She chose L.A. for our leadership in technology and social media; I was proud to share our successes in building stronger relationships between the Los Angeles Police Department and everyday Angelenos, and tell her about our plan to increase transparency and accountability by becoming America’s largest city to put body cameras on all patrol officers.

But we didn’t want the attorney general to go back to Washington without a firsthand look at a program that is a crown jewel in our work to reduce gang violence: Summer Night Lights. The program — which now keeps nearly three dozen recreation centers open until 11 p.m. during the summer months, with special activities, sports, job opportunities and meals for young people and families — grew out of a program that I started as a City Council member.

I started “At the Park After Dark” at Glassell Park in 2007 after the senseless killing of 16-year-old Melissa Paul. She was walking with her boyfriend near that park, when she was struck in the back by a bullet that her killer meant for a gang rival.

The following year, the program was renamed and expanded to parks throughout L.A., focused specifically in neighborhoods that have struggled with gang violence.

Attorney General Lynch was impressed by the success of Summer Night Lights, and she has every reason to be, because there’s no questioning the program’s value and effectiveness: despite an uptick in crime that hit L.A. and other large cities in America over the last year, 20 of the 32 neighborhoods with Summer Night Lights saw no change or a decrease in crime.

Since its inception, Summer Night Lights has hosted more than 4.9 million site visits and last year alone served more than 452,000 meals. This year’s program will create over 800 jobs, including 352 positions for youth squad members between the ages of 17 and 24.

That’s an incredible record, but it also speaks to something that I believe very strongly: At its heart, this work is about stories, not statistics. It’s about the things that we can’t always count: the bullet that won’t be fired, the young man who won’t get mixed up in a gang, the families that feel safe enjoying a summer evening outdoors in their own neighborhood.

It’s about Angelenos like Jermaine Edwards.

Jermaine is a father of three who made some mistakes in life and ended up behind bars for seven years. When he came home, the Summer Night Lights program at Slauson Recreation Center gave him a place to enjoy time with his family and find resources that helped him start to rebuild his life.”

“When I got out of jail, I had hopes of doing right. … I was able to take my kids [to Summer Night Lights] and be an active participant in their lives, show them a different route than the route that I took,” he said. “Summer Night Lights opened up new doors for me to meet new people that could assist me on my transformation, show me certain programs like Community Build and PV Jobs, which helped me get into the construction field.”

Today, Jermaine is on the construction crew that is putting in the new Crenshaw-LAX rail line, which is now more than halfway complete. He’s building L.A.’s future, and feeling good about his own.

“I feel like I’m giving back to my community after causing havoc,” Jermaine said. “I’m providing for my family, making a living and setting an example for my kids, and their kids’ kids.”

Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Community Report” column runs the first Thursday of every month in The Wave. For more information about Summer Night Lights 2016, go online to lamayor.org/snl. Learn more about Jermaine’s story at lamayor.org/jermaine.

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Today, Patricia is a member of Laborers’ International Union Local 300, one of the hard-working Angelenos whose excellence on the job has brought us to the halfway point on the Crenshaw-LAX light rail line just two years after construction began. She’s a single mother, and an active volunteer at the L.A. Black Worker Center, where she advocates for employment opportunities for African-Americans.

But Patricia wasn’t always in position to earn a good living and dedicate herself to activism.

“Before I was hired to work on the Crenshaw-LAX rail line, I had to rely on public assistance,” she told me on a recent morning at the South Los Angeles Worksource Center. “And as a person who has been incarcerated, I’ve experienced challenges in my life — but I don’t let that define me.”

That’s the spirit of L.A. And it’s why one of my top priorities is building policies, programs, and investments around a simple idea with enormous potential: Everyone deserves new opportunities to succeed — no matter who they are, or where life has taken them.

Few need second chances more urgently than people who have made mistakes in life, but are determined to turn their lives around after being released from prison.

These are our neighbors, our friends, and our family members. And they’re looking for someone — anyone — to believe in them. But all too often they are met by closed doors and wagging fingers when they reach for the dignity that only a job can bring.

The impact of denying people this basic building block of the good life is larger than you may think: About one in four adults in California has an arrest or conviction record. More than 45,000 people are paroled to Los Angeles County each year, with over 163,000 individuals passing through the County Jail system annually.

The majority of these individuals return to the city of Los Angeles. A recent study estimated that up to 90 percent of formerly incarcerated Californians are unemployed at any given time.

Ninety percent. How could anyone be expected to build a future when they can’t even get a paycheck to support their family?

I’m committed to changing that dynamic in Los Angeles. It’s not only the right thing to do for these individuals and their loved ones — it means safer, more stable communities for all of us. Overall, the recidivism rate in California is 65 percent, but it drops to as low as 3 percent when the formerly incarcerated are paired with jobs upon release.

At City Hall, we’re taking big steps in the right direction on this issue. I’m leading the way because when people are unable to make a fresh start, it drives up the personal, social and economic costs of our criminal justice system.

Last month, my Office of Reentry finalized a deal with the California Department of Transportation to connect 1,350 formerly  incarcerated men and women to permanent employment over the next three years. That’s an investment of close to $9 million, and it’s part of a larger movement to widen the circle of opportunity in L.A.

Over the next few years, the city is expected to bring on 5,000 new employees — and I’m determined to see to it that everyone has a fair shot at one of these good, middle-class jobs. To make that happen, I’ve signed an executive directive that instructs our departments to prioritize hiring in communities with the greatest need — like our unsheltered, the formerly incarcerated, veterans and at-risk youth.

And to make sure that L.A. continues creating opportunities, I have formed a Blue Ribbon Commission on Employment Equity — an alliance of public, private and nonprofit sector employers that have agreed to recruit from populations that are disproportionately unemployed and underemployed.

We are creating these opportunities because they go to the heart of who we are as Angelenos. We’re a people who believe in looking forward, who define people by their best selves — not by their worst choices.

Together, we’re building a Los Angeles where no one is turned away, all people have the opportunity to make a good living, and everyone’s contribution is valued in this incredible city we call home.

Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Community Report” column runs the first Thursday of every month in The Wave.

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Since taking office, I have delivered on my promise to get back to basics, by focusing City Hall on meeting the needs of our neighborhoods. We’ve more than tripled tree trimming, set records for street paving at 2,400 miles a year, begun hiring firefighters for the first time in five years, and we’re investing $31 million to repair our sidewalks — the most in L.A. history.

But getting back to basics isn’t just about the services delivered out of City Hall. There’s nothing more basic than a roof over your head. There’s nothing more basic than a job and a wage you can raise a family on.

That’s why a centerpiece of our back-to-basics agenda was a comprehensive jobs plan. And today, we’re seeing the results of that work: Unemployment hasn’t just been cut a little, it’s been cut in half — we have added 112,000 new jobs in Los Angeles since I took office.

Hollywood is coming home. Emerging industries like digital and green technology are creating a new generation of middle-class jobs. We’re raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and the state of California has followed our lead.

This is what government looks like when it works for the people.

But here’s the thing: you can’t average out prosperity. It can’t be measured only by the unemployment rate, or the total wealth of the city. Our progress must be felt by all Angelenos, or we have not fulfilled our mandate.

Good-paying jobs are at the center of that promise.

The city of Los Angeles is the county’s third-largest employer — so one way that City Hall can help is by reforming and refining our own hiring practices. There is a unique opportunity to do this now, with 46 percent of L.A.’s municipal workforce eligible to retire by 2018.

We’re going to hire an estimated 5,000 workers over the next few years, and I want everyone to have a fair shot at applying for those good, middle-class jobs.

That’s why, last week, I signed an executive directive ordering city departments to bring those jobs to where they’re needed most. We have to make sure that people who have been historically left out — communities of color, veterans, the formerly incarcerated, disconnected youth, Angelenos who have been unsheltered — are in the hiring pool.

To support that mission, I put together a Local Hiring Task Force that will help us connect underemployed Angelenos to job opportunities. Our partners on the task force include the L.A. Black Worker Center, National Action Network, Southern Christian Leadership Conference-L.A., the Community Coalition and the Watts Gang Task Force.

We have joined forces because we have a common vision for L.A.: This must be a place where everyone has a fair chance to be employed. People in every part of our city deserve the opportunity to earn an honest living, and to take home paychecks they can raise a family on.

It is our duty to ensure that every qualified Angeleno — no matter who they are, or where life has taken them — has equal opportunity to apply for jobs that put them to work now, and set them on course for lasting careers.

As we move forward with that work, we’ll make the most meaningful impact by prioritizing those men and women who have faced the largest barriers to employment. It is not only the right thing to do, but it is fundamental to L.A.’s enduring prosperity and the health of all our communities.

Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Community Report” column runs the first Thursday of every month in The Wave.

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Few of our institutions are better equipped to provide that feedback than our 96 neighborhood councils. They are the civic backbone of this city. They give a voice to you and your neighbors, and help us ensure that services are being delivered effectively and equitably across L.A.

I visited the South L.A. Alliance of Neighborhood Councils (SLAANC) last month hoping to hear new ideas and concerns, answer some questions, share information about our successes, and detail my strategies to take on challenges like homelessness and reforming the Department of Water and Power.

We discussed a number of issues — from how Crenshaw-LAX light rail construction is affecting local businesses, to what the city can do about street vending, and why we need more jobs for young people.

Some of the most impactful conversations of the evening were about how the city’s commitment to open data can empower neighborhood councils — and all Angelenos —to take a more active role in how L.A. is run.

When I became mayor, I said that we would release city numbers about virtually everything — DWP call wait times, jobs created, miles of sidewalk repaired, pace of graffiti cleanup — publicly online. My idea was that sharing this information would help Angelenos hold us accountable for the progress their communities deserve, and give people at City Hall new tools to do their jobs better and faster.

That’s why we created dashboard.lamayor.org, which lets you see, side-by-side, the goals I’ve set for the city and our progress toward meeting them.

Some people warned me that putting all this data would expose my administration to risk and scrutiny, because it would help journalists and others highlight where we were falling short.But that was my point.

For democracy to work well in the 21st century, it must meet the demands of the digital age. When mayors and middle schoolers can access the same information, everyone can play a part in building a better L.A.

The open data is working just as I envisioned. Last summer, for example, the Los Angeles Times used it to show that it was taking much longer for the city to pick up illegally dumped items in South Los Angeles compared to places like Sherman Oaks.

We didn’t get defensive. Instead, I ordered the Bureau of Sanitation to clear the backlog right away — and it did. Today, an abandoned mattress in the Crenshaw District gets picked up in the same amount of time as a bulky item in Bel Air. That’s the power of this kind of information: anyone can see it, interpret it, and use it to tell us what we need to do better,

On the night I visited the SLAANC meeting, I also showcased a new tool called the GeoHub (geohub.lacity.org). It helps everyone — including firefighters, sanitation workers, and utility workers — better understand L.A.’s neighborhoods.

It does this by collecting, and connecting, data from lots of different city departments and housing them in a single place. There, anyone can use it — including app developers who want to create new tools that demystify how our city works.

Here’s an example of a practical use: A firefighter with an iPad or mobile device is called to respond to an emergency like an earthquake. Thanks to GeoHub, he or she can pull up more than just the 911 data for that call.

First responders could quickly gather a lot of important facts — like building inspection status, the location of the nearest fire hydrants, sewer lines and streetlights — in order to make critical, real-time decisions based on solid data.

When civic engagement meets technology, there’s no limit to what we can accomplish. And those endless possibilities are why I am so focused on partnering with SLAANC, and all of our neighborhood councils, to make L.A. work better for all Angelenos — in every community.

If you are not already involved with your local neighborhood council, I encourage you to consider it now. There are new opportunities to participate in the coming weeks: South L.A. neighborhood council elections are being held June 11 and June 18. You can find out more at http://www.ecwandc.org/news/slaanc.

Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Community Report” column runs the first Thursday of every month in The Wave.

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Today, he is a high school senior and a member of my Mayor’s Youth Council, looking forward to graduating in June and pursuing a degree in social work. At 14, he was a kid looking to earn enough cash to pick up some of his own school expenses. He found an opportunity after enrolling in the city of Los Angeles’ YouthSource program — which placed him in a job at Central City Neighborhood Partners, where he has returned to work every summer since.

I want more young Angelenos like Benjamin to experience the feelings of accomplishment, independence and opportunity that come with earning a paycheck. Because while those fundamentals of self-esteem are important for every young person, the stakes are even higher for those who must work because their household needs the income.

That’s why I pledged during my first year in office to double our city’s youth summer jobs. We not only met, but exceeded that goal by expanding HIRE LA’s Youth, a program that provides career exploration opportunities to low-income youth between the ages of 14 and 24.

Since 2013, we have worked closely with the private sector and our county partners to connect more than 28,000 young Angelenos to summer jobs. Last year alone, we helped over 12,000 young people find work.

And we’re not stopping there: just last month, my office partnered with the city’s Economic & Workforce Development Department, Starbucks and dozens of national companies to host the largest youth job fair in L.A. history. Benjamin was among more than 6,000 young people who crowded into the Convention Center for the 100,000 Opportunities Hiring Fair and Forum.

Like hundreds of others in attendance, Benjamin received a job offer on the spot — and is set to start a new gig as a Starbucks barista. Benjamin credits YouthSource with helping “to improve [his] customer service and leadership skills,” and allowing him “to stay on track to graduate and find employment” amidst some personal setbacks.

The job fair is also where I announced our new goal to triple the number of year-round youth jobs to 15,000.

We will accomplish this by expanding HIRE LA’s Youth to help foster and homeless youth, young people from families receiving CalWORKs or who themselves receive general relief, and young people on probation.

It makes sense to double down on this strategy, because we understand the transformative potential of youth employment. A study commissioned by the Brookings Institute shows that high school students who work 20 hours per week will earn approximately 20 percent more annually in the future, and will receive 10 percent higher hourly wages than those who do not work.

The 100,000 Opportunities Hiring Fair and Forum was an inspiring place to set our new youth hiring goal — because on that day, I saw the bright future of L.A.’s workforce: thousands of smart, ambitious, motivated Angelenos working hard to get on the path to a fulfilling career.

They were interviewing and networking with dozens of private sector employers, registering for community college, filling out job applications and crowding into workshops on how to build compelling résumés. My Workforce Development team was there, along with our county partners to connect those who did not receive a job offer to soft skill training and subsidized employment opportunities.

It was powerful to see so many major companies and government agencies affirm the untapped potential of young people who are eager to get a jumpstart on their future.

Our calling is to continue harnessing that spirit, and allowing it to guide our efforts to empower future generations of Angelenos to pursue their dreams.

Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Community Report” column runs the first Thursday of every month in The Wave.

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Humanity itself rose from the continent of Africa. People of African descent were integral to the building of civilization, the founding of our nation and the establishment of this city. And the black American experience stirred consciences awake to the struggle for equality and justice around the world.

In the month of February, we turn our focus to the impact that black people and their accomplishments have made throughout the ages — from ancient times to the 21st century. As part of this look back, it’s our responsibility to reflect more deeply on the black thinkers, scientists, writers, artists, and businesspeople who lit our way, and who thrived in a world that too often asked them to defy long odds and face down unfair challenges.

Each of us living today should forever honor and be humbled by their accomplishments. Yet, this month also reminds us that we are not just called to mark history — we’re called to makehistory.

History is being made in our capital, where our nation’s first African-American president is concluding two remarkable terms in the White House that have delivered incredible progress for the American people. Eight years ago, when I co-chaired then-Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign — and made phone calls, walked precincts and held living room fundraisers for what many considered a longshot bid — it was a reminder that everyone can play a role in making history.

History is being made in L.A., where black leadership has set a high bar for cities everywhere. We’ve built on the legacy of the great Tom Bradley with the historic leadership of City Council President Herb Wesson Jr. Members of my administration are shaping the future of economic development, criminal justice, and transportation in our city. At my Office of Economic Development, Deputy Mayor Kelli Bernard is doing outstanding work to broaden prosperity so that it touches all communities in L.A.; Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Phil Washington is showing tremendous commitment to making our $36 billion investment in mass transit work for everyone; and at Los Angeles World Airports, Deborah Flint is at the helm of an $8.5 billion LAX makeover — aligning our airport with the vibrancy, dynamism, and creativity of the city it calls home.

History is being made in our communities, as a new generation of activists makes their voices heard on a range of issues from policing in America to income inequality. In Hollywood, President Cheryl Boone Isaacs of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is leading a movement to ensure that artists of color receive their due — and that excellence onscreen and behind-the-scenes is recognized equally regardless of skin color.

This week at City Hall we honored four outstanding leaders and organizations — Cal State Dominguez Hills President Willie J. Hagan; Audrey Collins, an associate justice of the California Court of Appeals; state Board of Equalization Chairman Jerome Horton; and Our Authors Study Club — for pressing forward to make the history that our grandchildren will study.

The path to justice and equality that was sown by earlier generations of African-Americans stretches into the lives of Angelenos who understand that our work is far from done. As Coretta Scott King said, “Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.”

We need to fight for the freedom of everyone — the freedom to earn a good living, to raise children in safe neighborhoods with good schools, and to access every available opportunity. That’s the world we need, the nation we want, and the Los Angeles we will fight for.

Living those values is how we truly honor the legacy, and the lessons, of black history.

Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Community Report” column runs the first Thursday of every month in The Wave.

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Do we have what it takes to turn toward each other and find a common purpose, even in the face of appalling violence and divisive rhetoric, or is there a risk that our fears and our grief will tear us apart?

These were questions we all had to confront in the wake of the senseless violence that struck our neighbors in San Bernardino at the beginning of December. To me, the most heartening moment came on a Sunday afternoon shortly after when hundreds of people from across Southern California came together at Grand Park to express an uncommon grace in the face of tragedy.

We were there to celebrate and affirm L.A.’s rich diversity of faith, and to honor values of inclusion, acceptance and understanding. To look out on the crowd from the steps of City Hall was truly an inspiration.

Of course, such expressions of solidarity do not diminish what we’re up against. Last summer, a group of peaceful churchgoers were slaughtered in Charleston, S.C., solely because of the color of their skin. And in too many places, the actions of a few individuals have been met by expressions of intolerance toward entire communities.

We’ve heard calls for a wall to keep our neighbors out, and for openly discriminatory policies to single people out on the basis of their religious faith.

Such appeals do not reflect who we are as Americans, or who we are as Angelenos. When our history is written, it will be said that we not only turned toward each other, but joined hands. It will be said that we celebrated the many cultures and faiths that make up our community instead of finding reasons for suspicion and blanket hatred.

We fulfilled the covenant of hope on which L.A. was built — by people of all faiths, from everywhere in the world.

That hope calls us to keep marching on the road to greater inclusion, equality and justice. It demands that we resist divisive words or deeds that are beneath our dignity — or that of our brothers and sisters.

We don’t answer extremism with extreme reactions based on division and hatred, because we know that we’re a safer city, and a better people, when we open our arms instead of raising our fists. We are more secure when we reach out with respect and understanding — without compromising our safety or our conscience.

I am committed to making sure that City Hall plays an integral role in promoting these values. That’s why we have a Mayor’s Volunteer Corps, which fans out into neighborhoods throughout the year to perform service projects — enabling people from different communities to work hand-in-hand to improve quality of life in our city.

And it’s why I started the Mayor’s Youth Council, which instills codes of cooperation, respect for diversity, and civic engagement in L.A.’s young people — giving them the tools to carry those values into adulthood, and take their rightful place as future leaders of the city we love.

L.A. has always embraced the peoples of the world, invited them to share our homes and hearts, and said: Bring your ideas. Share your traditions. Honor your heritage. Worship your God. But above all, be part of our family — no matter who you are, where you come from, or what you believe.

Living those values is more important than ever. It’s how we will make 2016 an outstanding year, in which our city sets an example for the world.

We all need a lot of healing right now. What is required of us — in government, and in every community — is a resolve to live the ideals that can draw us closer as friends and neighbors, brothers and sisters.

Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Community Report” column runs the first Thursday of every month in The Wave.

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Eighteenth century explorers on the way to Northern California were so enthralled by the potential they saw here — while camping along the L.A. River during the journey — that they quickly returned south to help establish our city.

The great Tom Bradley was elected mayor on his second try. We’re the only American city to ever host the Summer Olympics twice.

These kinds of historic milestones have shaped our city’s history, but what about second chances for everyday people who need them today? No matter where we are in life, all of us deserve new opportunities to succeed.

Few among us need second chances more urgently than Angelenos trying to rebuild their lives after jail or prison. For the formerly incarcerated, it can be extraordinarily difficult — at best — to find steady work, a safe place to live or even a friendly ear when you have the human need to share the joys and sorrows of life.

When they are stigmatized, shut out and avoided, is it any wonder that incarceration itself has become a risk factor for future criminal activity? About seven out of 10 people who are released end up back in jail or prison within three years — which means our communities have again been victimized by crime, taxpayers continue bearing the high cost of incarceration and more human potential is wasted with about 160,000 people passing through L.A. County Jail each year.

A majority of those released from County Jail will return to the city of Los Angeles, with still more coming home from state or federal prison.

That’s why I created the Mayor’s Office of Reentry — making mine the first administration since Mayor Bradley’s to dedicate city resources to assisting this population. Through that office, we are working to bring new hope to men and women who, in a great many cases, just need someone to believe in them.

That begins with a strong leader, and this fall I named Kimberley Guillemet to manage the Office of Reentry. Not only does Kimberley possess an unwavering commitment to restorative justice, she comes to City Hall with a deep understanding of the barriers faced by people with prior convictions.

Her outlook on social justice is shaped in large part by her upbringing: Kimberley spent a significant portion of her childhood in Watts, right across the street from Nickerson Gardens, where she saw firsthand how a lack of opportunity can impact communities.

A graduate of Stanford University who holds a law degree from USC, Kimberley is an accomplished lawyer who served as a deputy attorney general — working in the Division of Recidivism Reduction and Reentry at the California Department of Justice. She is also an educator, who taught fifth grade in the L.A. Unified School District.

As an advocate, Kimberley was an Equal Justice Works fellow — directing a project to provide legal representation to at-risk, underserved youth with mental health conditions and/or behavioral challenges. If we are to succeed in supporting the formerly incarcerated, our commitment to serving them must be as collaborative, compassionate and comprehensive as her résumé.

Under Kimberley’s thoughtful leadership, the Office of Reentry has lent key support to efforts to “ban the box,” which would bar employers from inquiring about criminal history in the earliest stages of the job application process; is working with business, labor, and civic leaders to develop job training and placement programs for Angelenos with prior convictions; and begun devising a toolkit to help employers better understand how to manage and support men and women who need a second chance.

Spend just a few minutes with Kimberley and you can’t help but share her passion for helping the formerly incarcerated find stability, locate resources and secure employment.

The Office of Reentry is already working with two state government entities, along with a social enterprise organization, to create both transitional and permanent job opportunities for hundreds of formerly incarcerated individuals. Also under development is a website with direct access to reentry resources, as well as a 24-hour hotline where formerly incarcerated individuals can get round-the-clock information on available services and resources.

“Many of the people in our reentry population were born into cycles of generational criminality and poverty, or born and raised in our foster care system. No one has ever given them an opportunity,” Kimberley said recently. “I think many of us take our own support networks for granted, and don’t realize the many chances we’ve been given to redeem ourselves. We all deserve that. And as a woman of color, and native of South Los Angeles, I feel a deep-seated commitment to helping improve the criminal justice landscape of our city. We are all connected. We are all brothers and sisters. And we can all pull together to make everyone’s lives better.”

Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Community Report” column runs the first Thursday of every month in The Wave.

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Disagreements should be expressed, because the common ground that emerges from robust dialogue is essential to our democracy and has always helped this city tackle the defining challenges of our time.

Whether that means reforming the Los Angeles Police Department, building a world-class transit network, or taking on our clean-air crisis, L.A. is a city that reaches for great things. And at each of these junctures in our history there have been passionate community leaders who have helped spur the kind of action that delivers real progress.

Last month’s South L.A. Town Hall at Holman United Methodist Church was planned with those truths in mind. We expected a frank discussion on a range of issues affecting the quality of life in our city — from police-community relations and delivery of city services to rising crime, mass transit, homelessness and affordable housing. Those are critical issues facing the entire city, but the challenges that surround them are particularly acute in South L.A.

My sincere hope was that our town hall would enable city leaders to learn from the community. And, in turn, I wanted to share information about ways to better access basic services like waste removal, after-school program enrollment and sidewalk repairs.

The only way we’re going to tackle the challenges facing our city is by standing together, joining hands and working toward solutions — and that’s why more than 500 of our family members, friends and neighbors came out to be a part of the discussion. Unfortunately, on that evening, the great majority of those Angelenos were denied the opportunity to participate in the dialogue.

We will never let the events of a single night halt the important work that needs to be done or overshadow the progress we have already made.  That’s why I’d like to invite you to visit lamayor.org/townhallresources. Here,South L.A. residents can find information about some of the most vital services and opportunities available to you and your families — including many that you didn’t get an opportunity to discuss during our town hall, or learn about at the accompanying resource fair.

Perhaps most importantly, for those who left contact information on comment cards during our time at Holman, my team and I will also be responding to the written questions that were submitted. I have always believed that we govern best when we are able to hear directly from members of the community. After all, no one knows what your neighborhood needs better than you do.

While our time together on Oct. 19 didn’t end the way we envisioned, the Angelenos who came out that night still deserve answers to their questions. People like Romerol, who wanted to know what we’re doing about street racing on Crenshaw Boulevard. Or Rosie, who asked about rent stabilization in the city. Or Renne, who wanted to know how we could re-purpose the vacant lots of South L.A. to create more green space.

These — and so many others — are important questions that speak to what we have accomplished in this city, and the work that has yet to be done.

If we can move past the barriers that stand in our way, or the perceived differences we hold onto, we can begin to change things for the better. House by house, block by block, we can reach toward a better future for our city.

I look forward to working with all residents of South L.A. on our shared goal of moving this city forward. Because if the history of Los Angeles has taught us anything, it’s this: When our people join together for a purpose, there’s no limit to what we can accomplish together.

Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Community Report” column runs monthly in The Wave.

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Experts tell us that gang activity is responsible for a large percentage of the increase, but we can’t dwell on that distinction if it causes us to compartmentalize tragedies that occur on our streets. Every life has value, and Angelenos feel a particular kind of heartbreak when violence preys on people in this city.

Why are we going through this now, after more than a decade of dramatic reductions in crime that have made us one of America’s safest big cities? There is no quick, easy or simple explanation. Although crime remains at or near historic lows, that is little comfort if your children hear gunshots at night, or your neighbors don’t feel safe taking a walk after the sun goes down.

What’s important is that we respond to this trend thoughtfully and with a sense of urgency. That means working together to push back against crime from all directions: confronting the economic conditions linked to it, empowering members of the community to play a larger role, expanding police access to technology, and reinforcing a relationship-based approach to law enforcement.

The Los Angeles Police Department plays a tremendous role in keeping our neighborhoods safe, but at its core public safety belongs to the people — police officers and residents alike. So as we look at strategies to reduce crime in the long term, it’s equally important that we address the acute challenges we are experiencing today.

That starts with gang violence, which is why we’ve added $5.5 million to our Gang Reduction and Youth Development budget. Thanks to this funding, we are expanding the number of zones to cover 70 percent of the areas where gang crimes occur in our city; and deploying more intervention specialists — first-responders who work to de-escalate situations that could turn deadly, and develop new approaches to stopping violence before it occurs.

In addition, this fall, Gang Reduction and Youth Development has expanded on the popular Summer Night Lights concept by keeping eight carefully selected parks open late on Friday nights.

Those parks will feature free food and special activities tailored to youth and families — providing people with safe and familiar places to gather and build camaraderie.

We are also working to expand the presence of the mayor’s crisis response teams, which empower everyday Angelenos to make a difference in their communities. These are local residents trained to respond to crime and accident scenes, and who help comfort victims, calm tensions and prevent any escalation of hostility.

Our efforts also involve assembling a new clergy task force to support our intervention teams, and working with faith-based and civic organizations to learn more about what resources can be targeted for communities with the greatest need.

What both of these programs have in common is that they do not involve traditional cops on the beat, or squad cars in the streets. They’re non-uniformed members of the community, working to make Los Angeles a safer place.

That’s also the driving principle behind our recently installed re-entry coordinator. This position will help Angelenos transition out of prison and into jobs.

All of these efforts represent important complements to the strides we’re making inside of the LAPD. There, we are sending elite Metropolitan Division officers to areas hardest hit by crime, putting body-cameras on officers to improve accountability and trust, and taking steps to double down on one of our bedrock principles: community policing. That means putting foot patrols on Crenshaw Boulevard and other key streets, and giving officers the time and tools to develop relationships with the communities they serve.

That’s also the idea behind the newly created Community Relationship Division. This division focuses on relationship-based policing, and expanding the community safety partnership program — a national model that empowers officers to engage residents in public housing with mentorship, sports programs, academic assistance and other support aimed at strengthening the bond officers have with residents.

But here’s the thing: all of these programs address the effects of crime, not the cause — which we know is much more directly linked to economic and social disadvantages. That is one of the reasons that I fought so hard to raise the minimum wage in Los Angeles.

Jobs that pay livable wages can stop generational poverty in its tracks, and help us fight back against the problems caused by it. Thanks to our minimum wage increase of $15 an hour by 2020, we will lift tens of thousands of people out of poverty, and give 600,000 Angelenos a raise along the way.

Homeboy Industries likes to say “nothing stops a bullet like a job” — and by addressing the root causes of poverty and institutional inequity, that’s exactly what we’re working to do.

At City Hall, we are taking these steps because we know the need is urgent, and that action is critical. Though you may not feel it today, or experience it in your community tomorrow, we are working every day to drive down crime. Because any spike in the crime rate is simply unacceptable, and we’re going to put a stop to it.

Mayor Eric Garcetti’s “Community Report” column runs monthly in The Wave.

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