TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager, or designee, to execute all documents, and any needed subsequent amendments, with Living Cities, a 501(c)(3) non-profit collaborative of 18 foundations and financial institutions focusing on impactful results for low-income people, to accept and expend National Innovation grant funding in an amount not to exceed $100,000, to foster entrepreneurship and job growth, for the period of September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2019. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
As a leading Workforce Development Board, Pacific Gateway is often an ‘early-adopter’ of innovative strategies around complex workforce issues. The City was recently selected by the Citi Foundation
and Living Cities
as one of five cities in the nation to participate in the City Accelerator
program’s fifth cohort. As part of the selection, the City is to receive technical assistance and $100,000 in grant funds. The City Accelerator is a unique opportunity to access resources and technical assistance to solve a key problem affecting cities across the nation: women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color lack access to the support, capital, and knowledge needed to help launch their business and bring them to scale. This is particularly critical in a city as ethnically diverse as Long Beach, and ranked as one of the most diverse cities in the nation.
As part of its Blueprint for Economic Development, the City has activated a number of tools to help businesses launch and grow. It has collaborated with major institutions, including local universities and colleges, investors, and community groups to spur innovation and seed small-business programs. Still, a gap persists. Many entrepreneurs of color have limited access to these resources, leaving them and the City’s most diverse neighborhoods outside this economic growth. The City Accelerator program...
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