Understanding Your City

The City of Brea is excited to offer, Engage Brea, Understanding Your City, a community engagement program! The City faces many exciting opportunities in the years ahead. To enhance community input and involvement, the City offers, Engage Brea as a tool to connect with your local City government and further understand your City. This program is ideal for those interested in an opportunity to engage further with your local government and gain beneficial knowledge about how the City government is organized and managed. It also seeks to encourage citizen involvement, input, and participation in the various City projects, committees, and commissions.

Engage Brea is an eight-week program, hosted by the City, in partnership with California State University, Fullerton Professor Scott Spitzer, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Science. This unique opportunity provides participants with a general overview of City operations, departments, and external agencies that affect our community. This program offers one-on-one experiences with City staff, local elected officials, and academic leadership to promote community engagement and offer beneficial skills and knowledge to address community issues and work together for the enhancement of our community.

Participants will meet once per week on Wednesday evenings from 5:30-7:30 p.m., usually at the Brea Civic & Cultural Center, with a couple of meetings held at offsite City facilities in Brea.

All members of Brea's community, 16 years or older, are invited to participate. We welcome all segments of the community to participate, including those with varied educational and cultural backgrounds, and future leaders interested in local government participation. The program is not restricted to Brea residents. However, Brea residents will be given a pre-registration opportunity through February 19, 2023.

2023 Engage Brea Program

It is important to plan to attend all eight weeks as resources are prepared and reserved for program participants.

This 2023 program will begin Wednesday, March 29. Each week focuses on different aspects of the City with presentations, analysis, and discussions from a variety of Brea’s government leaders. 

The 2023 program schedule dates are as follows:

• Week 1: Wednesday, March 29, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
• Week 2: Wednesday, April 5, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
• Week 3: Wednesday, April 12, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
• Week 4: Wednesday, April 19, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
• Week 5: Wednesday, April 26, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
• Week 6: Wednesday, May 3, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
• Week 7: Wednesday, May 10, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
• Week 8: City Council Meeting Tuesday, May 16, 6 – 8 p.m.

At the end of the program, participants attend the May 16, 2023, Brea City Council Meeting to be recognized with a certificate of completion and their names listed on the City’s website, below, as graduates of the course. One absence is excused to be recognized with program completion. 

Applications are no longer being accepted for the 2023 program as all seats have been reserved. Thank you!