Candidate for
Member, City Council; City of Culver City

Born in Los Angeles and raised in Culver City, Meghan Sahli-Wells has been serving her community since she successfully ran for Student Government in High School. She has remained active throughout her life, demonstrating a commitment to Culver City through her many volunteering and advocacy efforts. She currently serves on two City Council-appointed Advisory Committees, and is a candidate for Culver City Council.

Meghan serves as the First Vice-President of the Culver City Democratic Club and is Co-founder of the Culver City Bicycle Coalition. She is a Member of the City's Advisory Committee on Redevelopment, and the Green Space Advisory Committee. She previously served as the first Vice-Chair of Culver City's Bicycle and Pedestrian Initiative Advisory Committee, and as a member of the City's Advisory Committee On Redevelopment (ACOR). She is co-founder of the Downtown Neighborhood Association and the Neighborhood Action Network, two organizations that strive to give Culver City residents a stronger voice in government, and currently serves as Chair and CEO of the Downtown Neighborhood Association. Meghan is also on the Steering Committee of Transition Culver City, a group that advocates community-building and sustainable practices. She is a member of Culver City Friends of the Library, the Culver City Democratic Club, the Culver City Historical Society, Ballona Creek Renaissance, and the Culver City Education Foundation. She regularly attends City Council meetings, and has educated herself on a range of issues and the ways our City government establishes and enacts policy.

A graduate of UCLA with two Bachelor's Degrees, Meghan earned a BA in World Arts and Cultures, and was awarded a cum laude degree in French. Selected for the UCLA Education Abroad Program, she has travelled extensively, working, studying and volunteering in a number of countries. She studied visual anthropology in Paris, initiated a collective children's photography project in Madagascar, and worked as a translator and a special collections librarian. She has been a volunteer teacher since 1999 in schools and community centers in several countries around the world.

Meghan moved back to Culver City to care for her grandmother and raise her two children. Her husband Karim is a devoted father, and owns a home-based graphic design business.

Meghan has helped to establish policies and practices in a co-op daycare program, and since her two boys have been attending Linwood E. Howe Elementary School, she has become an active member of both the PTA and the Booster Club, and volunteers regularly at the school. She is helping to create learning gardens in Culver City schools and is participating in initiatives to build ocean-friendly and edible gardens on the westside of Los Angeles.

Meghan is an advocate for responsive government, smart development and transportation, community participation, sustainable practices, and healthy, vibrant neighborhoods throughout the city. She looks forward to continuing her service to Culver City as a member of the City Council in 2012.