The Neighborhood Services/Special Events Division of the City of Sacramento will hold their first in a series of quarterly Community Partnership Meetings on Monday, January 9, 2012 at the South Natomas Community Center at 6:30pm. The meetings are held to facilitate broad communication between the City and the community on issues, policies & priorities. Top discussion topics include a presentation by the Department of Utilities regarding proposed water and sewer rate changes. Utilities has provided their own outreach through Rate Workshops and the "Your Utilities, Your Voice" website. Another top discussion topic is the update to the Special Events Ordinance, particularly changes regardi

Heroes past and present will be honored this Friday, November 11 at the Sacramento Veterans Day Parade. The parade begins at 10:00 a.m. running eastward on Capitol Mall. A program is scheduled from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.. It will include resources for veterans, entertainment, and children’s activities. The Grand Marshal is Brigadier General Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager. Born in 1923 in Myra, W.Va., General Yeager enlisted in the Army Air Corps in September 1941. He was accepted for pilot training under the flying sergeant program in July 1942, and received his pilot wings and appointment as a flight officer in March 1943. During World War II, General Yeager distinguished himself in aeria

After operating for nearly two decades, what may be the last meeting of the Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) will take place this Monday.   NAG started out as a meeting of concerned central city residents meeting in private homes.   Eventually a partnership with the city was formed through Neighborhood Services/Code Enforcement under Max Fernandes.   Neighborhood Services has continued to work with NAG publishing and distributing the NAG agenda that was created each month by the independent and volunteer NAG agenda committee.  Neighborhood Services also serves as a conduit between the agenda committed for city entities that wanted to present at NAG and city endities that the agenda commi

The City of Sacramento's Neighborhood Services Division of the Department of Parks and Recreation, the VIBE Foundation, the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA) and the Walmart Foundation are sponsoring a FREE Youth Summer Job Fair on Saturday, April 2nd at Cesar Chavez Park and Historic City Hall.  Here is more information: Saturday, April 2, 2011 ~ 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM ~ Cesar Chavez Park (910 I Street, between 9th & 10th Streets) & Historic City Hall (915 I Street) Are you between the ages of 16 and 22?  Then don't miss out on this opportunity!  Over 30 organizations will be available to offer full time and part time job opportunities, internship opportunities, college recru

A few more changes are in the works for the Second Saturday Art Walk in an effort to reduce problems and increase the focus on art, city and business leaders said Wednesday. The changes will take effect in April, when the event's crowds are expected to grow as warm weather returns to Sacramento. The city's Second Saturday safety team has come up with some modifications in the wake of a fatal shooting in September 2010. The biggest change is a requirement that vendors, musicians with amplified sound and other street performers who are set up on public property – primarily sidewalks or closed streets – operate from 4 - 8 p.m. Live music is part of a growing music scene that has emerged on

The City of Sacramento's Neighborhood Services Division of the Department of Parks and Recreation will host four Redistricting Forums during the month of February. As part of the Community Partnership Meetings, these four forums provide the public with the opportunity to learn the following about redistricting at the local level straight from the experts: - Frequently Asked Questions About Redistricting - Key Redistricting Standards and Concepts - Participating in the Redistricting Process - The Impact of Census Data and Policies on Redistricting There will also be time set aside to have your questions answered. Below are the dates and times of the Redistricting Forums: South Area Wed

Sacramento’s city and county governments confronted grim budget situations throughout 2010. The city faced a $43 million budget gap, while the county struggled with a $181 million hole. Local government employees felt the pain of budget cuts: Sacramento County laid off about 380 employees during the summer. The county also slashed 29 positions in its engineering department in September. The county will no longer hire engineers for those spots. City officials laid off 12 workers represented by Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 447, city spokeswoman Amy Williams said in September. The layoffs occurred after talks between the city and the union failed. However, the city’s job loss situation

Midtown residents and business owners gathered at the Ethel MacLeod Hart Senior Center Saturday morning to meet with city officials and representatives from the police department to discuss what can be done about the rise in violence and rowdiness following Second Saturday. For the first 30 minutes, more than 100 community members wrote on comment cards expressing concerns and proposing solutions. These were collected and sifted through for a seven-member "Safety Team" panel to address. Though Councilman Steve Cohn was adamant that the shooting death of Victor Hugo Perez Zavala was not inherently a Second Saturday problem, it was the obvious impetus for the gathering. In his introductory

Sacramento County’s budget woes are prompting county and city staffers and local groups to consider establishing a new nonprofit organization to address homelessness. A new agency could lift some of the county’s burden to manage regional homelessness efforts, according to a recently released report from the county’s Department of Human Assistance. After February 2011, DHA will not have enough funding to continue its homelessness program, according to the department’s report. The county is running low on general fund dollars for the program, said Derrick Lim, a manager with the city’s Neighborhood Services division who is working on the issue at the city level. “That’s why the situation

Hello community members and partners throughout the City of Sacramento. As you may know, the City’s approved Fiscal Year 2010/11 budget for Neighborhood Services shows a reduction of2.00 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff and our team has lost two Neighborhood Resources Coordinators due to layoffs.Due to loss of staff, Neighborhood Services is rearranging the areas in which we all work. Below are the changes that went into effect on Monday, July 12, 2010: Council Districts 1 & 2 Kris Wimberly 808-6172 kwimberly@cityofsacramento.org Council Districts 3 & 4 Janine Martindale 808-8193 jmartindale@cityofsacramento.org Council Districts 5 & 6 Khaalid Muttaqi 808-4057 kmuttaqi@cityofsacrament

Sacramento’s city government is in the midst of a major overhaul. The merging of seven city departments and offices was among many cuts city leaders made to close out a $43 million budget shortfall. Consolidations of several departments, including Neighborhood Services and Parks and Recreation, are now under way. Neighborhood Services is no longer its own department. It’s now a division of the Parks and Recreation Department. The Office of Youth Development also lost its unique status — it now falls under the umbrella of Parks and Recreation. The consolidations include cuts to a few top positions. Vincene Jones, who was the director of the Neighborhood Services Department, is now the ma

Sacramento youth were given the honor of listening to the amazing stories of Antwone Fisher and Ricky “Freeway” Ross at the George Sims Community Center Friday, thanks to Neighborhood Services and Black Men Who Mean Business. The paths they went through to overcome and persevere were amazing. Their words of wisdom may be helpful in these hard times for the youthful audience. Their stories have inspired me, as a recent graduate from college, to remember that no matter how horrible your situation is, you can succeed. The first speaker is a very well known screenwriter, producer and author. Fisher’s life began when he was born in a correctional facility to a 17-year-old inmate named Eve May

The City of Sacramento Department of Neighborhood Services announces: The Sacramento Police Department is developing a Law Enforcement Youth Development Program (YDP). They are seeking a diversified group of young adults between the ages of 13 – 18 years old. These selected students must meet minimum requirements, such as a 2.0 GPA, leadership skills, school attendance, citizenship, and be interested in a possible career in law enforcement. Potential candidates must fill out an application, receive permission from their parents (if under age 18), and pass an interview. Upon acceptance into the program, students will be assigned a law enforcement employee to help guide them through the pr