Meet Lynette Hall, Community Engagement Manager for the City of Sacramento
Lynette Hall is a Sacramento native and takes pride in making a difference in her hometown.
Hall is the city’s Community Engagement Manager, a new position in The City of Sacramento’s Office of Innovation and Economic Development that serves as a liaison between community members and policymakers at the city council. This is the first time that a position - for this purpose - is being funded by the city.
In an interview with The Sacramento Bee, Hall talks about growing up in Sacramento, the importance of building community relationships, and her goals for her position.
Note: The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: First, introduce us to Lynette Hall — starting with — where are you from?
A: I’m from Sacramento born and raised. I grew up with the best of both worlds. My parents were in Greenhaven, but like a lot of us millennials who had working parents involved in the community, I grew up in Oak Park where my grandparents were. I went to Sacramento Country Day for school, and then McClatchy High School. I went to a Historically Black College.
Q: I graduated from an HBCU, too — Texas Southern University.
A: I went to Clark Atlanta University, and I live by our motto which is ‘find a way or make one’ and that’s kind of my approach to engagement. I was recruited to come back here to take my dream job.
Q: Can you tell us about your position as the Community Engagement Manager?
A: We’ve heard from community members that local government has their “go-to” folks in the community. My aim is to broaden that table by bringing different voices, organizations, and individuals we haven’t typically heard from. I’m on the radio twice a month on 97.5 - a predominantly African American radio station - hosting community conversations. I’m also in the Sacramento Observer - one of the oldest African American organizations - I have a page in their weekly called “Your City Corner.” I’m doing the same thing with our Latino community. I run ads and PSAs in both English and Spanish on Fuego 103.5, and then also 99.9, La Tricolour - a predominantly Spanish speaking radio station.
I get an opportunity to work on community engagement for Aggie square and the city’s racial equity initiative, which the council adopted to take a race and equity lens to evaluate decisions we make.
Q: What have you found to be the biggest obstacles?
We’ve had to move neighborhood association meetings and community meetings online and it highlighted a huge technology barrier. A lot of folks in our community don’t have laptops, they don’t have the software needed, or they don’t know how to navigate zoom. Another challenge is getting input from our unhoused neighbors.
Q: Is there anything that you want to add before we conclude things here? Any message for Sacramentans?
A: I always tell the community, I work for you. I want Sacramento to know they have a Community Engagement Manager that’s looking to hear from them. I want to be a resource. Everyone should know that I’m available for them. You can contact me at ce@cityofsacramento.org and I’m always available.
This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 8:57 AM.