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Community Calendar of Current Civic Events:

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The 2024 Civicas Fall Forum Focused On Pillars Of Democracy: Information, Participation, Representation

Please visit the Civicas Strengthening Democracy resource page for more information and links to over 50 organizations across business, philanthropic, non-profit and government sectors providing resources to enhance information, participation and representation supporting Democracy!

the 2023 Civicas Fall Forum Was POSTPONED DUE TO A CIVIC EMERGENCY!

please MAKE PREPARATIONS AND PLANS based on these resources ASAP!!

2023 ZEITGEIST SALONS:

Join Civicas at conversations with expert led discussions Inspired by civic-oriented documentaries!

For more information on book, bans and libraries:

Get involved with PEN America:

• Read: Banned in the USA, the latest research onbook bans and educational censorship 

• Become of a member of PEN America

• Sign-up to receive updates on PEN America Los Angeles events and programs

• Celebrate the power of the written word to transform the world, at our PEN America World Voices Festival May 10-13 (including a great event on May 12th on online harassment in partnership with the Los Angeles Library Foundation)

• Follow at @PENAmerica

Contact civicas4la@gmail.com with suggestions for future Civicas Documentary Salons

Previous Civicas Events & Civic Issue Forums with Cross-Sector Leaders at

2017-2022 Rooms Where it Happened:

CIVICAS MEMBERS ONLY EVENT: December 9, 2022

A BRIGHT LIGHT

Civicas network members were inspired and informed at exclusive, early access educational tour of new permanent supportive housing facilities for veterans being constructed at the VA campus in West Los Angeles.

Our expert guides from the Veterans Collective included the Development Manager and Director of Social Services from Thomas Safran & Associates, Design Principal from Elysian Landscape, the Community Development Director from the Veterans Collective and a VP from U.S. Vets, all working together to help solve an urgent problem in our midst.

The tour was followed by a briefing at nearby Baltaire Restaurant in Brentwood.

Learn more about this project here: West LA VA Town Center Overview

The Veterans Collective is a nonprofit organization committed to the successful transition of military Veterans and their families through the provision of service and amenity-enriched housing that promotes recovery, wellness, and a more hopeful future by transforming the North Campus of the West Los Angeles VA into a thriving community, through the development of housing and supportive services for more than 3,000 Veterans and families. You can learn more about this group, established and led by partners at Century Housing, Thomas Safran & Associates, and U.S.VETS here: www.wlavc.org.

Civicas was proud to be a participating organization of the 2022 Virtual International Women’s Day Summit!

A Zoom Where it Happened: Tackling Homelessness in Los Angeles: resources, resistance, and results on October 19, 2021:

Civicas hosted a Zoom meeting with experts from LAHSA, St. Joseph Center, and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation who are leading efforts to help solve this civic crisis to discuss these questions:

• Who is homeless in Los Angeles?

• How does our current response work?

• Who's in charge and accountable?

• What is working?

• What are the challenges and opportunities?

This webinar was moderated by the Hon. Wendy Greuel, Vice Chair, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA)

Panelists included:

Heidi Marston, Executive Director, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority
Va Lecia Adams, President and CEO, St. Joseph Center
Andrea Iloulian, Senior Program Officer, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

Please see our Civic Resources page on Homelessness for more information.

For this year’s International Women’s Day, Civicas joined with Visionary Women to share the 2021 Virtual International Women’s Day Summit, Featuring Compelling Women Thought Leaders, including Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice Who Discussed A Broad Range Of Topics Including Peace-Building And How To Construct A More Equitable World Along With Inclusion And Diversity.

A toast to the amazing women of Los Angeles:

To our expert Civicas panelists in 2020 & our Civicas members for making these free programs possible all year!

To women leading our city, state and nation into a healthy, equitable, and beautiful 2021!

Cheers and see you next year! xo Cynthia, Deb, Laura and Nicole

Civicas Holiday Celebration 2020: Recipes for Resilience & Holiday Spirit on December 15, 2020:

The Civicas Network gathered to hear inspiring hospitality entrepreneurs Dana Slatkin of Violet Bistro, school and shop; Catarah Coleman and Shoneji Robinson of Southern Girl Desserts; and Patti Rockenwagner of Rockenwagner Market and Dear John’s share stories of navigating their businesses, dreams and teams through the pandemic + festive tips for the holidays this year...

Please support our panelists by visiting their delicious websites!

(We are sending everyone who joins/renews Civicas in 2020 a Southern Girl Desserts e-recipe book!)

Restaurants are on the front lines of our economic and social health, though 1 in 6 restaurants nationwide have closed this year. Independent restaurants are expected to generate up to $653 billion in sales in 2020. Independent restaurants directly employ 11 million workers and indirectly support 5 million more up and down the food and hospitality supply chain. These small businesses have a big impact on the economy, playing a key role in the restaurant industry, which totals $760 billion in sales annually, or about 3.5% of the U.S. GDP. Economic activity generated by the restaurant industry as a whole accounts for 4% of the nation’s GDP (stats @ https://www.saverestaurants.com).

Ways to support restaurants and restaurant workers:

• Urge Congress to pass the RESTAURANTS Act of 2020, which would establish the $120B Restaurant Revitalization Fund! https://restaurantsact.com

• The Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles, along with Mayor Garcetti, launched SERVE earlier this month, a program which will provide a minimum of 4,000 low-wage food service workers with a small cash assistance gift with an understanding of how hard these workers have been impacted. The online application received tens of thousands of interested applicants. Program recipients will be randomly selected from the pool of eligible applicants. Every little bit helps: https://mayorsfundla.org/

• https://blog.opentable.com/c/support-restaurants/?ref=9472&cmpid=em_Email2020&utm_source=mg&utm_medium=email(We are sending everyone who joins/renews Civicas in 2020 a Southern Girl Desserts e-recipe book!)

A Zoom Where it Happened: Civic Space in LA: Past, Present and Post-Pandemic on October 2, 2020:

Civicas co-hosted a free Zoom webinar with UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs, their Center for Innovation & the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and Southern California Institute of Architecture featuring experts from the City and County of Los Angeles. Panelists brought research, policy and implementation perspectives to this discussion of equitable solutions for a healthy city in which all can thrive. We focused on equity issues surrounding civic spaces, including parks and streets, that have been exposed by the pandemic and invite participants to follow up with potential ways to continue this engaging conversation including these questions:

• How can urban design affect public health, economics, education and civic life?

• How can our streets, the primary open spaces in many areas, better accommodate a variety of community needs?

• How do we reach impacted communities?

• How does everyone feel invested in our civic space?

The examples our panelists discussed showcase what happens when civic leaders collaborate. We want to take advantage of the urgency of this moment to follow up with more conversations and action items as well. Please check our Civic Resources and Civic Stories page for more information.

This webinar was moderated by Cynthia Hirschhorn, Environmental Designer, Founder of Civicas and Flowproject.la

Panelists included:

Norma Edith García-González, Director, LA County Department of Parks and Recreation
Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Associate Dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs & Professor of Urban Planning
Barbara Romero, Deputy Mayor of City Services, City of LA
Marrikka Trotter, Architect & Professor of Architectural History, SCI-Arc

Thanks to all those who joined our Civicas webinar discussing Civic Space in Los Angeles!

It was a great discussion and we have begun creating a civic space-related resources page to help foster equitable solutions for a healthy city in which all can thrive. We invite participants and the public to follow up with potential ways to continue this engaging conversation. Please email us at Civicas4LA@gmail.com and check out more civic space stories here.

A Zoom Where it Happened: Police Reform in Los Angeles: Our History, Our Future on August 4, 2020:

Given the ongoing mass movement for social justice and police reform in the United States, Civicas wanted to explore reform efforts in Los Angeles and what can be done to improve policing in our city, as well as potential implications for national reform. Our zoom panel included nationally recognized experts exploring how we got to this point, the big issues, and potential paths forward.  

This webinar was moderated by Deb Yang, Civicas Board Member, Partner at Gibson Dunn, former District Attorney for the Central District of California, and former member of LA Police Commission. 
Panelists included:
Connie Rice, Co-Founder & Co-Director of The Advancement Project, member of Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, Co-Developer of LAPD’s Community Safety Partnership
Gerry Chaleff, Criminal Defense Attorney, LAPD’s First Special Assistant for Constitutional Policing
Carol Sobel, Civil Rights Lawyer, Advocate, leading lawsuits against LA City on behalf of homeless people and protesters. 

A Room Where it Happened: Census LA on March 4, 2020:

Civicas hosted another fantastic “Room Where It Happens” celebrating International Women’s Day at a cocktail party with impactful learning and networking about the 2020 Census. Thanks to our inspiring moderator Wendy Greuel who led a conversation with an outstanding panel of LA’s academic, community and government leaders: Sonja Diaz of UCLA, Maria Garcia of the Mayor's Office, and Stephania Ramirez of the California Community Foundation shared expert perspectives about the urgency of this year’s Census count and its relationship to distribution of federal power and money. More information on the Census can be found @ https://census.lacity.org.

Civicas Holiday Party on December 4, 2019:

We were so happy to celebrate the accomplishments of Civicas this past year with so many wonderful women working on civic issues! The women who gathered represented a cross sector of jobs and service in government agencies, foundations, non-profits, academics, business, philanthropy and communication brought together by a shared commitment to improve the City of Los Angeles through words, and actions.

Civicas Salon: Building for Resiliency on August 10, 2019:

Civicas members joined us for a site visit to SkySource Ranch with our hosts, Laura Doss-Hertz and David Hertz. Laura and David won the 2018 Water Abundance XPRIZE for their WEDEW machine. This follow-up event to our March Forum allowed members to see the WEDEW in person and tour the Resiliency Lab.

Civicas Salon: Innovative Philanthropy on July 25, 2019:

We had a great June Salon on innovative philanthropy featuring Tara Roth, President of the Goldhirsh Foundation. The attendees represented an inspiring variety of networks and missions interested in improving our city. It was especially interesting to learn more about LA2050's metrics, database, and efforts to connect past entries with new potential funders.

A Room Where It Happened: Cultivating Sustainability in Los Angeles on March 8, 2019:

We heard about the city’s efforts to green our infrastructure and address climate change from Lauren Faber O’Connor, LA’s Chief Sustainability Officer. When Mayor Eric Garcetti released LA’s first ever Sustainability pLAn in 2015, he committed to updating the plan every four years. The updated plan will be released in late April as part of the Mayor’s State of the City Address. We also heard from Laura Doss Hertz and David Hertz, the winners of the 2018 Water Abundance XPRIZE. These local innovators won $1.5 million for meeting the XPRIZE’s design challenge of producing water from air. Currently, their device is being used to support the Woolsey fire recovery efforts

A Room Where It Happened: LA H2O Mountains to Sea on October 20, 2018:

Discussing Civic Water Issues, Technological Actions and Civic Resources with water experts and community leaders at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium: Angela Barraco, CEO of River LA, Ann Carpenter, Co-Founder/CEO Braid Theory, Cynthia Hirschhorn, Founder/Curator flowproject.la, Dr. Jenny Jay, Professor, IoES at UCLA, Jenny Krusoe, ED, AltaSea, Dr. Shelley Luce, President/CEO Heal the Bay, Julianne Kalman Passarelli, PH.D. Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, Dr. Melissa Turcotte, Environmental Engineer, LA County.

Thanks also to the participants in the Civic Water Expo including League of Women Voters, ProCon.org, Action Civics CA, Southern California Marine Institute, Braid Theory and the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium!

We've also created a linkedin group so you and your teams can continue these conversations and develop a cross-sector community of people interested in water, environmental resiliency and civic resources. Please join so we can network our networks to align missions & amplify resources for more impact at the civic scale!

A Room Where It Happened: on International Women's Day Thursday, March 8, 2018

Discussing Global Civic Networks with Local Woman Leaders: LA Mayoral Officers Marissa Aho, Chief Resilience Officer, Rockfeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities; Amanda Daflos, Director of Innovation Team, Bloomberg Philanthropies Innovation Teams Initiative; Lauren Faber O'Connor, Chief Sustainability Officer,  C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group will speak about civic leadership including their roles promoting Local Civic Actions and their relationships with Global City Networks... 

Inspired by our theme of Global Networks, Local Actions, we discussed ways these local women leaders engage with their national & global network counterparts to share best practices regarding local and global critical issues. We also asked what metrics define they consider to define success in dealing with local resiliency, sustainability and innovation and local government agencies. The Mayor's Resilient Los Angeles Plan which was released the week before highlights many opportunities for us all to engage and make a difference right now and for the future!

2017 Rooms Where it Happened:

Civicas Forums educating women leaders about opportunities to align resources for civic impact.

"A Room Where it Happens" on International Women's Day 3/8/17
with Amy Sloane-Pinel speaking on Civic Infrastructure and Public/Private Partnerships