City Council is scheduled to receive the draft curriculum at their meeting tonight for the WeHo Civic Engagement Academy, a sprawling 10-work course on how the various departments in City Hall operate, which future commissioners and advisory boardmembers might be expected to complete.
This program was initiated following a directive on August 15, 2022, by the City Council to organize educational sessions about the City of West Hollywood’s services, departments, and civic participation opportunities. The decision stemmed from a 2019 Community Study indicating a strong interest among residents to understand more about city services and governance.
The program is open to all community members, including residents, business owners, employees, service providers, appointed officials, and city employees, with a target cohort composition of 75% residents/appointed officials and 25% other community members. The plan is to hold the academy twice a year, in the Spring and Fall, with each course consisting of ten sessions, each two hours long. Participants must attend at least 80% of these sessions to receive a Certificate of Completion, which, while not officially recognized, may be advantageous for future appointments to city commissions and advisory bodies.
The curriculum covers a range of topics, including the city’s history, governance structure, communication and advocacy strategies, finance, community safety, land use planning, public infrastructure, and economic development. The sessions will feature city officials, department heads, and guest speakers.
Following the council’s review of the curriculum, the next steps involve finalizing program materials, promoting the academy, and recruiting participants for the first session in Spring 2024. The city plans to record the sessions for online access. The program’s costs are expected to be nominal and will be incorporated into existing and future budgets.
This is excellent and much needed. Beverly Hills has had such a program for years, and it’s been very successful not only in educating residents about the complexities of local government but encouraging knowledgeable people to participate on commissions.
REQUIRED first and foremost: ETHICS 101.
This project seems 20 to 30 years too late, not only for the general public but for City Hall. Ignorance breeds more ignorance and it has been a rare occasion to witness Board & Commission Members taking the initiative to utilize their own ingenuity on their respective subjects. Many respond to the subject du jour but few appear to have inquisitive minds that normally would generate personal research adding to their presumable initial qualifications for the post. Until recently, there have been too many reactionary voices offering no proposed solutions or simply an array of bumps on various logs. Never… Read more »
Fantastic!
Do you have a link or other means of signing up and/or getting more information about this Civic Engagement Academy?
Not yet! They just got approval for it last night. Stay tuned.
Please sign me up for the first session.
Having completed similar programs in West Hollywood, I applaud the curriculum designed to familiarize more people with the process of bureaucracy. However, this bureaucracy engagement is just one spoke in the larger wheel of civic engagement. Civic engagement includes many actions and activities that are often seen as a thorn to the bureaucratic and and elected public servants who drive the train on a day-to-day basis. Civic engagement includes holding officialdom accountable every single day and not just one day in November. Civic engagement includes speaking up and speaking out in an environment where sycophancy seems an expected mode of… Read more »
Well said, Alan.
“Might”?, no; must be expected to know. Kick their ass to the curb if a clerk, administrator, commissioner, manager, director or anyone working under the City of West Hollywood umbrella does not learn and adhere to this. No might. Everyone from city hall is responsible for what happens here on some level and the salaries in this city mean that city employees are the cream of the crop. NO ONE should NOT know this curriculum and march to it. That includes the City Council. Yes, I said March. No fricking excuses. This town is full of excuses. It’s time for… Read more »
Btw: when did Weho have two H’s?
Sign me up for the first class! I’ve been saying we need this for 20 years!!!
We can be classmates.