A helpful resource for residents is the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services (MONS).  MONS is dedicated to helping the citizens of the City & County of San Francisco receive the highest levels of service possible from all areas of City government. Their district and community liaisons work to ensure that the Mayor’s Office is involved with helping to improve the quality of life for all San Francisco residents.

You can locate local resources and contacts, get contacted to the mayor, sign up for their montly newsletter, follow them on Facebook and Like them on Facebook.  For more information, visit their website,

http://www.sfmayor.org/index.aspx?page=20.

AUXILIARY LAW ENFORCEMENT RESPONSE TEAM (ALERT)

The Auxiliary Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) is a citizen disaster preparedness program designed for volunteers 16 years of age or older, who live, work, or attend high school in San Francisco. The ALERT program will have Basic, Senior, and Supervisory level positions.

The goal of the program is to locate, train, and then coordinate volunteers to safely perform essential tasks after a major disaster. Such tasks might include: traffic control, foot patrol of business and residential areas, reporting criminal activity, looting and property damage observation, supplying information to the incident Command Post, working in partnership with NERT volunteers to provide well-being checks, assisting with medical aid, assisting with Command Post functions, assisting Animal Care and Control in the handling of pets, securing resource locations, and delivering logistical supplies. In addition, ALERT members will direct individuals to mass casualty and shelter locations, assist at reunification centers, provide support at schools for reunification, and participate in Operation Return.

Informational meeting

An informational meeting will be held at the San Francisco Police Academy, located at 350 Amber Drive, Room 100, on Thursday, November 15th, at 7pm. All members of the public are welcome. Interested individuals will have their questions about the program answered at the meeting.

For more information on the San Francisco Police Department ALERT Program, email us at sfpdalert@sfgov.org, or call Sergeant Mark Hernandez (SFPD, Ret.), SFPD ALERT Program Coordinator, at (415) 832-8419.

To additional information visit SFPD’s information website: http://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/index.aspx?page=4019

Today is election day.  We couldn’t ask for better weather to stand in line with our great neighbors.  Voting is our right, and exercising that right makes us a great country.  If you’re unsure where to go and vote, find your polling place at http://www.sfelections.org/tools/pollsite/

The Neighborhood Empowerment Network (NEN) Awards are returning for their fifth and biggest year in January 2013!

Produced in partnership with the CCSF Community Challenge Grant Program, The NEN Awards are dedicated to elevating and celebrating the tremendous work that residents and organizations do every day to make our City a great place to live.

As has always been the tradition with the NEN Awards, we need your help to find this year’s winners!

Please complete this online nominations form and let us know who you think deserves to win in one, or all, of the categories. Be sure to take the time to tell us in detail why you think they should win.

To submit a nomination, please click: http://empowersf.org/the-5th-annual-nen-awards/

About NEN:

In 2007, an alliance of residents, neighborhood and merchant associations, non profits and faith based organizations, foundations and academic institutions was created around a simple mission, empowering the neighborhoods of San Francisco with the capacity to steward themselves to a resilient condition.  The alliance assumed the name of the Neighborhood Empowerment Network (NEN) and over the last five years it has leveraged the immense resources and expertise within it ranks to create a ground breaking suite of tools resources and methodologies to advance resilience at the community level in a bottom up grass roots approach.

The deadline for submissions is December 3, 2012.

We have received responses from four candidates.  We have compiled the candidate’s responses into a summary sheet.

Don’t forget to vote, Tuesday November 6!

Click here to download the candidate’s responses to audience questions.