Council Member.
Good morning, everyone.
Today is February 8th, 2024, and this is the meeting of the Libraries, Education, and Neighborhoods Committee.
It will now come to order.
It is 9.32 a.m.
I'm Maritza Rivera, chair of the committee.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Council Member Wu.
Present.
Council Member Hollingsworth.
Present.
Present.
Council member Moore.
Present.
Council member Morales.
Here.
Council member Rivera.
Present.
There are five council members present today.
Thank you.
There's one item on today's agenda.
It's a briefing from the Department of Neighborhoods led by Director Jennifer Chao.
Before we get into the approval of the agenda, I just want to say, since this is the first meeting of this committee, I want to say a little bit about the work that this committee will address this year.
Libraries, the Department of Education and Early Learning, the Department of Neighborhoods, and the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs are the departments whose work this committee will be reviewing this year.
Libraries are a rich resource in the city, not just for the wonderful books it provides, but more and more they're providing a community space for residents, including our youth and seniors as well.
As we move more toward receiving our literature in electronic format, the library plays a central role in bringing this access to our community.
The Department of Education and Early Learning administers the city's families and education levy, which is up for renewal next year.
The department provides supports to school-aged children from preschool through our preschool program, K-12 and into college via our Seattle Promise Program.
The Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs provides much needed support to our diverse and immigrant communities in the city, providing language access supports among many of its other services.
And the Department of Neighborhoods, who we'll hear from today, administers the city's extensive and much beloved Pea Patch Community Gardening Program, the Neighborhood Matching Fund, and the historic preservation work.
I look forward to working with my colleagues and the departments to hear more about their work over the next few months.
If there are no objections now, the agenda will be adopted.
Hearing no objections, the agenda is adopted.
With that, we'll now open the hybrid public comment period.
Public comments should relate to item on today's agenda or within the purview of this committee.
Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?
Currently, we have one in-person speaker signed up and there are no remote speakers.
Thank you.
The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.
Each speaker will have two minutes.
Who will be calling?
Are you saying this?
I will be calling speakers by name in the order of which they are registered, both on the council's website or from the sign-up sheet available here in council chambers.
And we will start with the in-person speakers first.
If you have not registered to speak but you would like to, you can sign up before the end of the public comment period.
Just go to the council's website or by signing up on the sign up sheet near the public comment microphone and the online link is listed on today's agenda.
When speaking, please begin by stating your name and the item that you are addressing.
All speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left on your allotted time.
If speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time provided, the speaker's microphone will be muted to allow us to call on the next person.
Once you have completed your public comment, we ask that you please disconnect from the line if you are remote, so we don't need that today.
The public comment period is now open, and we will begin with the first speaker on the list.
The first speaker for public comment in person is Alex Zimmerman,
I want to speak about something that is very unique, what I see for the last 40 years in Seattle.
Situation absolutely idiotic in Seattle.
I call Seattle super small freaking idiot, and I explained to you why.
700,000 people have same political view.
For 20 year, what is I come here, thousand time, I never hear one man, for example, like me, who support Donald Trump.
Never.
How is this possible?
Excuse me, please speak to an item on today's agenda or within the purview of this committee.
This is exactly what I want to speak about agenda, neighborhood.
This is exactly what I want to explain to you, why I come in talking today.
Because for many years, I go in school, in everywhere, in same brainwash, brainwash, brainwash.
So for many years, I have simple proposition what is can bring people to free America, freedom of speech and constitution.
Open better room one day per week so people cannot be scared come in talking about everything, about different opinion.
It's very critical.
You understand?
When these people scare her, come and have different opinion, different political opinion, you need something doing about this because this look like a Nazi Gestapo concentration camp.
Is this exactly what's happened?
I talked to her for 20 years, 4,000 times.
Why are you talking about?
Open better room one day per week, you know what this mean?
So people come and talking without limitation, without be scared talking about everything.
We have too many problem right now.
Big problem.
So doing this, stand up America.
We need be all under constitution and freedom of speech.
Bye, my friend.
If there are no additional people who have signed up for comment, we will now proceed to our item of business.
Will the clerk please read item one into the record?
Agenda item number one, a briefing provided by the Department of Neighborhoods for briefing and discussion.
Thank you for being here, Director Chau and Deputy Director Reed.
You may proceed to the table, please.
Can I ask you to bring the mic closer?
Closer, sure.
Please introduce yourselves for the record, and then you may begin your presentation.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Chair Rivera.
My name is Jennifer Chow.
I'm the Director of the Department of Neighborhoods.
Good morning, my name is Sam Reed, and I am the Deputy Director of Department of Neighborhoods.
And colleagues, if we'll please hold our questions till the end of the presentation.
Thank you very much.
Go ahead.
Hello, council members.
It's so great to see all of you, especially in the city, but also throughout community, because I see your familiar faces throughout the district.
Thank you for the invitation to introduce who DON is and what we do.
Just one moment as we put up the presentation.
In alignment with the Mayor's vision of One Seattle, DON, the Department of Neighborhoods, is the heart of the city.
The Department of Neighborhood plays a key role in realizing the mayor's commitment to creating a belonging city by engaging all communities, fostering collaboration and addressing historical inequities.
The Department of Neighborhoods was created for building and maintaining resilient relationships with community.
The department was established in 1991 to increase civic engagement and access to government.
Over the years, the Department of Neighborhoods has evolved, adapting to the changing needs of our community with an emphasis on racial equity and community empowerment, while still standing firm on why it was created for civic engagement and access to government.
Ultimately, the Department of Neighborhoods is a bridge builder to connect neighborhoods to each other and government resources to build thriving communities and improve the quality of life for Seattle residents.
The Department of Neighborhood has two guiding principles that serve as our North Stars.
Center race and equity in all decisions and actions and invest in the power of community to forge their own solutions.
These guiding principles are implemented through our programs and services.
The Department of Neighborhood's core values are grounded in building cohesion and internal and external alignment that is connected in humanity and centered in relationships.
These core values make up DONs, as we call the Department of Neighborhood's ecosystem, a community of people and programs that leans on and thrives off each other and is built on our three pillars of relationships, investments, and capacity building.
cultivating and sustaining relationships is embedded in our approach and everything we do it's the foundation that builds trust and strengthens connection with communities.
Investments include time and resources in Community led solutions to make sure communities who have been historically excluded have input in creating systemic change.
We support capacity building by empowering communities to forge their own solutions.
Each community is unique and they know what they need to thrive.
Our vision of One Seattle means celebrating our diversity and shared humanity, connecting neighborhoods to each other and bridging across cultural differences.
Our core values and foundational pillars are embedded throughout our programs and services and community partnerships and community investments.
I am excited to hand it over to Sam to share the phenomenal work of our staff and impact on community.
This overview will be high level for you to get a sense of our programs and a full department overview will be shared with you after this meeting.
Thank you, Jennifer, and good morning, council members.
Thank you for inviting us here today to share our story.
I have been blessed to serve the community through the Department of Neighborhoods for nearly eight years, and I'm truly honored to amplify the work of my colleagues and uplift the guidance, collaboration, and generosity of the communities with whom we partner.
As I speak about our programs, I hope what resonates are the core values that Jennifer highlighted and how they are really intersectional and woven through each of our programs.
So we'll focus first on our area of service around community partnerships.
First is our community grants.
Our community grants team supports grassroots projects within neighborhoods and communities by providing funding opportunities for a wide variety of community driven projects.
With a particular emphasis on projects led by or impacting black, indigenous and people of color communities.
Our first program is the Neighborhood Matching Fund, which provides matching dollars for neighborhood improvement, community organizing, and projects developed and implemented by community members.
Since its creation, more than 6,000 community projects throughout Seattle have received over $64 million in funding and generated an additional $72 million from Community Match.
Our next program in the Community Grants Division is the Food Equity Fund.
This is funded by the Sweetened Beverage Tax and was created to support community-based organizations working to create an equitable and sustainable local food system in Seattle.
The fund supports work led by those who experience the most food and health inequities, which include black, indigenous, and people of color communities, immigrants, refugees, people with low incomes, youth, and elders.
In 2023, the Food Equity Fund received more than $8.8 million in requests from community, and we were able to grant $2.3 million in awards to 37 organizations across the city.
Some examples of eligible projects for the Food Equity Fund include capital projects or physical improvements, such as greenhouses, farm irrigation, and commercial kitchens.
coalition building to advance food justice and food sovereignty, food programs for elders, seniors, and youth, food justice leadership development, and food pantry and meal services, to name a few.
Our strategic partnerships team is comprised of two different programs focused on developing strategies for equitable outreach and engagement to historically underserved and underrepresented communities.
One has a more internal focus on city departments, that is our outreach and engagement strategic advisors, and one with a more external focus on community, which is our community liaisons.
Our community liaisons are independent contractors who act as trusted advocates from historically underrepresented, underserved communities.
These include immigrant and refugee communities, communities of color, seniors, youth, people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness, and more.
Community liaisons bring deep expertise and strategy around the needs and concerns of their communities, and they support city projects through both in-language outreach and engagement and facilitation of community engagement in a way that is meaningful, familiar, and relational to their specific communities.
We currently work with 49 community liaisons representing 25 different languages and many cultural communities.
In 2023 the Community liaison program partnered with 11 city departments on over 45 different projects programs and initiatives.
These range from transportation utilities food justice technical assistance economic recovery emergency support Community safety and much more.
The next division is our community civic engagement division.
Oh, sorry, I missed our strategic partner, our outreach and engagement advisors.
They are different from community liaisons.
They are employees of the Department of Neighborhoods who collaborate with and are funded by other departments to assist those departments, primarily Seattle Department of Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities, in designing and implementing project specific equitable outreach and engagement efforts across the city.
Their role is not solely focused on planning outreach and engagement.
They also facilitate conversations between city departments and the community, lead focus groups and provide overall strategic project support with a particular focus on equity.
Our civic engagement team includes our People's Academy for Community Engagement, as well as our commissions, our public commissions.
Our People's Academy for Community Engagement, also known as PACE, is a civic education program that helps everyday people learn how city government works and how they can get involved.
And as you all know, that is not an easy task.
Program participants learn action-oriented strategies for building community, influencing decision makers, leveraging resources and accessing local government from experts in the field.
In 2021, the PACE program shifted its model in response to community need and began partnering with community-based organizations to co-create and deliver curriculum tailored specifically to the relevant issues and needs of Indigenous, Black, African American, Latinx, and Asian and Pacific Islander community cohorts.
In this new model, an average of 44 community members have completed the training each year.
In terms of our commissions that we staff and facilitate, the Indigenous Advisory Council is a culturally grounded public commission representing Indigenous communities that acts as a trusted advocate, advisor, and connector among city partners on issues impacting tribal and urban Native communities.
The Council directly advises elected officials and city departments on policy budgets, programs, services, and projects directly affecting Indigenous populations, including American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people.
In 2023, the Indigenous Advisory Council collaborated with the Mayor's Office, former Council President Juarez, and other tribal leaders to host the inaugural Tribal Nations Summit.
Our other commissions include the Community Involvement Commission, which is an independent public commission created by council legislation to advise city departments on equitable outreach and engagement practices.
The Seattle Renters Commission was established to represent diverse renter voices across the city.
Its purpose is to provide information, advice, and counsel to the mayor, city council, and city departments concerning issues and policies affecting renters.
The Seattle Youth Commission is a group of 15 Seattle teens from all over the city who are appointed by the mayor and city council to connect youth to local elected officials, advise on city policies and discuss issues facing Seattle's youth.
Our community engagement coordinators, serve as a direct resource and liaison to community members, making it easier for residents to engage in their neighborhoods and beyond.
They work tirelessly to foster relationships and collaborations with community members and connect them to the work of the city.
Currently, we have four CECs, Community Engagement Coordinators, covering different areas of the city based on geography.
North, Central, Southeast, and West Seattle and South Park.
the first 25 days of 2024 our cec's attended 29 community engagements in 20 different neighborhoods this does not even include the one-on-one meetings phone calls and regular communication touch points they provide every day they are a consistent access point and invaluable resource to community members throughout the city our community safety programs We hold several contracts and programs that support community safety throughout our neighborhoods.
These include managing the South Park Public Safety Coordinator, the Chinatown International District Public Safety Coordinator, and the Ballard Public Safety Coordinator.
These positions were established to improve communication and coordination and create a system of connecting residents, businesses, and city departments to address crime and the perception of safety in specific neighborhoods.
Dawn also provides ongoing financial support to Rainier Beach, a beautiful safe place for youth, a nonprofit organization that uses a community-led approach to reduce violence among youth in the Rainier Beach neighborhood.
Each of these public safety programs are funded by the City of Seattle, but are managed by community partners.
In 2024, we are hoping to perform a comprehensive analysis of these individual programs that will help us build a strategic plan aimed at connecting these programs more closely to one another and building partnerships with relevant city departments to create a shared vision for how community-driven safety projects like these can function as a collective and lead with the city's RSJ values.
I'm gonna pause for a drink of water.
So our next area of service is around community investments.
The first program here is the Pea Patch Community Gardening Program.
This program encompasses 90 community managed open spaces across the city.
More than 3,500 gardeners use gardening space to build community connections and grow organic food, flowers, and herbs for their families and communities.
All Pea Patch Gardens are open to the public to enjoy and are utilized as communal spaces, learning and idea incubators, and venues for community gatherings.
One of the core values of the PPATCH program is supporting low income and historically underrepresented communities.
In 2023, 42% of new gardeners were assigned gardening spaces through our priority placement policy.
This policy prioritizes those communities, including Black, Indigenous, Latinx or Hispanic, households making 30% or below Seattle area median income, immigrants and refugees, people who need to garden in accessible raised beds, and groups that serve seniors, children, and youth.
860 low-income families received fee assistance totaling over $68,000.
and pea patch gardeners collectively donated more than 33,000 pounds of organic produce to local food banks and feeding programs.
Our historic preservation program is responsible for the designation and protection of more than 480 historic landmarks, as well as eight historic districts throughout Seattle, which sounds like a lot, but that only comprises 0.5% of the city's parcels.
Historic districts include Ballard Avenue Landmark District, Columbia City Landmark District, Fort Lawton Landmark District, Harvard Belmont, International Special Review District, the Pike Place Market Historical District, Pioneer Square Preservation District, and Sandpoint Naval Air Station Landmark District.
These districts are economic assets for our city.
in part because many of them contain higher residential population density and have more jobs in small and new businesses, as well as a higher percentage of women and BIPOC-owned businesses.
Beyond these structures and the districts and the many economic incentives involved with historic preservation, we fundamentally understand that preservation is ultimately about community, stories, and belonging.
What we preserve, be it a building, a park, a sign, or a story, speaks to our collective identity and our shared values as a city.
For these reasons, our department prioritizes cultivating people-centered preservation that is inclusive, community-driven, and centered in our values around race and social justice.
The Department of Neighborhoods also coordinates public involvement for the development plans of Seattle's major institutions, including hospitals, universities, colleges, and public K through 12 schools.
These institutions require special development plans to ensure equitable growth and the wellbeing of their surrounding communities.
The city appointed community advisory committees that oversee this work are staffed and supported by our department.
The Department of Neighborhood facilitates the internal citywide engagement with this Chinatown International District Visioning Advisory Group.
As a response to the CID community's request for the city to be better coordinated in serving their neighborhood, our internal and external community capacity building strategy is to advance coordinated planning efforts through a racial justice framework.
The Department of Neighborhood's CID community capacity building portfolio INCLUDES CRITICAL RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT WITH THE CID COMMUNITIES AND CITY DEPARTMENTS, LONG-TERM RACIAL JUSTICE FRAMEWORK FOR STRATEGIC PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND FACILITATION OF COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT FOR LARGE CITYWIDE PLANNING INITIATIVES AND MAJOR CAPITAL PROJECTS.
CONTRACT MANAGEMENT AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE CID VISIONING GROUP'S LONG-TERM COMMUNITY ACTION PLAN.
and research and analysis and community engagement for the CID Community Benefits Agreement Framework.
In 2022, the city enacted the payroll expense tax, known as the jumpstart tax.
This legislated a payroll oversight committee to provide oversight on the services and programs supported by the payroll expense tax revenue and measure the impact of the tax on Seattle jobs, businesses, and economic growth.
The Department of Neighborhoods oversees this tax oversight committee.
Lastly, generational wealth.
Based on recommendations from community, the Department of Neighborhoods was gifted the generational wealth program to develop community centered solutions to the city's racial wealth gap.
We have led this work in partnership with communities most impacted by the racial wealth divide, diverse consultant teams and other city departments.
we have been researching, learning, and re-imagining how to collectively advance community wealth building strategies to support the needs and challenges of black, indigenous, and people of color communities in Seattle.
This has culminated in the investment of $2 million in nine community designed wealth building pilot projects, the identification of six community wealth building strategies to align the city of Seattle investments and policies, and the development of a city council commissioned report providing strategic guidance on how the city can address the racial wealth gap.
The next phase for implementation of the generational wealth strategies will transition to the Office of Economic Development.
Our department and the Office of Economic Development are working together on a transition and implementation plan, which is due to Council at the beginning of June 2024.
So now we're all gonna get an opportunity to take a, or get a chance to take a deep breath.
And pause and thank Sam for sharing all about our programs.
I gave him the heavy lifting of that, of the presentation.
So thank you, Sam.
You're welcome.
Um, so now that we've shared about our programs and services with you, we would like to give you a preview about where we are headed in 2024. We are expanding our civic engagement program to prioritize community connections, leading with Seattle's indigenous and native communities.
We are also building a comprehensive internal data system and cultivating community partnerships between the city and private philanthropy for collective impact and creating equity.
In 2024, our department will be investing in a department-wide data and evaluation program that analyzes our programs and assesses the impact of our investments on community priorities.
The goal of this work is to clearly define our program's success and how it connects to our overarching values.
We will also create common metrics to identify where our programs and investments demonstrate the strongest returns and where we can improve.
and also clearly communicate our value and our impact, both internally and externally.
Our pea patch program offers us a data bright spot that we are actually using as a model for our work moving forward.
A 2018 racial equity toolkit analysis revealed that many of our gardeners relied on their pea patch to reduce food costs and also grow organic food that is otherwise not affordable to them.
At the same time, we knew that the program could better serve populations who have been chronically underrepresented in the gardens.
The data gathered through this process contributed to a decision to create a procedural shift that resulted in new gardening space assignment guidelines, prioritizing underrepresented populations.
If potential gardeners are in one of the underrepresented groups, they move up the interest list more rapidly than others.
As mentioned earlier, these groups include BIPOC communities, households with making below Seattle area median income, immigrants and refugees, people who need to garden in accessible raised beds, and seniors, children, and youth.
In 2020, the first year this policy was in place, 45% of new gardeners placed in gardens were from these priority groups.
In 2022, that number rose to 65%, and in 2023, the number was 42%.
This decision created a metric of success for the program that was rooted in our North Stars and has led to more inclusive and diverse community gardens throughout the city.
With this focus on data, we also acknowledge and fully embrace that our true value lies in the authentic and trusting relationships we build with community over long periods of time.
That is the heart of everything that we do as a department.
To tell our story through data, we need to also build strategies that measure the intrinsic impact of our work.
How individuals and communities are transformed through a relationship, a conversation, the establishment of trust, a sense of belonging.
How all these things contribute to a community member feeling seen, heard, empowered, and engaged with their community and their city government.
So in closing, we would not be the Department of Neighborhoods if we did not have testimonies from our community and our city department partners.
We have a few testaments of our impact from community and our city department partners that we would like to impart with you.
From Asia.
I think it's Aja.
Aja from the Indigenous Advisory Council.
The Department of Neighborhoods is holding critical space for Coast Salish and urban Native tribal members to come together to build policies that will impact Indigenous people citywide for the better.
This is possible because of the strong relationships and reciprocal care modeled by the Department of Neighborhood staff who reflect our served communities and bring their lived experience to inform their work.
From Kelvin Dankwa, African American Male Achievement with Seattle Public Schools, you help create capacity within the community so that folks have what they need to get important things done and continue organizing themselves for the long term.
And from Charity Ranger, Pea Patch Gardener, I have Frederick's atasia.
As my disability progresses, my world gets a little bit smaller.
Being part of the pea patch gardening community has really opened things for me.
I feel like I can be a valuable member of this community.
And from some of our city department partners, this is from the Department of Transportation.
The Department of Neighborhoods value lies in their commitment to centering community and building and sustaining long term relationships.
When the Department of Transportation partners with the Department of Neighborhoods, we feel like we can show up as one city and lean on their relationships, knowledge, and connections to begin moving our project forward.
And last but not least from Seattle public utilities, one of our other strong partners in the department or in the city.
Our partnership with dawn with the Department of neighborhoods helps our team see things from a broader Community perspective.
The Department of neighborhoods is a great connector leveraging their relationships with Community groups and other city departments to make sure the Seattle public utility projects exemplifies a one Seattle approach.
And with that we are finally at the end of our presentation and would love to have a conversation or answer any questions you may have.
Thank you Jennifer Chow and Sam and thank you for being first up at the first meeting of this committee.
I really appreciate the partnership and I knew this This came together rather quickly, and appreciate how you all stepped in and said yes right away to give an overview, so wanna acknowledge that.
Thank you for that.
I have a couple questions, but I'd actually like to open it up to my colleagues.
If they have any questions or comments, would welcome those now.
Could I jump in?
Hi.
Hey, Director Chao.
Thank you all and Sam for doing this presentation.
Had the wonderful opportunity working with you, Director, on a bunch of projects, and I know that The Department of Neighborhood is under great leadership.
A couple comments.
I don't know if I have any questions, but just wanted to comment on the food equity fund that you all provide.
Just being in the food space, seeing the impact of that program throughout the city has been phenomenal, especially programs outside the food bank sector.
There are food banks within the city of Seattle that get money directly from the federal government and the state.
And then there's a lot of food programs that aren't classified as food banks because they are not able to be in a certain category with the Department of Agriculture and the U.S.
Agriculture.
But that benefit greatly from this program that still do great work.
And they do very intentional programming.
So I just wanted to highlight that.
I think it's a great, a great fun that you all do that.
Um, I also love the department of neighborhood, um, as well because of you have the technical side of like land use and S dot, but I think the department of neighborhood is when we talk about building a home, that's what you all help do with the community is building a these intentional spaces and homes.
And so I just wanted to give you all a shout out there that I really appreciate that.
I also appreciate the piece about addressing the racial wealth gap, the average household income for a black family in the city of Seattle is $40,000, the average net worth for a black family in the city of Seattle is $25,000.
50% of black households have zero net worth.
And so being able to address the wealth gap in our city is really crucial as we're pushing forth intentionality and ensuring that it's affordable and building generational wealth.
And then last but not least, I love that you all have the pea patch programs.
The average farmer in America is 65 years old.
We have to get the younger generation connected to growing food and understanding what food is.
By 2050, the US has to grow, or excuse me, the entire world has to grow 50% more food.
because we are running low on food supplies.
And so we're gonna have to figure out how we shift and localize our food sources.
We see that happening in Washington State where there are farmers in California buying a lot of property in Yakima Valley to be able to grow food.
And so to be able to localize our food sources is really important.
And then exposing kids to understanding about, you know, getting the soil and connected to food and understanding where it comes from, I think is gonna be incredibly important.
So I just wanted to highlight the programs that you're doing, they are definitely an investment.
I've seen them work on my end and looking forward to working with you all during this process.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Hollingsworth.
Thank you, Council Member Hollingsworth.
Council Member Wu.
Yes, thank you so much for all the work that you do.
I'm a huge fan.
I've worked with DON regarding several projects in historic preservation, in the community, in public safety, and seen many of your team members out in the community and really appreciate everything that you do.
And I'm excited going forward and honored to be able to serve with you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Wu.
Thank you, Councilmember Wu.
Any other Councilmember Moore, do you have some questions?
Okay.
So, good morning.
Thank you very much for that presentation, and you do an amazing breadth of work and really important work, and I'm looking forward to continuing to have that opportunity to work with you.
Do you oversee the farmers markets?
Is that one of, no?
No, we do not.
I'm chuckling because I think people connect us that way, but it's actually, they are their own business entity, and they are actually managed by their own, by business permits, and so they work with OED on permits, permitting.
And the only reason why I know this answer, Councilmember Moore, is because we were asked about the farmer's market and how we could revive it, and it wasn't actually the role of the Department of Neighborhoods.
And then in the city hall at BAS, they manage the buildings.
And so they're actually connected that way.
Great question that we could clarify in public.
Okay.
It's actually the Office of Economic Development that partners with the farmers markets across the city.
They do provide permitting and other supports.
Okay, great.
Thank you.
I appreciate that.
Any questions?
I don't have questions, but I want to be a cheerleader for the department.
I had this committee for the last few years, so I really appreciate all the work that you do.
It's important work for our communities.
And I think particularly the role that you play in helping our neighbors understand how government works by being that liaison between departments, by supporting with funding and helping communities kind of walk through what the city processes are for getting their projects done with the neighborhood matching funds or any of the other funds that you do.
So it's a really critical role that allows us to sort of walk the talk when we are talking about the role of community engagement and helping people understand how government works.
So I see this as a really critical department and I'm really excited for you.
There's a lot of work to do to make sure our neighbors get the resources they need, particularly the language access resources so that they understand how to engage with us as their elected officials.
So just wanna thank you for all of that.
Thank you, Council Member Morales.
Thank you, Council Member Morales.
And thank you to all my colleagues for all your great comments.
I echo those comments.
I have a couple questions, and it's something you all can get back to me on.
But it's more about more specifics on the community safety program.
And, you know, you mentioned you're partnering with community.
would like to hear more details about that.
And just, it's hard to know what the scope is and what exactly is happening on the ground.
And public safety is something that we are really managing across the city.
I know you said you're doing an analysis this year, and so would wanna hear more about that maybe for a future meeting.
And then in general, I know you support some of the city's...
This piece about major institutions and schools, some of the advisory committees would love to hear more about how you partner with the major institutions and schools on that work.
That sounds very broad as well and just want to know what it is specifically that the city gets involved with in terms of its major institutions and schools.
And schools, because you would think, again, this has a nexus to the Department of Education and Early Learning, but this piece is out of dawn, so we'd love to hear more about that.
And then in general, again, I just really appreciate, I know most of our neighborhoods, there are pea patches in most of our neighborhoods, and they're really popular, I know, in District 4. It is very a beloved program, and so really appreciate all the intentional work that's gone there, particularly to make the the program to ensure that we have a diversity and access in the race and social justice space, making sure that underserved communities can also participate in this important program, particularly with the comments that Council Member Hollingsworth said about food insecurity and needing to do more.
And then, yes, let's figure out how we can get young people involved.
I feel that way, not just about this, but just about any job, many of the jobs today.
We have labor shortages in many industries, and it's because I think young people, we're not really tapping into young people and getting them to want to do these types of jobs, be a farmer and some other jobs across communities.
So thank you for the work that you do in that space.
And let's continue the conversation on how we can get young people involved, particularly things like PPATCH.
I know some of those P-Patch programs are next to schools.
So let's get those students working with the folks in the P-Patches.
So anyway, I'll stop there.
Since there are no other questions, we will adjourn this meeting.
I want to thank the Department of Neighborhoods for this presentation, a very thorough presentation.
The council appreciates your time and your partnership, and we really look forward to working together with you.
This concludes, oh, I also want to say, I really want to thank the city clerk's office.
This is my first meeting, I think you could tell, and so thank you for the grace.
As we got through the meeting and really want to thank the city clerk's office for their support of our office and all of our offices who are new here on the city council because they've been a great resource and a great partner.
So want to give recognition to the city clerk's office.
Council Chair Rivera, I would love to thank you for your support in making this opportunity for us to be the first.
It is a milestone.
I think it's historic that we will remember this, that we were the first department to be able to represent and shine for you.
And I hope that we were able to do that.
One invite I would love for your committee is that we would love to follow back up to do a shared tour of our ecosystem, so meaning our department, so that you can actually be out in the community with us, maybe as a field trip to some of our programs and services so that you can actually see.
And it's all in each of your districts, so we will make sure that that is exemplified.
But we would love to do that.
We would love to give you that invite.
I would definitely welcome that.
Everyone's nodding, so yes, we're going to take you up on that as we move forward here.
This concludes the January 8th, 2024 meeting of the Library's Education and Neighborhoods Committee.
Our next committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 22nd, 2024 at 9.30 a.m.
If there's no further business, this meeting will adjourn.
Hearing no further business, it's 10-17 and this meeting is adjourned.
Thank you.