EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
BACKGROUND With the start of the transition of the Neighborhood Council Funding Program to the Office of the City Clerk, the Department is refocusing on its core services in FY 2017-2018 of supporting the Neighborhood Councils meeting operations and policy while expanding our team’s outreach capacity for Neighborhood Council elections as well as carry out Mayoral Directives and assume projects developed with the Mayor’s Innovation and Public Engagement Teams. In addition, the Department is committed to executing the tactical plan developed in the Google Angels Lab for a new and expanded level of civic engagement in Los Angeles. To meet these goals, we are requesting the restoration of staffing and resources to at least pre-budget deficit levels. In FY 2007-2008, the Department had 52 staffers of which 6 were dedicated to the Funding Program, leaving 46 to cover field, policy and administration of Neighborhood Council and Department functions. With 96 Neighborhood Councils currently certified and an anticipated 3-5 more in the pipeline next year due to subdivision, the Department is working with a greater number of Neighborhood Councils on even more issues today without sufficient resources to meet the task. As such, the FY 2017-2018 budget request is admittedly robust though absolutely necessary to support the growing needs of the Neighborhood Councils and of civic engagement in Los Angeles. We have partnered with other City departments to expand required services to Neighborhood Councils and to create a more inclusive and innovative civic engagement system in Los Angeles. The Department is submitting a Proposed Budget for FY 2017-18 of $5,266,934 with a 106.9% increase from the Department’s Approved FY 2016-2017 Budget to address the following service deficits : 1. Election Outreach - In post election town halls, Neighborhood Councils demanded more election outreach efforts on the part of the City, particularly in recruiting candidates, because they thought it was unrealistic for sitting board members to vote on funding for individual Neighborhood Council outreach efforts to find their own competitors. With a 20% decrease in the number of candidates in the 2016 Neighborhood Council elections resulting in fewer voters than 2014 elections, the Department must have the resources to take on the election outreach from day one of FY 2017-18.
Outreach and Communications Field Support / NC Elections Multi Dept $854,822 16%
Baseline Budget Request - 4703 $227,258 4%
ConnectLA - Civic Engagement Innovations - Multi Dept $996,446 19%
NC Training, ADA Compliance, Investigations and Enforcement Multi Dept $328,563 6% Neighborhood Council Emergency Preparedness Program - Multi Dept $96,709 2% Management, Accounting and Administrative Support $394,504 7%
Baseline Budget Request - 4704 $447,335 8%
Baseline Budget Request - 4750 $502,411 10%
Basline Budget Request Multi-Departmental Request
Program Coordination and Mileage Adjustment $91,213 2%
Departmental Liaison for Various Programs (including Homelessness) $82,613 2% Baseline Budget Request - 4701 $1,285,059 24%
New Requests
Department of Neighborhood Empowerment 2017-18 Fiscal Year Budget Proposal
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