The City of Sacramento’s community engagement manager, Lynette Hall, last night was honored with the “Women in Leadership” award from the Women in National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Committee of the Greater Sacramento NAACP Branch.
“We are pleased to honor Lynette Hall for her work as a valuable community engagement manager with the City of Sacramento,” said Velma Sykes, chair of women in NAACP. “Her capacity to bring diversity, inclusion and equity and extend opportunities to the African American community are exemplary of what it means to unify through leadership.”
The City of Sacramento Community Engagement team, formed in late 2019, is led by Hall and the Office of Innovation and Economic Development. It consists of five dedicated staff members with two more hires expected in 2022.
“I am honored by the award, which showcases my commitment, and my team’s commitment, to engaging the Sacramento community, especially those who have been historically underserved,” said Community Engagement Manager Lynette Hall. “I am especially honored to have received this award alongside California Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber, who has broken down barriers for women of color like me. I stand on the shoulders of those women in leadership who came before me and helped to pave the way.”
The Community Engagement team works to engage the public, businesses, community-based organizations and chambers of commerce to ensure all residents are aware of City resources and opportunities and all residents can provide input in decisions, programming, plans and processes.
The team most recently implemented a new Community Ambassador program that pays active community members to work with and represent the Black, Hmong, Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese and Spanish-speaking communities.
These community ambassadors help to facilitate multi-cultural bridging to build and maintain relationships with community partners, businesses and residents who represent linguistically diverse populations and/or historically underrepresented communities.
The Community Engagement team also supports the City’s “Racial Equity Initiative” (led by the Mayor and Council) and is helping to establish a citywide policy that will embed racial equity in the City’s systems and the decisions it makes.
Additionally, the team is working to implement a “Language Equity Access” policy for City of Sacramento staff and programs. Community Engagement also leads the Fine and Fee Justice Initiative, which just implemented its first reform to waive a $180 tow fee for income-eligible residents.
Community Engagement played a significant role in the City Council Redistricting process, the City’s COVID-19 CARES Act relief outreach and City’s current COVID-19 vaccine campaign, among other projects.
Learn more about the Office of Innovation and Economic Development’s Community Engagement team on the City’s website.