LA County Board

18. Supporting Catalytic Economic and Capital Development Through a Consolidated Los Angeles County Trust Fund Recommendation as submitted by Supervisors Mitchell and Solis: Instruct the Director of Economic Opportunity, in partnership with the Acting Chief Executive Officer, to evaluate and recommend a structure to consolidate or align existing funding sources within the Economic Development Trust Fund (EDTF) including, but not limited to: The Manufacturing Revolving Loan Fund; Los Angeles County Business Recovery Loan Program funding administered by the Department of Economic Opportunity on behalf of Metro; Catalytic Development Fund, both one-time and ongoing allocations; RENOVATE Facade Improvement Program dollars; and $1,000,000 of Bioscience Revolving Loan Fund planned for aligned uses, such as tenant improvements. Moreover, funds allocated to the County Anti-Displacement Commercial Acquisition Fund pursuant to Item No. 20 of April 1, 2025, titled, “Supporting Commercial Corridors as Community Anchors by Expanding the Commercial Acquisition Fund Program,” should not be incorporated into the consolidated EDTF. Additionally, any funding required to complete RENOVATE Facade Improvement Program projects or any other projects that are currently being planned and/or underway should not be transferred into the consolidated EDTF. Direct the Acting Chief Executive Officer to allocate $2,400,000 in one-time Net County Cost to the EDTF, funded through repayment of the La Alameda loan from the Los Angeles County Development Authority to the County during the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026-27 budget process, subject to the Fiscal Resilience Process. Instruct the Director of Economic Opportunity, in partnership with the Acting Chief Executive Officer, to design the consolidated EDTF to support the full range of economic and real estate development activities and report back to the Board in writing with an implementation plan including, but not limited to: The EDTF structure, loan and grant guidelines, and plan to administer the funds; Eligible uses including, but not limited to: capacity building and technical assistance for community-based organizations, developers, and small businesses; tenant improvements and commercial build-outs; equipment for small businesses; site and property acquisition; pre-development activities, such as feasibility analyses, engineering, design, environmental review and entitlement support; construction and permanent financing; small business support for industry clusters that provide family-sustaining wages; strategies that address commercial vacancy and prevent displacement; Timeline for implementation; A strategy to leverage Federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for the RENOVATE Facade Improvement Program in the EDTF; and Equity-based criteria for project proposal evaluation and prioritization. The proposed criteria should not result in any reduction of funds currently allocated to each Supervisorial District for use within unincorporated communities in the County. Instruct the Director of Economic Opportunity to establish an EDTF webpage on the Department of Economic Opportunity website to serve as a single point-of-entry for community-based organizations, developers, small businesses, or other stakeholders to access information and apply for funding for all County economic and capital development loan and grant programs. The webpage should include information on available funding, eligibility criteria, application process, and technical assistance resources and should be launched within 120 days. Instruct the Director of Economic Opportunity, in partnership with the Acting Chief Executive Officer, to identify potential non-County funding sources to capitalize and sustain the EDTF on an ongoing basis, including State and Federal funding opportunities, philanthropic partnerships, and strategies to leverage private capital. Instruct the Director of Economic Opportunity, in partnership with the Acting Chief Executive Officer, to identify potential County funding sources to capitalize and sustain the EDTF on an ongoing basis, including existing County funds, loan repayments, Redevelopment Agency Dissolution funds, including funding returned to the County pursuant to its Recognized Obligation Payment Schedules, and Redevelopment Asset Sales, subject to the Fiscal Resilience Process. Instruct the Director of Economic Opportunity to develop equity-focused performance metrics for EDTF, including measures related to geographic distribution, business type, displacement prevention, and job quality, and publish those metrics through a publicly accessible dashboard. Instruct the Director of Economic Opportunity, in partnership with the Acting Chief Executive Officer, to report back to the Board in writing in 90 days on all aforementioned directives, including the EDTF structure, recommended eligible uses and program guidelines, identified funding sources, a proposed approach to consolidate existing funds, equity metrics, and a timeline for implementation and launch of the EDTF webpage. In developing these recommendations, DEO should engage, seek input from, and incorporate feedback provided by key stakeholders and potential end-users of the EDTF, such as community-based organizations, community-based developers, Community Development Finance Institutions, chambers of commerce, organizations that serve small businesses, the County’s Small Business Commissioners, and small business owners. Authorize the Director of Economic Opportunity to negotiate, execute, and amend agreement(s) necessary to implement and advance the directives in this motion. The Board shall waive the requirements of Board Policy No. 5.100 for these agreements. The Department will fund the agreement(s) using funds currently in their Board-approved FY 2025-26 operating budget. Instruct the Director of Economic Opportunity, in partnership with the Acting Chief Executive Officer, and the Executive Director of Los Angeles County Development Authority, and any other relevant County Department Heads, to identify funding to conduct neighborhood studies, as aligned with the County’s 2025-30 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy adopted by the United States Economic Development Administration, to proactively identify priority commercial corridors and geographic areas for economic and capital development projects to inform where EDTF funding deployment could be prioritized in the future. (26-1212) Motion by Supervisors Mitchell and Solis (Updates Following Cluster)