Memo
To: Oliver Chi, City Manager
From: Lana Negrete, Mayor
Date: September 23, 2025
Re: A Request that the City Council Consider Directing the City Manager to Assess the Viability of Creating an Annual Citywide Citizen’s Academy, to Include a Youth-inGovernment Program Component During the past year, I had the opportunity to work with the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District on a youth-in-government program, which served to provide our local students with an opportunity to learn about how the City actually works.
That particular effort inspired me to think about how a broader and more formalized Santa Monica Citizen’s Academy program could help to strengthen civic literacy, build trust, and create a deeper bench of informed community leaders. Including a youth track as part of such a program would also serve to help cultivate the next generation of civic participants while broadening access to local government.
I have seen other cities throughout our region who have successfully implemented multi-week academies that serve to accomplish the following objectives:
• Demystifying how municipal budgeting, planning, public safety, mobility, libraries, housing/homelessness response, and public works functions. • Better connecting residents directly with staff and facilities. • Producing graduates who serve on boards / commissions, volunteer, and constructively engage in public processes.
Accordingly, I would like the City Council to consider my request that the City Manager assess the viability of establishing a Santa Monica Citizen’s Academy, inclusive of a Youth-in-Government component, and return to the City Council with options before the end of the year with an overview of how we might implement such a program locally.
Please place this item on the September 30 agenda for full City Council consideration.