pedro Aguilar (Boyle Heights)
James Scriven (Central Alameda)
Joe Turner (CANNDU)
Marlene Schmidt (Eagle Rock)
Laura Gutierrez (Glassell Park)
Tina Zabala (Historic Highland Park)
Ernest Sanchez (Lincoln Heights)
Lucy Mally (Reseda)
Tammy Flores (Sylmar)
Joseph “Jonezy” Melroy, Linda Pruett, Rick Pederson (West Van Nuys/Lake Balboa)
Stacy Antler (Westside)

These are our new neighborhood heroes in the making.

NEW FUNDING PROGRAM FAQ

We’ve added some additional questions and answers to our Funding Program FAQ. The new one begin with #46 and run to the end. There are now quite a few on the list, so our next step will be to separate them into categories. Click here to see that list, or visit our website and click on FAQ>Funding.

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Greg Nelson
gnelson@mailbox.lacity.org

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