WeHo 40 is the City of West Hollywood’s forward-looking strategic planning process. Rooted in 40 years of municipal history – and looking ahead toward 2040 – WeHo 40 will engage residents, businesses, and community members in setting priorities for the future.

West Hollywood signifies different things to different people in our community, but what unifies us is a sense of passion, optimism, and enthusiasm for continually making our city great. Together, we’ll discuss issues, challenges, and solutions as we sketch out the groundwork for a strategic plan that will assist West Hollywood in continuing to thrive in the decades ahead.

As a strategic plan, WeHo 40 will frame the City's short-term needs, mid-term ambitions, and long-term goals. It will also recommit to a sense of shared purpose and reaffirm the City’s unique core values. Please join us to take part in creating the future.

Click the "Follow" button at the top of the page to stay tuned for the latest updates and announcements.

The Strategic Plan is intended to be developed through close collaboration with community members and City staff. To capture as many voices as possible, developing the West Hollywood Strategic Plan will take a community-centered and community-led outreach approach. Your input is not only welcome but is vital—it is the heartbeat of our community and what will shape the future of the City.

Why participate? Simply put, your thoughts matter to us. Your involvement will ensure that the strategic plan is truly representative of everyone in the community. Recognizing that everyone’s time and availability varies, we've created various ways for you to participate:

VOICE YOUR IDEAS

• Pin-and-Tell Interactive Map: Tell us what you think makes West Hollywood special! Show us the places that hold distinctive value and importance to you personally on the interactive map above. This is an ongoing opportunity that will allow you to provide feedback and share your ideas.

• Community Workshops: The community workshops will be a series of interactive sessions conducted over the course of the project, where the City residents are invited to articulate their perspectives. The goal of these workshops will be to collect your feedback to finely calibrate the strategic plan, build consensus on the project’s trajectory and above all, ensure that the plan accurately embodies the residents collective visionary aspirations.

• Community Pop-Up Events: These are interactive engagements facilitated by the project team in collaboration with local organizations and leaders through pop-ups at various community events and outdoor locations. More details will be shared closer to the event.

KEEP IN TOUCH

• Email Updates: This Engage WeHo website is a great resource to stay in the loop. Click the "Follow" button at the top of the page to receive periodic email updates about the project.

• Social Media: Follow us @wehocity.

LEARN MORE

• FAQs: Delve into our FAQ section for detailed information about the project. Whether you are curious about project goals, timelines, or specific aspects of the project, our FAQ section will be the place to get answers. This section will also be periodically updated as the project progresses.

Gensler is a global architecture, design, strategy and planning firm and the lead consultant on the project. Their local LA based team brings a deep expertise in engagement and strategic planning and have worked with cities throughout California to help shape their visions for the future.

Designing in Color is an award-winning collective of architects and designers of culture dedicated to building resilient & just communities. They are working with the City on community organizing efforts for the WeHo 40 project.

FM3 Research is a California-based company that has been conducting public policy-oriented opinion research since 1981. They are helping the City deepen their understanding of WeHo's community members through surveys, focus groups, and other such engagements.

Core Coalition & Action Team: In addition to City staff and Consultants, members of the community, local leaders, and community based organizations comprise the Core Coalition and Action Team - two advisory groups to guide the planning process. More information on these groups can be found in the tabs below.

The Core Coalition comprises community-based organizations and individuals who will informally contribute to the City of West Hollywood's Strategic plan through the project’s completion. This network of people are passionate and engaged community members who will volunteer to provide their insights through guided discussions, and facilitate outreach and engagement to ensure that the larger community’s priorities are incorporated in the city’s planning process. Community members can get involved in this group throughout the project to ensure that many different perspectives are included in the process.

If you’d like to get involved and join the Core Coalition, please click this link (https://go.weho.org/communityvoices) to fill out an application form. We will reach out with the next steps 1-2 weeks after submission of form. We are accepting submissions on a rolling basis throughout the life of the project.

The Action Team comprises six West Hollywood community members who help lead the community-centered and community-led approach to the strategic plan. The Action Team’s main responsibility is to grow the project’s visibility within the community and be the first line of feedback. They are the eyes and ears on the street and will be gathering input as well as providing updates and information to the community through focus groups and grassroots organizing at our various community events and pop-ups throughout the project period.

This group represents the diverse perspectives across the city and is involved in this project through its completion. Members of the Action Team include the following:

Stephen Post

Pronouns: he/him/his

Favorite place/space in West Hollywood: Plummer Park

Bio: Stephen Post is a communications manager and campaign strategist with the Last Prisoner Project where he focuses on implementing policy through coordinated government and public relations efforts. Stephen hopes to empower others to challenge the obstacles to equal justice in cannabis, as well as help redesign the justice system by breaking down the stigma around drug use. Stephen is a two-time graduate of The Ohio State University, where he earned a B.A. in Political Science and Economics, and his Master’s of Public Administration with a focus on drug policy reform, policing, and community governance. During his time at Ohio State, Stephen worked with OSU's Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, where he supported interdisciplinary, evidence-based research, education, and community outreach. Additionally, he served as President of the Council of Graduate Students where he advocated for affordable housing policies, LGBTQ+ rights, and increased mental health services. As a City of Columbus Area Commissioner, Stephen has worked on various community planning projects. In his free time, he enjoys yoga, hiking, and playing beach volleyball.

Chiedu Egbuniwe

Pronouns: he/him/his

Favorite place/space in West Hollywood: Observation Deck in front of the West Hollywood Aquatics Center

Bio: Chiedu Egbuniwe (CHEE-ed-oo ee-BOO-nee-way) has worked for years with government institutions, corporations, and nonprofits. He serves as Chair of the LGBTQ+ Commission for the City of West Hollywood, and as Board Chair for One Institute, one of the oldest LGBTQ+ nonprofits in the nation. He consults as a DEIA&B advisor and his prior experience is in IT management and administration. Chiedu is committed to collaboration, active listening, and active learning. At One Institute, he helped launch Circa, the first Queer History festival in the U.S.: over 3,000 diverse participants in 70 programs reflecting our identities. On the LGBTQ+ Commission for West Hollywood, he advocates for attainable housing to help our vulnerable trans and aging LGBTQ+ citizens and champion digital surveillance to promote equity and accountability in policing. As an IT manager, he added BIPOC LGBTQ+ staff to a cis-White male department and helped introduce DEIA&B programming. He is the proud child of Nigerian and Jamaican immigrants, born in Massachusetts, raised in West Virginia and Georgia. Chiedu has written and directed award-winning LGBTQ+ short films that screened around the world, and I’ve written on queerness and opera for The Advocate. Chiedu has lived in and have loved WeHo for 20+ years.

Kaitlin Mcafferty

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Favorite place/space in West Hollywood: The New West Hollywood Library and Park

Bio: Kaitlin moved to West Hollywood in 2022; She is an urban planner for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) where she focuses on $115 million in one-time grants to accelerate housing production across the region. Kaitlin has an MS in Environmental Studies with a focus on Sustainable Food and Farming from the University of Montana and a BS in Marketing from Fordham University. Kaitlin is dedicated to listening to and learning from neighbors to help work towards a shared vision of West Hollywood.

Lennin Kuri

Pronouns: he/him/his

Favorite place/space in West Hollywood: Bohemia Tea & Coffee

Bio: Lennin prides himself on challenging the established practices of California's housing crisis and limited resource access as a Latinx queer advocate, to socially innovate solutions that call for universal equitable housing. As a Los Angeles native, he returned to the city after graduating from the University of California - Riverside with a BA in Political Science. For two years, Lennin worked on various community engagement projects under state-county and nonprofit entities throughout both Riverside and Los Angeles. Notably, Lennin worked under the Riverside County Community Action partnership in allocating over 50k in state-managed utility and rental assistance funds towards disadvantaged low-income communities. Lennin currently works with the Coalition Responsible for Community Development (CRCD) as a Housing Case Specialist, actively engaged in housing South and West LA displaced populations through placement and stabilization to holistically approach the clients through: homelessness and eviction prevention, move-in assistance, short to medium term rental assistance and permanent supportive housing. In his downtime, Lennin finds himself hiking, art viewing, festival attending or even immersed in travel based cultural learning.

Nik Roybal

Bio: Nicholas Roybal (Nik) is an artist, poet, community advocate and human rights activist in West Hollywood. Raised in East Los Angeles in a working-class, brown and military household, Nik is a fourth generation Angeleno. They attended NYU and Connecticut College, graduating with degrees in the Arts and Gender, Women Studies. Nik has great passion for the work of bridging, uplifting, caring for and healing the community, especially the most vulnerable. They are proud to be a sibling in the LGBTQ+ family, to be a steward for the community, and to call West Hollywood home. #EastWeHoPride

Sharon Carz

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Favorite place/space in West Hollywood: Weho Bistro

Bio: Sharon is a commercial real estate agent and ice skating instructor. She moved to West Hollywood in 1999 and can’t imagine living elsewhere in Los Angeles. Sharon began her career at CBRE, learning the office product world and advanced in working with institutional multifamily developers from land acquisition through build-out, leasing the retail component, and disposition of the asset. Sharon has represented major financial institutions and private high net worth clients in multifamily, REO, and market transactions, as well as nationwide 1031 NNN exchange transactions and asset valuations. Figure skating has been a part of her life since she was six, so living in “The Creative City” and West Hollywood, where she can safely walk her dog and chat with her neighbors, makes it the perfect fit.

Click the "Follow" button at the top of the page to stay tuned for the latest updates and announcements.