I hope our newsletter finds you well. The Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates had a great retreat last Saturday as they finalized their committees. I stopped by to thank them for their work and to give Budget Advocate pins to the 14 new members. The Budget Survey has been extended until next Friday, July 31st, so please take a few moments to weigh in on your community's service priorities.

On Monday, I sat in on the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners meeting at City Hall. They continued discussing their response to our report for Council President Wesson's Council Files 15-0524 and 15-0389, which will continue to the next meeting. They were disappointed to hear that with their EmpowerLA Awards deadline of August 1st fast approaching, only a handful of Neighborhood Councils had nominated themselves. So please chuck humility out the window and submit your wonderful work in the community!

Speaking of awesome community work, Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Council is doing a fantastic job supporting the Special Olympics, which starts tomorrow evening and runs through August 2nd. I was pleased to celebrate the arrival of the World Special Olympic torch in Lincoln Heights with them and Councilmember Gil Cedillo yesterday morning. Check out the article below for more info.

There are a lot of changes both at the City and in our department now. I attended Mayor Garcetti's reception on Monday for new Deputy Mayors, Matt Szabo for Budget and Innovation, and Jeff Gorell for Homeland Security and Public Safety. We're looking forward to working with Matt and Jeff's teams on Neighborhood Council collaborations. I stopped by the staff retreat of Council District 8's new Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson on Wednesday to provide them the ins and outs of working with Neighborhood Councils. I'm looking forward to an upcoming meeting with Council District 4's new Councilmember David E. Ryu, too, who is a pro at Neighborhood Councils already as he is a former Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council board member.

At EmpowerLA, we're bidding adieu to long time staffers, Neighborhood Empowerment Advocate Amber Meshack and Administrative Assistant Monique Collins, as they promote to Housing and Community Development and Sanitation respectively today.  

Amber has worked here for 15 years and Monique for 8 years so they've been key to building our department and supporting us through the good and rough times. While we will miss them, we wish Amber and Monique all the best in their new roles and know they will bring their Neighborhood Council connections and passion for community empowerment to their departments.

Help shape the future of our services and the Neighborhood Council system at our Neighborhood Council Town Hall tomorrow, Saturday, July 25th, at the Hollywood Constituent Center (6501 Fountain Ave. 90028) from 12pm - 4pm. We've got a packed agenda and will be using your feedback to plan our work and budget for the next several years.  You'll be able to provide feedback via an upcoming survey as well if you can't make the town hall.

If I don't see you tomorrow, have an excellent weekend!