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2020-2021 Bl-ANNUAL REPORT
LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT COMMUNITIES
WORKFORCE AND CIVICS EDUCATION
A Message from our CEO & Executive Director
Sixty-seven years ago, the Institute for Local Government (ILG) was founded to help cities research municipal issues and publish reports. That was a noble and important mission, but today ILG is so much more.
ILG has a long, proud history of serving local governments and meeting a variety of needs, but for the past few years, ILG has grown and evolved in unique and important ways. Today, we serve more than 2,500 cities, counties and special districts and we work hand-in-hand and on-the-ground with local agency staff and elected or appointed officials to tackle tough problems and find innovative solutions together.
We’re proud that ILG is changing and evolving as the needs of local governments adjust.
It’s hard to describe or underestimate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on California’s communities and local governments. In 2020 and 2021, like so many local agencies, ILG was thrown headfirst into crisis management and response, which still continues today. Even though we’re starting to explore recovery options and life after the pandemic, every day presents an uncertainty that must be managed and overcome.
In March 2020, no one had the real-world expertise about pandemic response, so we pivoted.
The ILG team made the transition to an entirely virtual workplace almost overnight. We adjusted our approach and our business model to learn how to stay engaged with each other and the local agencies we served. We converted our in-person trainings and conference sessions to virtual events and webinars. We honed our skillset and expanded our partnerships to include statewide experts in municipal finance, digital engagement, natural disasters and refugee and immigrant education.
Over the last two years, ILG has trained over 20,000 local government leaders and staff.
The past 24 months have been a time of challenge, reflection and opportunity. As an organization, ILG has been able to look inward and center our values. We have embraced opportunities to provide conscious counsel to our partner agencies about leadership, ethics, climate, equity, engagement and more. This time of hardship has reinforced our mission and shown us our collective strength, our mettle and our resilience. We have made significant progress as a non-profit and with our partners, but there are many lengths we still have to go.
This bi-annual report provides highlights of the work we’ve done and the impact we’ve made for California’s cities, counties and special districts. It showcases the commitment and leadership of an incredible team of staff, consultants, affiliates and partners. It recognizes the passion and sacrifice of local government leaders who have been true community heroes in this unprecedented time in our history. It celebrates the journey we’ve begun and the steps we still have to take.
Enjoy!
Erica L. Manuel
CEO & Executive Director
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2020-2021 Bl-ANNUAL REPORT
What is Public Engagement and
Why Should I Do It?
State Ethics Training Requirements
for Local Officials
Understanding the Basics of Land
Use and Planning: Guide to Local
Planning
Understanding the Basics of
Municipal Revenues in California:
Cities, Counties and
Special Districts
Understanding the Basics of Land
Use and Planning: Glossary of Land
Use and Planning Terms
TIERS Public Engagement
Framework
Sustainability Best Practices
Framework
Effective Public Engagement
through Strategic Communication
AB 1234 Self-Study Materials Part I:
Financial Interests and Perks
Understanding the Basics of
Public Service Ethics Laws
WHO WE SERVE
h 58 counties
h 2,500+ special districts
h 482 cities
h 25,000+ local agency leaders, including staff
members, elected officials and appointed officials
OUR REACH
13,583 monthly visitors to www.ca-ilg.org
(+12% from 2019)
LinkedIn: 3,803 followers (+17% since 2019)
Twitter: 2,295 followers (+24% since 2019)
Facebook: 1,897 followers (+12% since 2019)
Earned Media: 35 articles with over 95,700,000
total views
TRAININGS, WORKSHOPS
& EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
h 20,000+ training and workshop attendees
h 85 trainings, webinars and conference sessions
h 20 new articles and resources
h 45 jurisdictions trained in public engagement
h 60+ facilitated community workshops
BEACON PROGRAM IMPACT:
169 cities, counties and special districts
now participate in the Beacon Program,
representing over 30% of California’s population
h 46 jurisdictions honored with Beacon Awards
h 5,893,550 total CO2 emissions reduced in 2020-2021
h Released COVID-19 Sustainability Best Practices
h Recruited the first two special districts into the
Beacon Program
h Produced the first virtual Beacon Awards
Ceremony
h Launched and awarded 7 new Leadership
& Innovation Awards
Institute for Local Government www.ca-ilg.org 1
About ILG’s Sustainable
Communities Program
The Institute’s Sustainable
Communities program helps local
officials and staff identify and
apply policies and best practices
that support sustainable communities — places that foster and maintain a high quality of life for
their residents on an ongoing basis.
www.ca-ilg.org/Sustainability
Sustainability Best Practices Framework
Sustainable Communities
Sustainability Best Practices Framework: Options to Consider The Institute for Local Government’s Sustainability Best Practices Framework offers options for local action in ten areas. They are drawn from practical experiences of cities and counties throughout California. The options vary in complexity and are adaptable to fit the unique needs and circumstances of individual communities.
Local officials and staff may use the framework in a variety of ways, including to:
• Generate ideas about programs and policies to pursue; • Inform a comprehensive climate action planning process; or • Integrate sustainability into general plan policies.
Many of the activities can lead to multiple benefits, including:
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions;
• Energy, water, fuel and cost savings;
• Improved health; and
• Increased resilience to climate change impacts.
ETHICS
1400 K Street, Suite 205 • Sacramento, CA 95814 • 916.658.8208 • F 916.444.7535 • www.ca-ilg.org
AB 1234 Self-Study Materials
Part I: Financial Interests and Perks
AB 1234 requires elected and appointed officials to take two hours of ethics training if they receive compensation for their service or are reimbursed for their expenses.1 The ethics training requirement may also apply to agency employees designated by the agency’s legislative body.2
There are many ways to satisfy this requirement, including in-person training and selfstudy activities. Moreover, like all ethics laws, AB 1234 is a floor, not a ceiling. Local officials can demonstrate their commitment to ethics in public service by going beyond AB 1234’s minimum requirements.
This self-study exercise is eligible for one hour of AB 1234 self-study credit (or half of the minimum requirement). To claim self study credit, log on to www.cailg.org/AB1234selfstudy, print out and take the test, mail it to the address indicated with the $25 processing fee. This fee covers grading the test, providing the correct answers (and explanations) and your proof of participation certificate.
Scope of This Self-Study Exercise
These materials cover the first two areas of ethics training required by AB 1234:
• Laws relating to personal financial gain by public officials (including bribery and conflict of interest laws); and
• Laws relating to office-holder perks, including gifts and travel restrictions, personal and political use of public resources and prohibitions against gifts of public funds.
3 It also covers ethics principles related to these laws and ethics in public service in general.
Self-study materials for the balance of the AB 1234 requirement are in production.
Those materials will cover governmental transparency and fair process laws.
Note that public service ethics laws are extraordinarily complex. The learning objective of both self-study and in-person AB 1234 training courses is to familiarize local officials
Shaping the Future Together:
TIERS℠ Framework for Practical Public
Engagement at the Local Level
How Can Your Agency Benefit from
Public Engagement?
Local governments will benefit from
public engagement in the following ways:
Improved local agency decision
making and actions, with better
impacts and outcomes
More community buy-in and
support, with less contentiousness
Better identification of the public’s
values, ideas and recommendations
More informed residents
More constructive discussion and
decision making
Faster project implementation with
less need to revisit again
More trust in each other and in local
government
Higher rates of community
participation and leadership
development
The Institute for Local Government (ILG) has developed a framework to support and assist any local government
with planning and executing public engagement efforts.
The Framework consists of five pillars for successful
community engagement: Think, Initiate, Engage, Review
and Shift.
Why TIERS? The TIERS Public Engagement Framework has
been developed in direct response to what we have heard from local elected officials and staff across California. In 2015, ILG conducted a statewide survey and found that 69 percent of respondents said they do not have the
sufficient staff, knowledge and financial resources for public engagement. These findings mirrored the results of a 2013 ILG & Public Agenda survey which found that 69
percent of respondents thought a lack of resources and
staff could stand in the way of a deliberative [public
engagement] approach.
Further, there is a lack of standard best practices for authentic and effective public engagement, which leads to a lack of common understanding of what public
engagement is and how to approach it. The TIERS Public
Engagement Framework and its companion program, the
TIERS Learning Lab, provide a step-by-step approach to
public engagement.
THINK INITIATE ENGAGE REVIEW SHIFT
PUBLIC SERVICE ETHICS
1400 K Street, Suite 205 • Sacramento, CA 95814 • 916.658.8208 F 916.444.7535 • www.ca-ilg.org State Ethics Training Requirements
For Local Officials:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 9/04/12 Edition
Overview of Requirement
1. What requirements does AB 1234 create regarding ethics training for local officials?
The basic thrust of AB 1234 is to require covered officials (see next question) to take two hours of training in ethics principles and laws every two years.1 Who’s Covered
2. Who must receive mandatory ethics training?
Basically the requirement applies to those elected or appointed officials who are compensated for their service or reimbursed for their expenses.2 The specific trigger for this requirement is whether the agency either compensates or reimburses expenses for members of any of its Brown Act covered bodies; if it does, then all elected and appointed “local agency officials” (as defined) must receive this training.3 “Local agency official” means any member of a legislative body or any elected local agency official who receives compensation or expense reimbursement.4
“Local agency” means “a city, county, city and county, charter city, charter county, charter city and county, or special district.”5 Thus the training requirement does not include agencies on which local officials serve (for example, redevelopment agency governing boards or joint powers agencies), although many such officials will likely be covered by virtue of their status with cities, counties and special districts. Note that it also does not include school districts.
Note that local agencies also have the option of requiring certain employees to receive this training.6
TOP 10 Downloaded Materials BY THE NUMBERS
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2020-2021 Program Highlights
Community Engagement
& Equity:
h Partnered with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution
Control District in Stockton, Fresno, Arvin, Lamont
and Shafter to facilitate dozens of AB 617 community
steering committee meetings and advance communityled efforts to reduce community exposure to air pollutants
h Partnered with the San Joaquin Council of
Governments on the Stockton Mobility Collective
aimed at improving and increasing transportation
options for Stockton residents that are looking for
clean, affordable ways to travel to work, school,
doctor’s appointments, grocery stores and other key
destinations
h Embedded equity concepts into ILG trainings on public engagement, leadership and climate action h Hosted cross-sector virtual roundtables on operationalizing equity and best practices in local government implementation
h Highlighted the importance of language access in virtual and in-person community engagement through educational webinars and articles
h Launched an all-virtual TIERS public engagement training, which incorporated virtual engagement techniques into our popular training framework
2020-2021 Bl-ANNUAL REPORT
h Partnered with the Grove Foundation, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants & Refugees, the Zellerbach Family Foundation and private funders to expand civics education for immigrants and refugees, connect local agencies to private partnership opportunities and expand services to immigrants Workforce & Civics Education
h Partnered with the California Endowment
to produce Building a Workforce of the
Future: Youth Engagement Toolkit for Local
Governments focused on helping local
governments attract and retain the next
generation of their workforce
h Partnered with the Innovative Pathways to
Public Service (IPPS) collaborative on the 3rd
annual “Careers in Government Day” (CIGD)
hosting more than 15 virtual events for youth,
connecting educators and public sector
agencies with students on the wide array of
career opportunities available in local and
state agencies
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Housing & Land Use:
h Hosted an 8-part webinar series about tackling the housing crisis with topics ranging from new laws and programs, to community engagement, to homelessness
h Connected cities and counties to funding opportunities for housing through the Local Early Action Planning (LEAP) and Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) grant programs
h Provided tailored tools, training and resources to cities and counties working to meet the housing needs of their communities
h Successfully completed the first round of
the BOOST Program and built capacity
for 10 cities and 2 regions
h Helped develop applications for more
than 20 grants, leading to over $50
million in new funding for BOOST
communities
h Facilitated discussions between local
agency partners, state agency staff and
technical assistance providers working
on 12 grant programs from 5
different state agencies
h Provided strategic counsel, allocated
funding, secured resources and
identified expert consultants to help
develop 6 Climate Action and/or
Resiliency Plans, including the firstever for the cities of Paramount, Ventura, Bakersfield and Salinas and updates for
San Diego and East Palo Alto
h Trained 72 local agency staff on
authentic public engagement strategies
through numerous customized capacitybuilding workshops h Strengthened local planning
projects by facilitating discussions and
building relationships with communitybased organizations and advocates that provided valuable input to support more
equitable planning to address the needs
of vulnerable populations
h Published a Best Practices
Report to help inform future state and
local agency collaborations designed
to help under-resourced communities
address climate action
h Launched Round 2 of the BOOST
Program to assist 7 more cities from
2021-2023
Program Spotlight: 2020-2021 Program Highlights, Continued 2020-2021 Bl-ANNUAL REPORT
Leadership & Governance:
h Trained over 1,000 elected officials and staff on state mandated ethics and harassment prevention topics
h Launched the Leading Local Webinar Series, a thought leadership forum focused on addressing difficult topics and sensitive issues local government leaders face
h Launched a new virtual leadership training for elected and appointed officials
h Hosted customized leadership workshops for 6 different jurisdictions focusing on effective board and council governance, roles and responsibilities, policies and procedures and team building | 6 |
h Beyond BOOST: Advancing Climate and
Equity Goals
h Campaigning During COVID-19: Practical
Solutions for Fielding an Election &
Running a Campaign During COVID
h Civic Engagement & Refugee Communities
h Climate-Resilient Land Use & Housing
Policies
h COVID-19 Impact on the U.S. and
California Economies
h Effective Leadership in Housing and
Development
h Equitable Funding Strategies for Local
Government
h Equity and Housing: Meeting and
Exceeding California’s Fair Housing
Requirements
h Equity in Transportation
h Exploring New Housing Laws and
Ordinances
h Financial Uncertainty During COVID-19:
Budget Forecasting & Financial Tips for
Local Government Leaders
h Fiscal Matters & Labor Negotiations:
Practical Solutions for Public Agencies
During COVID-19
h Health Data for COVID Recovery
Decision-Making
h Housing Strategies to Tackle
Homelessness
h It’s Not Too Late…Navigating FEMA Public
Assistance with VANIR
h Leading Local: Addressing Hate Crimes
h Leading Local: Bridging Divides
h Leading Local: Navigating Re-Opening
Anxiety
h Leading Local: Operationalizing Equity
h Leading Local: Planning for the Future
h Leading Local: The Role of Local
Government in Times of Crisis
h Local Government Apprenticeship &
Workforce Strategies
h Managing Human Resources During a
Public Health Crisis
h New Housing Laws, Programs and
Funding
h New Public Poll on Local Taxes, Rate
Increases & More—Informing Policy
Decisions
h Preparing Vulnerable Californians for
Natural Disaster
h Recovery or Relapse? Tools to Help Local
Governments Navigate Financial Realities
of COVID
h Redistricting 101: What Cities Need to
Know
h Redistricting: What Your Community
Needs to Know
h Reframing the Local Planning Process
h Rental and Mortgage Assistance, Tenant
Protection & Other Tools to Support
Residents During COVID-19
h Resetting the Local Economy after
COVID-19
h Rethinking Natural Disasters After
COVID-19: Building Local Resilience to
Earthquakes, Mudslides & Wildfires
h SB 1383, Reducing Short-Lived Climate
Pollutants in CA
h Special District Workforce Partnerships
and Talent Pipeline Programs
h Staying Connected: Tips and Tactics
for Effective External Communication
Despite Social Distance
h Strategies to Engage Your Community
on Housing Issues
h Strategies to Streamline Your Local
Government Budget Process
h Supporting California’s Immigrant
Communities
h Technical Assistance Workshop: Public
Engagement for Housing Elements
During COVID
h Tips and Tools to Engage Your
Community in a Digital Environment
h Transparency, Public Access & Trust:
Keeping Local Government Open
Through Social Distancing
h Wildfire Risk & Resilience
h Workforce Housing Program Provides
Rent Relief for California’s MiddleIncome Residents
2020-2021 Webinars
2020-2021 Bl-ANNUAL REPORT
Aleshire & Wynder
AT&T
Association of California
Healthcare Districts
Bang the Table
Bay Area Air Quality
Management District
Best Best & Krieger, LLP
Burke, Williams & Sorensen
California Community
Colleges Chancellor’s Office
California Department of
Housing & Community
Development
California Strategic Growth
Council
City of Gonzalez
City of San Clemente
City of San Diego
City of Santa Rosa
City of South Gate
City of Walnut Creek
ClearGov
Colantuono, Highsmith
& Whatley
Governor’s Office of
Emergency Services
Governor’s Office of
Planning & Research
Grantmakers Concerned with
Immigrants & Refugees
Grove Foundation
Hanson Bridgett
HdL Companies
Kronick Moskovitz
Tiedemann & Girard
Liebert Cassidy Whitmore
Listos California
National League
of Cities
PG&E
PlaceWorks
Polco
Renne Public Law Group
Richards Watson Gershon
San Joaquin Council of
Governments
San Joaquin Valley Air
Pollution Control District
SoCalGas
Southern California Edison
Tahoe Transportation District
The California Endowment
The Empowerment Institute
Tripepi Smith
UC Davis Institute for
Transportation Studies
Zellerbach Family
Foundation
Thank You to Our Partners!
We would not be able to provide the technical assistance, trainings and resources we do without the support of our partners.
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Thank you to our partners and funders for their continued support! 2020-2021 Bl-ANNUAL REPORT
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ILG is committed to empowering and educating
public servants by delivering real-world
expertise that helps them navigate complex
issues, increase their capacity and build trust in
their communities.
All our work is guided by our core values of
collaboration, service, commitment, equity,
inclusion and trust. Our resources have
centered on our four key pillars to ensure that
we could expand our depth of knowledge and
help local agencies build the necessary internal
capacity to meet the moment. ILG provides
cities, counties and special districts with
expertise, education and training in the following
program areas:
h Leadership and Governance
h Public Engagement
h Sustainable and Resilient Communities
h Workforce and Civics Education
ILG is the non-profit training and education affiliate of the League of California Cities, the California State Association of Counties and the California Special Districts Association.
At ILG, we envision a California where all local
government leaders are trusted by the people
they serve because of excellent leadership
and the endless pursuit towards thriving
and resilient communities. We are honored
to partner with like-minded organizations to
provide California public servants with the
support and resources they need to navigate
their complex and evolving leadership roles.
The ILG Partner Program provides a
wonderful opportunity to demonstrate your
company’s commitment to good government
at the local level and alignment with the
importance of leadership and governance,
public engagement, sustainable and resilient
communities and workforce and civics
education. ILG’s Partner Program provides
opportunities to connect with and engage
local leaders and increase visibility of your
organization through through our website,
trainings and other resources.
For more information about partnership
opportunities or any of our programs or
services, please contact Erica L. Manuel,
CEO & Executive Director, via email at
[email protected].
Make an impact!
Become an ILG Partner
About the Institute for Local Government
Stay Connected with ILG
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2020-2021 Bl-ANNUAL REPORT