Councilmember Huizar Invites You to Election Reform Forum at City Hall

Here is a video invite to a program I am moderating this Thursday at City Hall in Council Chambers. I held a Campaign Finance Reform forum last March and decided to follow that up with Election Reform on June 10th from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.

The title is "Election Reform in Los Angeles: Idle, Moving Back or Moving Forward? An Exploration of Voting By Mail, Ranked Choice Voting & Changing Election Dates.” It is free and open to the public and you can register here.

We have a number of experts involved: Kathay Feng with Common Cause, Ron Kaye with Our LA, Darry Sragow with Sonnenshein, David Holtzman with the League of Women Voters; Holly Wolcott with the Los Angeles City Clerk’s office and Antonio Gonzalez with the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project and the Willie C. Velasquez Institute.

Light refreshments will be served and parking will be hosted by contacting my office at (213) 473-7014.

Don't Forget to Vote Today!

Golden State voters will take part in the California Primary today to vote in a number of key contests and critical issues, including Proposition 15, the “Fair Elections Act” and here in Los Angeles, Measure E—the parcel tax to help save arts, music teachers, and librarians in our schools. According to the Secretary of State, 16.9 million Californians have registered to vote—up from 15.6 million in the ’06 primary. I hope you will be one of them. Polls close at 8 p.m. Do your civic duty and vote today! (Click here to find your polling place.)

Adelante Awards 2010

It was such a pleasure to recognize 90 of the top students in my district at this morning’s 7th Annual Adelante Awards breakfast at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral. It was the seventh time the gala has been held and it dates back to my days as School Board President for L.A.U.S.D. I originally started the Adelante Awards to encourage our local students to pursue education and support them in that journey.

The Adelante Awards pays tribute to boys and girls who are shining in and out of the classroom. It is important for us as a community to give them recognition and to encourage them to keep up their studies and stay on the educational path they are on. Many of these children could be the first in their families to seek higher education and we want to let them and their families know that college offers them the best chance for a bright and prosperous future.”

I offer congratulations to all and a tip of the hat to Wilson High School senior and UC Berkeley-bound, Adrian Mendez, on receiving the coveted $1,000 scholarship—sponsored by the Nielson Group.

Proud to Have Served Foster and Probation Youth as Chair of Education Coordinating Council

After more than five years at the helm of the Los Angeles Education Coordinating Council (ECC), which was created to help fill education gaps for foster and probation youth, I am passing the baton on to Mónica García, President of the Los Angeles Unified School District. I am extremely proud of what we were able to achieve during my time as Chair of the ECC to improve the lives, hopes and future of two extremely vulnerable groups.

Among our successes:

• We oversaw a series of first-ever data matches with more than a dozen school districts, which lets us know how foster and probation youth are faring academically in comparison with other students.

• We developed a tool to facilitate school enrollment within 72 hours.

• Most importantly, we created a greater awareness and a commitment to the needs of foster and probation youth. Our efforts doubled the number of foster children enrolled in high quality pre-school programs and tripled the number of foster and probation youth in after-school enrichment programs.

I am proud of the work we did to improve the academic future of foster and probation youth and I will continue to support the efforts of the ECC. To learn more about the ECC and the important work they do, click here.