I hope our newsletter finds you well.

While I've been working my way from under a stack of Neighborhood Council contracts, leases, bylaws and City Council reports this week, I've had some great moments of inspiration as well from our City family.  I met with Amanda Dalos, the new Director of Mayor Eric Garcetti's Innovation Team, earlier this week.  As part of the Mayor Garcetti's Office of Budget, Innovation & Excellence, Amanda is here as part of a 3 year commitment in Los Angeles from Bloomberg Philanthropies to drive innovation in cities. She and her team are working off an amazing City Hall Innovation Team Playbook that I think is very helpful for both our department and for Neighborhood Councils to deliver innovative services to Angelenos.  Amanda and her i-team will definitely be looping Neighborhood Councils into their work so I'm looking forward to that partnership.

I also chatted with Interim General Manager of ITA, Ted Ross, about some exciting potential collaborations between ITA for Neighborhood Councils, but more on that coming soon.  Thanks to Ted, the City IT managers and I had the treat of hearing Jeanne Holm, the Chief Knowledge Architect for NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, speak at the IT Policy Committee yesterday.   Voted one of the 2015 Top 50 Women in Tech, Jeanne is a well known Open Data Evangelist for the federal government, Fellow at the United Nations Academy of Astronautics and a distinguished UCLA professor.  Aside from those impressive credentials, she was super nice and a self-professed gamer.Jeanne talked about how open data at all levels of government allows the public to participate in such imaginative ways resulting in the creation of stronger communities.  She spoke about one example during a disaster evacuation where data on property owners with disabilities was overlaid on the evacuation zone so emergency crews could target those homes where more assistance may be needed in order to leave.  It definitely made me look at data usage in a new light and appreciate our own data.lacity.org portal.  So participate at the next civic hackathon where you can partner with government staff, community members and coders to develop the next neighborhood app!

Thanks to Council for Council members, Jay Handal, Terrence Gomes and Ivan Spiegel, we'll be offering final funding request forms review from 2 pm to 9 pm in South Los Angeles and the Valley today before our June 22nd deadline.  So if you have a question on your requests, please take advantage of this opportunity so you can make any changes before the final deadline.  For locations, check out our EmpowerLA Events Calendar.

Speaking of the Valley, check out Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council's Movie Madness this Saturday.  Keep cool and have a wonderful weekend!