I hope our newsletter finds you well. 

I am very sad to share with you that long time Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Council board member, Frank Wada, passed away on Tuesday. I first met Frank nearly 8 years ago when I started working with the City at EmpowerLA. One of my first assignments was to create a video on the Neighborhood Council system, and I interviewed Frank about why he volunteered as a Neighborhood Council leader. You can watch his segment here. Frank was a wonderful volunteer not only for Neighborhood Councils, but also for LAPD Hollenbeck division. He was a member of his local Community-Policy Advisory Board for over 20 years. I would see Frank at nearly every major Neighborhood Council event, and he was a regular visitor to our office. He was so dedicated to the improvement of his community. You will be greatly missed, Frank!

Last night, I was at the Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils Resource Board Forum where the VANC showed why their amazing Executive Committee won our Neighborhood Council Spirit Award. They put together a great training on expectations of Neighborhood Council board members, how to file Community Impact Statements and leadership skills. City Council President Herb Wesson opened the night and invited 2 representatives from each of the Neighborhood Council alliances to join him in discussions on how to improve the Neighborhood Council system.  Many thanks to the VANC and the full room of Neighborhood Council leaders for continuing to support one another for the betterment of all Neighborhood Councils!

We are also continuing our EmpowerLA Leadership Academy workshop next week on elections. Please note that our Community Impact Statement Workshop in East LA has been moved from Monday, 11/16 to 6 p.m. Monday, 11/23, at the Glassell Park Senior/Community Center. Many thanks to staffers Lorenzo Briceno and Jasmine Duckworth for working with Neighborhood Councils on how Community Impact Statements work!

The Board of Neighborhood Commissioners will be meeting on Monday. They will be discussing a request to City Council to open a Council File to evaluate a policy and/or ordinance to provide Neighborhood Councils with priority use of shared space at City facilities. In addition, they'll continue their conversation on whether to require Neighborhood Council to keep minutes as well as on how to address Neighborhood Council Board Member Code of Conduct Policy violations. If you can't make the meeting, please email your comments to commission@empowerla.org. The EmpowerLA Award winners will be recognized by City Council on Friday, November 20th, at 10 am so hope you can join us!

Some great alliance meetings are happening this weekend.  PlanCheckNC will be meeting tomorrow, and the Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance will be meeting on Sunday. Don't forget that the launch of a new citywide Neighborhood Council alliance on emergency preparedness will be next Saturday, November 21st, at the Emergency Management Department, 500 East Temple Street in downtown LA!

Have a great weekend!