Local Government Structure and Leadership

The community in which my community partner works is a city, the city of East Palo Alto to be exact. It is a city that is filled with many immigrants and low income families many people would describe it as being ghetto due to all of the gangs and violence that at one point went on in the neighborhoods. I in all honesty do not know what kind of Mayor the city has because I am not from this side of the Bay so I personally cannot say anything about the Mayor and how she/he works within the community. My community partner does have interaction with local government officials as well as state officials. ILEAD holds meetings, classes, and other events in which they invite the government officials and they attend most of the time. They go to support their community and to get an inside scoop as to what the people in that community want and need to keep their standard of living.

blog ch 6

Local governments use their power to to preserve state and local values in the face of federal policies by creating different policies to block the federal law. Some local governments become sanctuary governments or cities if you will. Like in the case of immigration during modern times a lot of cities have became sanctuary cities because they are trying to bar themselves from Trumps immigration laws. Some local governments are also just ignoring the federal law and doing their own thing with it or some may also reword the law to make it fit with their values and opinions.