I hope our newsletter finds you well. 

HUGE thanks to our awesome Neighborhood Council leaders who came to our town hall last Saturday. We learned a lot and received great ideas on how to improve the Neighborhood Council system and our services. I'm so appreciative of the time folks took to work with us on this. We're compiling the information into a survey that will go out to all Neighborhood Councils so everyone gets a chance to provide feedback.

Congratulations to our staffer, Betty Wong-Oyama, who graduated from the Los Angeles Fire Department's awesome Leadership Academy this week! We're very proud to have sent a staffer to almost every single class they've offered the past several years. It's a 4 week intensive course set over 4 months, and the LAFD offers it for free! Many thanks to the LAFD for creating a culture of outstanding leadership in the City and to Betty for taking on the many hours of reading and writing to graduate into a more enlightened leader!

Thanks to our Councils for Councils mentors, Terrence Gomes and Jay Handal, Deputy City Attorney Carmen Hawkins and staffer Tom Soong, we'll be offering a live board orientation, funding and ethics training in South Los Angeles next Saturday, August 8th, from 10 am to 12 pm. Check out our EmpowerLA Calendar for more details. Don't worry, you'll have time to take the training and still go to Venice Neighborhood Council's famous BBQ, which runs from 12 pm to 4 pm the same day.

Just a quick reminder that we have some deadlines today and tomorrow. The Budget Survey closes today, and the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners EmpowerLA Awards submission deadline is tomorrow. Also, the Commission's regular meeting next week has been changed to a special meeting on Thursday, August 6th, in Los Feliz.

If I don't see you at the LANCC meeting tomorrow, have a super weekend!