LA County Board

18.\nSupporting Catalytic Economic and Capital Development Through a\nConsolidated Los Angeles County Trust Fund\nRecommendation as submitted by Supervisors Mitchell and Solis: Instruct the\nDirector of Economic Opportunity, in partnership with the Acting Chief\nExecutive Officer, to evaluate and recommend a structure to consolidate or\nalign existing funding sources within the Economic Development Trust Fund\n(EDTF) including, but not limited to:\nThe Manufacturing Revolving Loan Fund;\nLos Angeles County Business Recovery Loan Program funding\nadministered by the Department of Economic Opportunity on behalf of\nMetro;\nCatalytic Development Fund, both one-time and ongoing allocations;\nRENOVATE Facade Improvement Program dollars; and\n$1,000,000 of Bioscience Revolving Loan Fund planned for aligned uses,\nsuch as tenant improvements.\nMoreover, funds allocated to the County Anti-Displacement Commercial\nAcquisition Fund pursuant to Item No. 20 of April 1, 2025, titled, “Supporting\nCommercial Corridors as Community Anchors by Expanding the Commercial\nAcquisition Fund Program,” should not be incorporated into the consolidated\nEDTF. Additionally, any funding required to complete RENOVATE Facade\nImprovement Program projects or any other projects that are currently being\nplanned and/or underway should not be transferred into the consolidated EDTF.\nDirect the Acting Chief Executive Officer to allocate $2,400,000 in one-time Net\nCounty Cost to the EDTF, funded through repayment of the La Alameda loan\nfrom the Los Angeles County Development Authority to the County during the\nFiscal Year (FY) 2026-27 budget process, subject to the Fiscal Resilience\nProcess.\nInstruct the Director of Economic Opportunity, in partnership with the Acting\nChief Executive Officer, to design the consolidated EDTF to support the full\nrange of economic and real estate development activities and report back to the\nBoard in writing with an implementation plan including, but not limited to:\nThe EDTF structure, loan and grant guidelines, and plan to administer the\nfunds;\nEligible uses including, but not limited to: capacity building and technical\nassistance for community-based organizations, developers, and small\nbusinesses; tenant improvements and commercial build-outs; equipment\nfor small businesses; site and property acquisition; pre-development\nactivities, such as feasibility analyses, engineering, design,\nenvironmental review and entitlement support; construction and\npermanent financing; small business support for industry clusters that\nprovide family-sustaining wages; strategies that address commercial\nvacancy and prevent displacement;\nTimeline for implementation;\nA strategy to leverage Federal Community Development Block Grant\n(CDBG) funding for the RENOVATE Facade Improvement Program in\nthe EDTF; and\nEquity-based criteria for project proposal evaluation and prioritization.\nThe proposed criteria should not result in any reduction of funds\ncurrently allocated to each Supervisorial District for use within\nunincorporated communities in the County.\nInstruct the Director of Economic Opportunity to establish an EDTF webpage on\nthe Department of Economic Opportunity website to serve as a single\npoint-of-entry for community-based organizations, developers, small\nbusinesses, or other stakeholders to access information and apply for funding\nfor all County economic and capital development loan and grant programs. The\nwebpage should include information on available funding, eligibility criteria,\napplication process, and technical assistance resources and should be\nlaunched within 120 days.\nInstruct the Director of Economic Opportunity, in partnership with the Acting\nChief Executive Officer, to identify potential non-County funding sources to\ncapitalize and sustain the EDTF on an ongoing basis, including State and\nFederal funding opportunities, philanthropic partnerships, and strategies to\nleverage private capital.\nInstruct the Director of Economic Opportunity, in partnership with the Acting\nChief Executive Officer, to identify potential County funding sources to\ncapitalize and sustain the EDTF on an ongoing basis, including existing County\nfunds, loan repayments, Redevelopment Agency Dissolution funds, including\nfunding returned to the County pursuant to its Recognized Obligation Payment\nSchedules, and Redevelopment Asset Sales, subject to the Fiscal Resilience\nProcess.\nInstruct the Director of Economic Opportunity to develop equity-focused\nperformance metrics for EDTF, including measures related to geographic\ndistribution, business type, displacement prevention, and job quality, and\npublish those metrics through a publicly accessible dashboard.\nInstruct the Director of Economic Opportunity, in partnership with the Acting\nChief Executive Officer, to report back to the Board in writing in 90 days on all\naforementioned directives, including the EDTF structure, recommended eligible\nuses and program guidelines, identified funding sources, a proposed approach\nto consolidate existing funds, equity metrics, and a timeline for implementation\nand launch of the EDTF webpage. In developing these recommendations, DEO\nshould engage, seek input from, and incorporate feedback provided by key\nstakeholders and potential end-users of the EDTF, such as community-based\norganizations, community-based developers, Community Development Finance\nInstitutions, chambers of commerce, organizations that serve small businesses,\nthe County’s Small Business Commissioners, and small business owners.\nAuthorize the Director of Economic Opportunity to negotiate, execute, and\namend agreement(s) necessary to implement and advance the directives in this\nmotion. The Board shall waive the requirements of Board Policy No. 5.100 for\nthese agreements. The Department will fund the agreement(s) using funds\ncurrently in their Board-approved FY 2025-26 operating budget.\nInstruct the Director of Economic Opportunity, in partnership with the Acting\nChief Executive Officer, and the Executive Director of Los Angeles County\nDevelopment Authority, and any other relevant County Department Heads, to\nidentify funding to conduct neighborhood studies, as aligned with the County’s\n2025-30 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy adopted by the\nUnited States Economic Development Administration, to proactively identify\npriority commercial corridors and geographic areas for economic and capital\ndevelopment projects to inform where EDTF funding deployment could be\nprioritized in the future. (26-1212)\nMotion by Supervisor Mitchell\nMotion by Supervisors Mitchell and Solis (Updates Following Cluster)