From: Joy Atkinson, President, Board of Neighborhood Commissioners Subject: Meet your new BONC Leadership

Dear Neighborhood Council Leader,

We have had some exciting changes to the Commission in the past couple of weeks! We welcomed new leadership in July - myself, Joy Atkinson, as the new President, and Eli Lipmen as the Vice President. We also added two new Commissioners - Raymond Regalado representing the Harbor Area and Susan Avakian-Koroghlyan representing the North Valley Area. We will be featuring each of them in our upcoming newsletters, starting with my biography today!

For those who aren’t familiar with our work - we are the policy setting Commission for the Neighborhood Council system. Just like you, we are volunteers (we don’t get paid to do this!) appointed by the Mayor to serve the people of .

We will reach out from time to time to do something to help support the Neighborhood Council System. Today, we have two action items:

1. Agendize our recommendations for amendments to Section 22.819 of Article 3 of Chapter 28 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code on the NC Subdivision Policy. 2. Check out the exhibit on neighborhood empowerment in the City Hall East Bridge. It will be there all month and features pictures and stories from NCs across the system.

Yours,

Joy Atkinson President Board of Neighborhood Commissioners

------Get to Know Your Commissioners

In every newsletter, we will feature one Commissioner so you can get to know the personalities on your Neighborhood Council Commission.

Joy Atkinson is a private consultant specializing in developing and implementing community outreach programs. She served as a consultant for California Speaker Karen Bass, specializing in outreach to the African American press, the community at large, and with The Speaker’s Clergy Alliance.

Through her work with GeM Communications Group under the direction of former Assemblywoman Gwen Moore, Joy has prepared community outreach proposals and coordinated public relations/community outreach programs. Through Alescia Buford & Associates, Joy has worked on press relations and administrative support for Fortune 500 companies in their corporate responsibility programs. For 16 years Joy Atkinson served as Chief of Staff for Former Assemblywoman Gwen Moore.

Upon graduation from the University of Southern California, Joy started her professional career as a Deputy Probation Officer for the County of Los Angeles and became active in the Probation Officers Union Local 685. Joy recently completed her Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Phoenix.

Her political passion comes from lessons learned from her politically and community conscious parents, Eddie and Antoinette Atkinson. Joy’s father was the first African American to run for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council and reach the general election. At the age of 12 she learned the sorrow of losing an election but the thrill of just being in the political process.

She served as President of New Frontier Democratic Club; serves as chair of the political involvement committee of the Los Angeles African American Women’s PAC; is a delegate to the California Democratic Party; and is the Executive Director of the L.A. African American Women’s Public Policy Institute that is a public policy, leadership, and civic engagement program focusing on minority women, For eight years Joy worked with Supervisor Mark Ridley- Thomas on the non-profit Empowerment Congress. The Empowerment Congress is a major project involving citizens in civic engagement. In March of 2002 she was appointed by Mayor James Hahn as a commissioner with the Area Planning Commission and served as President for 1½ years. In November 2003, she was appointed by Mayor Hahn as a commissioner with the Los Angeles City Planning Commission. She became the first local planning commissioner to serve on the citywide planning commission. In June 2009, Mayor appointed Joy as a commissioner to the Los Angeles Police Department’s Permit Review Panel. Named by Mayor , she is now privileged to serve as a commissioner on the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners.

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Come and Meet Us!

Our next meetings are listed below. Please plan on joining us, especially if our meeting will be in your area!

● Regular Meeting on September 18, 2017 at 1:00 pm – City Hall, 10th Floor Conference Center, Room 1050, 200 North Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 ● Regular Meeting on October 3, 2017 at 6:00 pm – South Valley – Location TBD ● Regular Meeting on October 16, 2017 at 1:00 pm – City Hall, 10th Floor Conference Center, Room 1050, 200 North Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90012