State Awards Los Angeles its First CLG Grant

The City of Los Angeles has been awarded its first-ever Certified Local Government (CLG) grant from the State of California’s Office of Historic Preservation. The OHR has received $25,000 for assistance in developing a Public Participation and Outreach Program for the five-year SurveyLA project. The one-year grant cycle begins October 1, 2007.

The City achieved its long-awaited CLG status in April, providing official confirmation that the City now has in place the elements of a comprehensive and effective historic preservation program. CLG status makes the City eligible to apply for annual grants funded through the federal Historic Preservation Fund, and awarded by the State Office of Historic Preservation.

The OHR is targeting its first CLG grant to a program that will reach the entire city. The grant will enable the OHR to retain an outside consultant to help identify, organize and train volunteers for a citywide Speakers Bureau for SurveyLA. Speakers will be deployed throughout Los Angeles to meet with neighborhood councils, residential associations, historical societies, and business organizations. They will explain why the citywide survey is important, elicit meaningful input from all segments of Los Angeles’ communities, and help community members understand how they can get involved in the project.

The CLG grant will also help ensure that SurveyLA will adequately address the linguistic diversity of Los Angeles. It will provide translation services and printing costs for a SurveyLA informational brochure, to be translated into Spanish and two other languages (to be determined). Finally, the grant will assist in the translation and distribution of a survey informational video.