Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
Newsletter

February 17, 2006

Re: NEIGHBORHOODS USA CONFERENCE

As you may know, the Neighborhoods USA Conference (NUSA) is held every year, and last year four Neighborhood Councils used their money to send a total of nine people to the conference.    If you would like to talk to any of them first, let us know and we'll give you their names.

If you wish to send any of your board members to the 2006 NUSA Conference, which will be held from Wednesday, May 24 to Saturday, May 27 at the Kansas City ( Missouri ) Convention Center, we are ready to assist. Because the city eliminated travel expenses from our budget years ago, none of our staff or commissioners will be able to attend unless they travel at their own expense.

Board member participation must be approved by your board. The cost of the trip must also be included in your budget, so you may need to revise your budget.

Deadline

You will need to give Ms. Milena Albert, of our Funding Section, an informal count of who will be attending the conference no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 3, 2006 . Milena can be contacted at Milena.Albert@lacity.org or at (213) 473-5115.

By April 3, 2006 , please provide Milena your final list of who will attend, board resolution, and revised budget (if needed). The fax number here is (213) 485-4608.

The sooner you submit your information, the better. Airline tickets and hotel rooms are likely to be claimed quickly.

Conference Workshops

Many of the issues that Los Angeles is addressing are different than those being addressed by the smaller cities that attend. Some of the workshops that might be helpful are: Neighborhood & Community Safety, Faith-Based Initiatives, Funding & Resources, Collaborations, Arts & Culture, Technology, Youth & Education, Neighborhood Revitalization, Multi-Cultural Initiatives, Getting Your Message Across, Healing Through History, Using Psychology, and Leading with Style and Grace.

You will be able to personally register online for the conference beginning later this month. Just go to the conference website at http://www.kcmo.org/neigh.nsf/web/nusa-registration .

Cost

The Funding Section will arrange for airline tickets, conference registration fees, and hotel rooms through the city's process. These costs will be deducted from your Neighborhood Council account through the automatic deduction process, and a confirmation notification will be e-mailed to your Neighborhood Council.

The conference fee will be $175 per person for the full conference, provided that you register by May 5, 2006 . The fee will go up after that.

The airfare will be approximately $219 per person, roundtrip from LAX. Some people choose to spend Sunday and Memorial Day in the host city.

The total amount to cover per diem costs (hotel room, taxi and shuttle rides, meals, etc.) for the May 24 – 27 period will be $652 per person.

The Kansas City Downtown Marriott is near the Convention Center. Including tax and local city fee, single or double-occupancy rooms are approximately $110 per night. Triple or quadruple-occupancy rooms are approximately $120 per night.

The cost of food, taxi and/or shuttle rides can be charged during the trip by the treasurer on your Bank of America card, or reimbursed to board members after the trip. (Reminder: only Neighborhood Council board members will be reimbursed.)

According to city rules, board members needing reimbursement will need to submit the following to the Funding Section: original receipts/proof of payment, and a personal expense statement.

Report

This conference is an opportunity to benefit your community by accessing community best practices and innovations from around the country. You will be required to provide the department with a brief written narrative, describing what you learned at the conference. The report will serve as backup documentation to support the use of city funds, and allow others to benefit from what you learned. A report format will be provided to you.

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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