The mission of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment is to promote increased citizen participation in government and make government more responsive to local needs through the creation of a citywide system of Neighborhood Councils.  

Our vision is that by 2020, the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment will have fostered a robust and empowered Neighbohood Council System that enables meaningful civic participation for all Angelenos, and that serves as an effective voice for imporving governmnet responsiveness to local communities. 

Neighborhood Councils are meant to include representatives of the many diverse interests in communities and have an advisory role on issues of concern to the neighborhood.

The Department of Neighborhood Empowerment believes that citizen engagement in City government is important because no one understands a neighborhood better than the residents, business owners and property owners that make that neighborhood unique. It believes that neighborhood stakeholders can and should have a platform for advocating for the local issues they care about most and a forum for creating programs and events that unify the neighborhood and respond to community needs.

A critical component of this vision is building leadership and capacity of individuals within the community and among Neighborhood Council members. To this end, the EmpowerLA Leadership Institute provides FREE training to residents on how City government works, how to advocate, how to operate Councils effectively, and in-depth workshops about important local issues like crime, streets and roads, gangs, planning and development, and economic development.

EmpowerLA was created on the simple premise that empowering an individual empowers communities, and ultimately empowers and strengthens us as a City.