Trade, Travel and Tourism Committee - 4/16/24

e afternoon good afternoon everyone I'm Tracy Park chair of our City's trade travel and Tourism Committee Welcome to our regularly scheduled meeting Mr clerk would you please call the role council member Park yes pres mosar soda Martinez present three members in a quorum Madam chair all right thank you Mr clerk so before we begin public comment I understand there are technical corrections to read into the record for items four and six is that right that is correct maner you could do that please okay for item four uh Council file number 24- 0422 um the department report does include a fiscal impact statement and to date there's no I'm sorry there is a fiscal impact statement attached to the Department report and to date there's no no Community impact statement um for item six uh Council file 24429 the fiscal impact statement for the Department report has a typographical error um it is a 10-year renewal for the business improvement district all right thank you Mr Clark so that will bring us to public comment members of the public wishing to give public comment can sign up at the kiosk in the back of the room you will be given one minute for general public comment and up to two minutes for multiple items so we will go ahead and get started I'm going to call a couple of names uh if you could just walk up uh to the podium Ali alaha Armando Armando Munoz and florinda Garcia hi and if you could just tell me what items you'd like to be heard on in your name please my name is Ali Alta and I'm here to make a comment on item number three for La okay you have one minute go ahead thank you um good after afternoon uh committee members I I'm here to um express my support for the item and for the way that lawa have conducted business uh in their recent procurement and what I'd like to ask you as uh members of this committee is to really look at the process that lawa have engaged in in terms of the procurement in terms of the policies that they put forward and put it forward as a way of doing business with the city of La and his various uh departments um it was a great process and um it would be great to have it uh replicated with other departments within the city thank you for your time thank you so much hi can you just tell me your name and let me know which items you'd like to be heard on hi uh nice to meet you my name is arand wos and I'm just doing a public comment okay you have one minute go ahead thank you um yeah I've been working at LAX for the past 14 years I'm a member from seciu local use ww I'm with my brothers and sisters from un here uh me and my colleagues are here and have been coming for about a year already um we here to urge you not to only stand with us but to do everything as you can ensure to increase the living wage orders to pass the living wage orders and push forward as soon as possible as we all know tourism is booming in Los Angeles and we keep growing as we prepare to host the global events like the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics unfortunately the people who make tourism possible LA's airport and hotel workers are struggling we do not earn enough to pay rent during our unpresented housing crisis and healthcare costs are Sparling faster than HealthCare coverage can keep up many of us are struggling to survive on the city's current living wage trans workers often face food and housing insecurity and many of us are forced to work two jobs I ask council members on this committee that we do everything we can to make sure that the policy moves forward thank you for your time all right thank you florenda Garcia you're up next I'm going to call a couple of other names Heather Perry jovon Houston Miss Garcia I think you're up you could just let me know what items you'd like to be heard on Miss Garcia going once going twice okay I'll come back to miss Garcia if she's if she is here and is going to come I'll come back to her Miss Perry hi good morning we're not on morning at all we're on afternoon can you just tell me which item you like to be heard on I can number two all right you've got one minute go ahead okay hi thank you for taking the time my name is Heather Perry and I'm here speaking in support of item number two clatch coffee is a woman majority-owned family business that has been in SoCal area for 31 years and we are proud to partner with local minority company Cruz a sub of areas LAX what my parents started out of a love for coffee and conversation 31 years ago has grown into eight retail locations a Roastery and training lab an e-commerce business we strive for excellence in everything we do and that is reflected in the attention we bring to the LA area through our numerous Awards including best coffee house best espresso in the world brewing and Barista championships just to name a few we purchase our coffee through sustainable methods that ensure we'll be providing the best coffee from around the world for years to come we employ over 120 people and work with many local vendors including Rock and Wagner Bakery licensing our brand to LAX with Cru has allowed us to expand to new La areas create more jobs and bring enjoyment to even more people's day through an amazing coffee experience being a part of LAX has allowed us to show the traveling public how La has some of the best culinary offerings in the nation thank you Miss Perry jovon Houston I'm gonna call a couple of names to come get in line Laura esel Leandro persa Miss Houston what would you like to be heard on uh general public com all right you've got one minute go ahead hi my name is Javon Houston I'm a airport worker at elx for seven years health is really important to me I diagnosed with COPD I struggle to pay for cost of Health Care my medicine my son's medicine it's very important it should not take a year for this study to come back to tell you how how hard it is for airport workers you can walk around Lex and talk to the workers yourself for 20 minutes and find out this is enough is enough we waited too long we're struggling in a minute we all are going to be out outside here City Hall in our tents because a lot of us are homeless or will be homeless very soon the economy in la la la sorry is booming everybody's getting raises except for airport workers and HTO workers and tourism workers here today thank you all right thank you Miss Houston Laura esel hi there what would you like to be heard on this afternoon hold on one sec good afternoon my name is La thanks can we confirm what she'd like to be heard on please General com thanks one minute go ahead I've worked in LAX for 22 years and I've joined this Coalition or this organization uh because of the need for uh uh medical insurance as well as uh proper pay as far as medical insurance it needs to be affordable as soon as possible so that workers at LAX are able to access it and this sort of policy would help me and my family as it is already difficult to be able to access food and be able to uh take care of our basic needs and this would put uh not having the medical insurance would put both me and my family at a Financial [Music] Risk having some sort of medical emergency could run the risk of me going bankrupt or having some sort of uh extreme Financial disposition as well as many of my colleagues that are joining me here today so we're part of this organization here to ask for a proper wage as well as this type of benefit so that all of us are able to take care of our basic needs and we don't have to end up on the streets gracias thank you thank you all right I'm GNA call a few more names uh Leandro persa Maria Romero Maria Vasquez Leandro perso is next Ty what would you like to be heard on today I'm here to give a general public comment all right you have one minute go ahead my name is Leandra pza and I work for parities at at LAX since 2022 and I'm a proud me I'm a proud member of Unite Here Local 11 I'm a resident and voter of district 15 I'm a cashier a company at my company and make 1974 per hour the policy to raise the wage for tourism workers was introduced almost a year ago since then the cost of rent food and gas has skyrocketed over the last six months my monthly budget no longer covers my basic needs with my autoimmune disease I've had to get help from friends family and to be able to afford enough food to eat the policy is critical to some with this crisis we're calling on you to do everything in your power to make sure this policy is in the next meeting so it can be brought back to council without further delay we hope that we can count on your full support thank you right thank you Maria Romero hi what would you like to be heard on today um General General we'll be able to tip that down for you a little bit there you go you've got one minute go ahead thank you thank you um hi c u council members thank you for taking me taking the time to listen to us my name is Maria Romero and I have worked at LAX at for 17 years and I am a PR member of SEIU I'm here because raising the weight for airo workers extremely important to me and my family I am a I am a single parent a parent of a seven-year-old I know how hard it is to make in meet I have lived in Los Angeles all my life as well as my whole family Los Angeles has always been home for me and it's crazy that I am being pushed out because everything is expensive and I have I can barely afford to live here as an airport work worker who has worked at LAX for 17 years I take my work seriously and I like my what I do at the airport but how is any worker supposed to survive make in meet with those wages as size um thank you for your time thank you so much um math I'm gonna call a few more names Matthew h Michael Washington and nelli Gomez Maria Vasquez what would you like to be heard on today general public okay you have one minute go ahead hello my name is Maria and I'm at seu us ww member I have lived in the city of Los Angeles and as all my life but the cost of living has rised but I no longer can afford to live here raising the wage will change my life and the lives of my co-workers and people who are struggling every day working paycheck to paycheck Burly making and meets this issue to very important to all airports and hotel workers who continue to make the economic run it's time to R raise the wage now all the airports and hotel workers because workers deserve to have decent liveable wage and ending thank you thank you now you H Mr H what would you like to be heard on today general public comment please you've got one minute go ahead good afternoon my name is Matthew and I'm the Los Angeles organizer at clergy and Ley United for economic Justice or clue we bring together clergy and lay leaders and congregations of all Fai with the marginalized the unheard and the least protected low wage workers in the cause of adjust in Equitable La we're here in solidarity with with hospitality and tourism workers for the raising of the wage for tourism workers and ensuring that they have access to Quality Family Healthcare in the city of Los Angeles this policy was introduced over one year ago and these workers cannot wait tourism workers in the city of Los Angeles deserve to be healthy and housed we want to congratulate all three of the city council members here for voting just two weeks ago to raise the wage for bus drivers you have really set the president for making Los Angeles a livable City and we ask you to in turn um pass this policy and actually to schedule it in your next committee meeting on May 7th which will benefit not only tourism workers but all of our communities thank you so much thank you Mr H Mr Washington what would you like to be heard on today item number two all right you have one minute go ahead all right good afternoon thank you for this opportunity my name is Michael Washington speaking in support of agenda number two a little bit about me I'm fortunate to be the Western Regional director of the airport minority advisory Council which includes Nevada Arizona Hawaii and California I'm co-founder and president of Palazo concessions which is partnership with HMS host in Hudson I serve as a board member of the Los Angeles Convention and tourism board uh and passing this resolution will provide uninterrupted awardwinning service to the guests coming to Los Angeles for the upcoming World Cup NBA Allstar Super Bowl and the Olympics so imagine our guests walking through our airport with sinage that reads pardon my dust with very few offerings for food beverage and Retail because of construction this is not a great way to welcome our guests from across the world we will not leave a great impression passing this resolution will stabilize existing local small business allow us to continue to support our community and local Brands again thank you thank you so much all right Nai Nai Gomez you're up next I'm gonna call a few more names Nick Cruz Simeon Stewart and teren slow Miss Gomez what would you like to be heard on I'm here for general public comment all right you have one minute go ahead my name is nelli Gomez I've worked for um Courtyard for about 10 years and I am a proud member of unite local here uh Local 11 I joined the workers about three weeks ago uh about 34 hotels across Southern California we ratified our new contract with our employers after months of striking we have won historic wage increases for example by July 1 of 2027 room attendance at my hotel will be increasing $35 an hour I'm sharing this with you because our Victory shows that hotel workers and other Employers in the tourism industry have no excuse we have shown that when it comes down to it they can afford to pay their workers a living wage through our hard work and sacrifice we have paid the way and showed what is possible now it's your turn we have the opportunity to raise the floor and make sure that all tourism workers from the hotels to LAX earn a living W uh living wage my co-workers and I will stand alongside with them until we win we need an Olympic wage now we have called the hotel's Industries Bluff they can afford to raise the wage we implore you to put us on the agenda for May 7th thank you Miss Gomez Mr Cruz Nick Cruz what would you like to be heard on today uh item number two all right you have one minute go ahead good afternoon Cher Park distinguished council members uh my name is Nick Cruz I'm the CEO of Cruz Hospitality second generation airport concessionaire we've been Opera LAX for over 10 years uh I'm here to uh support approving the extension for the operations not only does this extension allow for continued uninterrupted employment of all of our guests but further allows for us to extend our partnership with our local brand Partners one of which you heard from today uh we look forward to further investing in our locations as well so we can provide an LA exceptional experience for the upcoming World Cup Olympics and Super Bowl really appreciate appreciate your support and extending these locations thank you thank you so much Simeon Stewart come on up what would you like to be heard on today item number two please all right you have one minute go ahead thank you my name is Simon Stewart I'm CEO of pazu concessions as a local uh entrepreneur who happens to be a native Los Angelino I'm very proud of my experience with the airport been there since 2005 I just wanted to thank you for considering this particular motion we are excited about continuing our partnership not only with our primes but with our Labor uh we're very concerned about them continuing their employment and we also want to just provide a beautiful guest experience for anyone who comes to our airport so thank you very much thank you so much teren low what would you like to be heard on today I would like to be heard on General Public comment you have one minute go ahead my name is Minister teren low and I work at flying food group and I'm a proud member of Unite Here Local 11 I'm a class a driver for flying food group not a class b not a Class C but a Class A and I don't make a living wage if you go on the school grading system I'm at the top but yet I don't make a living wage the policy to raise the wage for tourism work workers was introduced almost a year ago since then my rent has gone up I'm the head of a family of five yet I don't make a living wage our rent is over 2,000 a month and it's going up on my over rent is over 2,000 a month and half of my monthly income as rent go increases my living wages decreases expenses go up every day and will continue to go up just as my rent the policy is critical to solving this crisis my co-workers went on strike for 26 days because of the wages we're doing everything we can to improve our workplace we call on you to put this item on your next meeting we hope that thank you Mr low appreciate it your time is up I really appreciate it all right if want to give florinda Garcia another chance Miss Garcia are you here okay is there anybody else that wishes to give public comment there's a lot of you here if you have more you'd like to say we're all ears okay I'm gonna close public comment going once going twice all right we're closing public comment thank you all for being here today um unless there is an objection from my colleagues I would like to move items three four as amended five six as amended seven and eight on consent any issues you want move n on consent can do that you like I think I would you like to make some comments online sure I will okay let's talk about nine let's talk about nine so uh seeing no objections to that Mr clerk if you would please call the role council member Park yes mccosar yes Soto Martinez yes three eyes and these items are approved as stated by the chair so with that we will go ahead and move to um item nine first and Mr clerk if you would read the item please item nine is counc file 24- 0411 it's a motion moska Gregorian relative to requesting the port of Angeles uh to report with analysis of the conditions and circumstances that uh led to the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott keybridge and in consultation with the Port of Long Beach to report on the existing coordinated emergency planning responses response plans for similar events in the San Pedro Bay complex so thank you for that and and we could have moved this on consent I don't think there's any disagreement amongst us about how important this is but um I wanted to hear it because I wanted to thank an acknowledge you for bringing this um this motion and you know as someone who spent years living in Baltimore this was an iconic landmark and critical piece of infrastructure and seeing what happened there in Baltimore has been absolutely heartbreaking and a very important reminder that protection of our critical infrastructure is essential so again I want to thank you in your leadership in bringing this and Mr mccosar with that I will turn the floor over to you thank you very much um I did not know about your your background with that bridge um but we we thought a lot of community members thought it very important when we saw the tragic news not only the loss of life but um less importantly but also important the shutdown of the harbor yes uh because of the loss of the Key Bridge um we have the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the uh San Pedro Bay uh it is a lower profile Bridge because of its age it's about 60 years old uh it is going going through some serious Renovations in the coming years to rede the bridge um I'm not suggesting that there's going to be renovations to the uh to the height or to the stanions but we wanted to get an analysis of whether or not there are risks with either the engineering of the bridge itself uh which looks from a distance like it like the like the stanions are on land but they're not actually they're actually in the water and it's um but it's not in the open water it's in the water that is uh built up through from the from the um docks uh so it's you know it's person made docks and then the stanions go through the docks um the other thing and we also want to do an analysis have an analysis of what are the the the procedures and the protocols in and around the port that might contribute to a disaster but might also prevent a disaster I think a lot of folks who live in and around the port of LA and Long Beach saw the news last month and thought where are the tugs you know we have we have tugboats that take take all of the large ships in and out of our port and that was not the case and I'm not casting any aspersions or making any judgment about what the analysis is going to be but we want to know everything about what are the what are the what's the engineering on the bridge and what are the procedures that can contribute to but more importantly can prevent um such a disaster and so we are looking forward to this coming back I appreciate very much that the port has been you know very open to it and uh we also are looking to see what are the existing protocols and are there any is there any need to um uh increase our uh uh inner inter agency uh emergency responses should something like this happen so thank you very much for giving me a chance to speak on this I appreciate the iote no absolutely and I appreciate the proactive leadership in ensuring that our workers and our port and our critical infrastructure assets are safe and that we are thinking about these uh council member Soto Martinez anything you would like to add okay well let's go ahead and take a vote then Mr clerk if you would call the role council member Park yes mosar yes soda Martinez yes three eyes and this items approved motions approved all right fantastic so with that let's go to item two Mr clerk if you would please read item two item two Council file 24- 0412 is a board of airport Commissioners report relative to authorizing amendments to certain 14 inter terminal con session agreements with Aras USA LAX LLC Cruise Hospitality LLC Dian Dakota JM host International Incorporated and Hudson group to extend their terms to June 30th 2029 covering concessions in terminals 4 5 7 and 8 at Los Angeles International Airport and categor categorical exemption from the California Environmental Quality act squa pursuant to article 3 class 1 18 C of the city of Los Angeles sqa guidelines right thank you so much and I know we have rebs from La here and I just came from LAX earlier today and it just continues to be remarkable watching all of the work underway to get us ready for some very big events um I personally don't have any questions but I really want to thank mayor bass and the entire lawa team for working with our concessionaires and our labor Partners to move this matter forward today as we prepare to welcome major international events to our city including the World Cup in 2026 which is going to be here before you know it and the Olympic and Par Olympic par Olympic Games in 2028 I I think it is imperative that we prioritize consistency and stability amongst our concessionaires at the airport while ensuring that our workers in the tourism economy have good jobs and continue to earn good wages so I know a lot of work has gone into the contract efforts to secure both of those goals so I just wanted to say that and commend you all for the hard work that went into getting us here uh council member mccosar any questions or comments uh maybe just a couple questions uh following the comment uh first of all well said thank you very much I appreciate the opportunity to be with you um I I really appreciate the analysis that it is important for us uh to Pres done ourselves well to the world as the world comes and visits uh and making their way down to the port to make sure they're spending money in my district um and I appreciate I appreciate the fact that this is probably not a time that we would want to um go out to in RFP I mean that's just my I mean I'm sure it's it's in your report but it's my analysis as well I think it's incredibly important for us to uh make sure that we hang on to our good staff but also uh that our employees are well paid can you tell me a little bit about uh the efforts that the airport has gone through and as part of the city family to make sure we have Labor piece and to make sure that we have um you know good paying jobs at the airport in independent of what we just heard about in public comment Denise sample I am a director of terminal Leasing and concessions for Los Angeles World airports we require all of our concessioners to have as part of their agreement a labor peace agreement that they have CBA as well but labor peace is very important to us and one of the reasons that we didn't move this forward sooner is because they were still negotiating um we've decided to move it forward even though some are still pending because we hope that they will continue to work together and we can get this moving forward so that we can move towards the Olympics yeah probably more than a hope even because we have a labor peace agreement and in fact what we what we're doing is driving these parties together and making sure that we have a continuation of service so there's no lockout there's no strikes there's also you know good um you know good faith negotiations and I understand that some of the contracts are in fact resolved or close to being resolved correct at least three of them have been resolved we have a few outstanding um having you guys approve this and move it to council and have Council approve it we cannot execute them until their labor peace agreements are in place so that is a motivation for them to continue to negotiate from when we hear things are going well and the timeline pinch is such that my folks lay people like me would say from outside of the you know lay from being outside of the airport would look at it and say well you have two years left on a contract but it actually takes a long time for you to do an RFP to go through a thoughtful selection and that might be an exercise that we don't even think would be fruitful in any case correct so we're balancing Goods on all side the good of protecting our labor force hanging on to our our workers the good of making sure that we have you know fine um uh you know fine offerings for our customers correct thanks for your hard work on this thank you council member Soto Martinez yes thank you so much Madam chair uh I just want to uh very echo of some of the words that were said uh by both my colleagues just want to thank everyone who worked on this uh to get us to a point where I feel comfortable supporting this today uh I know it's not easy uh I I was an organizer at the airport for two years um very familiar with Westfield having some Terminals and 457 and eight um and the different uh DBS and minority owned businesses and how you have to deal with the large the big fish and it's a very complicated ecosystem but I think through dialogue conversation understanding what the workers need what the business needs what the tourism needs what the city needs is important and so so I want to thank everyone who worked on this today uh and I'll be supporting it thank you right fantastic all right I don't think there are any other questions then so um I would move that we approve item number two Mr Clark if you would please council member Park yes mosar yes soda Martinez yes three eyes and this items approved Madam chair awesome thank you so that brings us back to item number one Mr clerk if you would please read the item item one is a verbal discussion only it's a economic and Workforce Development Department update relative to the draft program year 2024 2025 annual plan thank you herado always lovely to see you if um everyone could just introduce yourselves and we are very excited for this update thank you council members thank you council member it's always a pleasure uh being in this committee um so I am herard rava the assistant general manager for Workforce Development good afternoon council members Donnie Brooks I'm the division Chief Workforce Development Division at the economic Workforce Development Department nice to see you thank you well Council oh Elizabeth msas with our strategic planning unit nice to see you thank you for being here well council member so we're excited today just to present our first draft of our program year 2425 annual plan um um just for background the annual plan is a policy and budget document that the department prepares every year uh for Workforce Development programs um so the the plan includes the the vision for the workforce develop or the joint vision of the Workforce Development system between city council the Workforce Development board and the mayor's office um it includes a number of strategies um Workforce Development policies and budget for the program year the annual plan is an equity Focus document it really is focused on creating good jobs and expanding Economic Opportunity for individuals that have been left out um you know within the city the annual plan has been over the last five years built on a strategic initiatives again each focus on different program areas I I won't read I know this is a very lengthy slide uh but really focus on again serving those individuals with the highest barriers to employment we focus on homeless individuals opportunity youth uh youth that in 16 to 24 year olds are disconnected from education and employment re-entry populations gender Equity um and recently uh focus on older workers workers 55 and older that are out of the um or seeking employment um going over the last nine months um as we've uh shared with this committee we really have been focused on rethinking our Workforce Development system you know the the local labor econom has gone through a number of structural changes um since the pandemic we know again older workers have been impacted opportunity youth um the number of Youth disconnected from education employment has increased over you know close to 40% uh since the pandemic um so over the N over the last nine months we've been engaged in a number of strategic planning processes that are really focused on trying to update and and improve our Workforce Development system hang on so this I'm sorry if you can go back so this includes uh convening Regional Partners around updating our what we call our lap3 strategic plan this is a regional collaborative focus on improving education and employment outcomes for disconnected youth we have been working with a consultant to develop a strategic plan for older workers we have it's not included in this slide but we have engaged both labor um and labor Partners Ed education partners and Workforce Development Partners around developing a plan for infrastructure we know the region is scheduled to get you know billions of dollars in in infrastructure doll um through the the bipartisan infrastructure build and we are focused on really developing a what we are calling the LA win uh La Workforce infrastructure Network um to really align all of the resources to help prepare a talent pipeline um and prepare individuals for the different employment opportunities through that will be made available through infrastructure um so all of that will also be rolled up into our annual plan um the the timing is not working out as we had hoped so but we will include as many of those recommendations again in the in this upcoming annual plan as possible uh just some of the the new items that will be included in in the draft plan um the first really this invoice automation of which has I think as we've shared with different committees the department has struggled to to pay invoices to help pay contractors um you know again because of Staffing shortages um so we are working to develop a grant management system that will help automate a number of our administrative functions um I'll kind of skip through some of these I mentioned La wi um you know we we are including some funding uh for the implementation of our older worker strategies um you know much of our strategic plan we expect will be focused on identifying those key sectors that are growing not only growing but that have the opportunity to provide High wage employment opportunities for angelinos uh so we are including funding for sector intermediaries that help connect Employers in those Industries um and in really expanding High Road training Partnerships again Partnerships that include employer employers and training providers in in those high growth sectors um I know I kind of glanced over oh Insight safe which is an initiative we launch in the last program year that's focused on connecting our Workforce system with the Housing Services providers to help increase the number of of homeless individuals that we are connecting to employment opportunities um so that is again a high level of again the strategies so in terms of funding we are projecting um 11 just under 11$ 111.5 million in revenue for the new program year um again I want to emphasize projections because you know this early in the process we still do not have final funding allocations from our major gr tours um so we typically start off using last year's funding as you know again to Project funding for the new program year our hope is that by the time we present the final plan to this committee we will have final allocations from the state on the WEA side as well as um funding from the county for you know major grants uh but again that you know we're projecting 11.5 111.5 million this includes $48 million in weoa and oops you went too fast well okay so um and the rest will it's composition of of you know California for all LA City County and and other anticipated revenues um on the WEA side I think you know we mentioned um projecting $ 48.8 million this includes both new funding as well as uh carryover dollars so savings that we get to carryover from one year to the next um again we because we are always uh conservative in terms of projecting carryover dollars this plan does does include a small decrease of about $3 million um that is again all on on the carryover side so the savings that get to get carried over um again in terms of breakdown on how we're allocating WEA dollars you know we are using about 18% for ewdd program oversight um we pay for other City departments this includes funding a contributions to City of attorney's office personnel and I believe controller's office we do pay for the Workforce Development board and then again major programs like our Work Source usource centers and and other program activities just some of the the major initiatives included um $16 million for work to fund 14 Work Source centers $10.2 million to fund 14 usource centers the number we're excited about is uh just under $ 34 million for yearr round youth employment so this funds all of the youth work experience programs that we fund across the city um we're projecting $6 million for La rise this is a combination of City general fund and LA County measure H funding um I I'll um skip through some of this um High Road training Partnerships we mentioned uh earlier so about $1.2

million uh half a million dollars to fun sector intermediaries um and then 200,000 for the Insight safe job connectors and another 300,000 to implement our older workers strategy in terms of timeline uh we the the the annual plan has been posted for public comment uh we typically post it for 30 days the annual plan was posted on April 12th and we will keep it open for public comment until May 12th we are doing presentations and in addition to this committee we will present um to two different uh whb uh committees we'll also have a a virtual forum and we'll share the that information with you know each of your staffs U but the goal is to compile any public comment and make final adjustments to the annual plan to present to the board in miday and the goal is to present to this Committee in early June um and ultimately have city council and mayor approval by June 30th um so So the plan is posted on ew's website I we'll share information with each of again your offices and public comments could be submitted um through our uh email that is posted on this presentation so that we'll stop and take any uh questions all right thank you so much for the detailed presentation and the PowerPoint um one of the things that caught my attention is the focus on the older worker strategy um I'm ious what you're seeing that necessitates this as a particular Focus sure that's a great question so a couple things that that I think really were the impetus for this um you know one is we're seeing that workers are staying in the labor force much longer than they used to um so you know it's not uncommon to see folks stay in the in in the labor force until their 70s now um which has really again grown significantly right you know from from part Generations two I I believe that close to 20% of the homeless population in La is now made up of you know of older workers so we know there is a need to to develop strategies we know there's a lot of misconceptions about older workers um and you know to part of this is really about educating um educating employers about you know what older workers bring to the table the the other thing that I would mention you know one of the things that LC through their recent uh you economic forecast talked about was you know the the region is scheduled to lose almost a million residence over the next 10 years uh so we know it just it is going to be more important that we develop strategies to connect older workers to the jobs that that you know that employers have interesting well I I I I I appreciate the focus on that particular demographic I have seen older workers impacted it just sort of anecdotally pretty often and and in some parts it's because of how certain industries have been regulated and industries and business that's moving out of California and also the impacts of the pandemic and other things that are still lingering that have impacted wages especially for more seasoned workers and as certain industries are Contracting and we're losing jobs I I see it just anecdotal a real need for this Focus so I'm really glad that you caught it thank you um another quick question um in the year round Youth Employment Program how many youth per year participate in that it's a good question um we estimate about 10,000 youth annually that that varies you know depending on on different funding streams I don't think we've done the calculation for the 30 uh for the the 33 million but it should be around that I'm glad you said it was 10,000 it's a good answer um one final question and then I'll uh turn it over to my colleagues you know we are sometimes really good at making plans and following them and we're also really good at making plans and ignoring them some plans we make because we have to make them and some plans we have to make because we choose them and I I think by my count there are at least four iterations of some kind of strategic plan floating around in ewdd so are are you all looking at these holistically or we just writing strategic plans in a vacuum because we have to check boxes for having them um very good question um the the goal really is for again you know we we have an umbrella fiveyear strategic plan that we are working on but because of different Partnerships and focus areas we knew that was important for us to drill down in in high priority areas um you opportunity youth is is an area that we've been focused on for over a decade um you know and we through strategies and different Partnerships that we've built over the years we were successful as a region in reducing the number of disconnected youth again unfortunately since the pandemic you know a lot of the work has been reduced and and so a lot of the partners you know a lot of the gang is is back together again right and and you know we are committed all to working and and reducing that number so we have a a specific number that will commit to working as a region and this will include not just ewdd but LUSD the community college system you know something like five different County departments that will all commit to reducing that number so that's a a plan that will have a lot of teeth to it and and we will report on on a regular basis um you know the older worker strategy again and the older worker strategy is something that you know we will have very specific figures and and commitments to working on and we will report back to council and and to all of our partners so we want be held accountable we you know we will measure our success and and report back out on that and and we'll do the same you know with the fiveyear Strategic plan and I think as wages are resetting in certain sectors we're seeing an adverse impact on older workers yes who are taking huge hits yes so um thank you for your attention on that did I just not really relevant to this but did I heard you say a million people are projected to re leave the region over the next decade that figure that if I'm not mistaken that was a figure that LC reported during their economic forecast and this is across the county it's not just within the city of La that's not good it's not and and again as as a Workforce system it's something that we need to be prepared for if you you know our our employers will will need a dedicated Workforce and we need to make sure that again those that have been left out of of the economy have you know have access and and we create those opportunities whether it's training or education but we need to Ure that we have a Workforce that's prepared well I hope we're not preparing for the flight of a million workers out of the region and instead what we're preparing for is building an economy that needs and can support workers in good paying jobs so anyway that's it from me um Mr mccosar thanks very much um just a couple questions on funding uh to make sure I understand the picture I'm on table one the 25 year annual plan so is everything above the um Workforce investment subtotal and Workforce investment discretionary are all those those adult dis uh dislocated worker Youth and rapid response that's all Workforce investment that's correct that is all weoa dollars and these are and I should be clear these are all weoa formula dollars yeah so these are dollars that the the re that the city receives annually without having to apply for um it is an allocation based on unemployment you know low well a number of different factors okay so Workforce investment dollars pretty stays pretty constant based on the one of the next slides but then looking at the lines below I know what cdbg in California for all is what is LA City programs is that general fund yes these are all general fund dollars and LA County programs County funded yes yes there's a a number of different County funding streams but these these typically fund our our our higher LA or Sumer Youth Employment Program programs as well as um our our L rise homeless programs is anticipated revenues just other sort of miscellaneous yes we we we know every year we're aggressive in pursuing uh grants across different uh sources so both at the state level and and federal level uh each year in our annual plan we always include an anticipated uh revenue for for the year and and again what um once we know what the final figures are those figures are you know again the budget is updated and I think last meeting we presented our carry in report which has the final a budget allocate or you know funds received for the program year so we we will update it you know once once we've received all of our dollars and the rapid response program that's our made famous recently with 99 Cent Stores that's correct you guys are out there rapidly responding yes thank you thank you for that and all of this gets folded into the big budget will we see it will we see all this in another form as a line items in your ewdp budget when we see that next week and then work on that over the next month and a half I I don't believe all of it gets wrapped into the department budget um I again I I have to being honest I'm not an expert in you know what gets in and what doesn't but um you know we we do have we we work on a parallel process so we we have the annual plan will include all of our funding uh for the workforce system part of it in terms of Department salaries and programs that are funded through the general fund do end up on the in the city budget but you will not see you know this 101.4 million in in our budget I see so what we'll probably see is your basically your personnel cost in your city programs but then there'll be a b some some of this is off budget yeah that's correct thanks very much really good work appreciate it Mr sod Martinez thank you Miss Madam chair um I have a few question questions by the way i' I've really enjoyed reading that thick book that you gave me uh it's a and my apologies for the length of no no it's fine uh it's I'm I'm learning a lot about this um so you you mentioned that uh H how's the the Work Source Center redesign going along um it sounds like it's been a little more challenging than than we anticipated um I I think there's again because there's parallel tracks you know we we're work again we're working on Parallel tracks that will all impact the the the final design the older worker will contribute to the the final redesign um I I gloss over over this but we are working with cesson to do an assessment of the current Workforce system so we're you know looking backwards to see how we've performed how well we've trained people how you know how well we've place people into high wage jobs so there's a kind of looking back part that we're doing um and then there's is a five-year strategic plan right so then looking forward once we decide you what do we want our entire Workforce system to look like that will also impact you know what the the final WorkSource Center design looks like um you know it's pieces have kind of worked at different you know kind of their own time frame and and we had hoped to to wrap all of this together and have those recommendations you know with this annual plan but you know we just are not going to get there and so the the redesign will go into the new program year right I know was there was talks about uh doing an RFQ like in February and then RFP I think somewhere around this time so that for the next fiscal year but that that's not going to happen we we did release the first phase of of the RFQ so we've we opened that up and we do have proposals for those organizations that are interested in competing um we because we will not be ready with the phase two I think we are going to open it up for an additional 30 days just to give new organization or additional organizations an opportunity to also compete um but the second phase will not be released until we've we have a Five-Year Plan you know we've completed all of these planning processes and and we presented a program design to to this committee to city council and to the Workforce Development board are we going to be able to at the very least have a like a an apprenticeship Navigator at the Work Source centers that can connect folks to you know higher LAX you know uh there's so many app I mean we were in the meeting where the the painters union said you know we we we struggle filling those positions at the very least will we have something where folks can connect people to those jobs yeah so now great question so couple things that we're doing in terms of apprenticeships you know one is um you know through this La Workforce infrastructure Network that we're working on you know we we're working very closely with the laoc building tra um Miguel conz Foundation the Ellie County fed um different educational partners and and Workforce Partners to develop a strategy around infrastructure um so that will you know definitely include you know all of the Building Trades um but in terms of the larger fiveyear strategic plan we are looking at those non trade kind of apprenticeship opportunities so there's a number of of non-traditional apprenticeship opportunities that we you know were looking at um and we'll definitely have some recommendations um you know again around non-traditional apprenticeship programs sure so let let me ask my question maybe a different way so like come next this September later this year if if someone goes to a Work Source Center will someone be there ready to to send people to these kinds of apprenticeship programs yes we think so okay um great that's that's it's really great um the the high road for this is for both the high road training partnership and the older workers one of it's 1.25 million that one's 300,000 where is that work going to exist out of like is it at is gonna is it gonna be out of the Work Source centers is it going to be could you just explain that a little bit more sure so so the hyro training Partnerships are um primarily through our workstar centers I believe over the last year we've implemented and Don seven eight eight eight total um renewable energy construction Hospitality entertainment um lot of these are we were late getting them rolled out this current year but they're in full swing and are going to help to as we repurpose the system we're looking at centers being high road Partnerships at every Center having apprenticeship Navigators having so all these are the themes coming out of it so we're you know trying to understand based off lab labor market data um provided by the LC where are the jobs are how we connect angelinos to these job opportunities and employers um offer a full comprehensive uh menu of programming that's connected to organized labor connected to all the the high high road um career Pathways and that is a focus I would say that's coming out is just just the wages we hear it um in Council we hear it um at the board meetings we need to ensure we're we are creating living wages and with career opportunities with upward Mobility so that is there's a lot of work that's being piloted through the current curent High Road training partnership iteration that is going to through these Work Source Center redesign meetings um set the theme and help us design a proposal to get successful um hopefully successful operators um and that will be before you probably a year from now so we did for full disclosure we did request an extension to the Worksource Center procurement for up to a year we do not want to um you know preempt the redesign and The Five-Year Plan and then have to go back and pivot and amend so we want to make sure that we are allowing the process to play out um we will if we can complete it sooner we will but we the RFQ is live we closed it we're going to extend it again we're going to make sure we have enough proposals to vet and then we're going to release phase two which will have what we're looking for and hopefully come back with recommendations at some point it is an intense process appeals we want to make sure everything you know is done correctly and um by the very latest July of 2025 will be the brand new system but a lot of these things like you said council member that Navigators apprenticeship Navigators we're going to Pilot again with this upcoming annual plan that's before you yeah that's out draft form so we're trying to solicit more feedback and comments that we're going to memorialize and then come back with a final plan that'll go to the board and then come back to this committee and then hopefully counsel and the mayor yeah thank you so thank you for that EXP explanation uh but I think what I heard was it'll the high road will live out of seven or eight Work Source centers it sounds like that just it's sort of like that work is gonna happen yes not as a as a as part of the the Work Source Center work but in the same space uh with a different okay that is correct I understand okay and then the older workers piece is that similar yeah to to this fun in particular I think the idea is to really help us kind of put together um like like the governing structure right so I think we not at a point where we have specific program recommendations we're thinking about you know again we've spent the last nine months convening you know the city's Department of Aging the County's Department of Aging are again different educational Partners um you know we've we've had more than a dozen Partners at the table that have really helped us develop this strategy and we want that to continue to live on you know beyond this planning process and so we're looking at how do we establish a governance structure so this you know these organizations that all report to different you know governments right you know continue to work together um through that we'll also have some specific uh program recommendations they're not we weren't ready to include those in the draft plan I do think that we'll have some specific program recommendations that will be included in the in the final plan sure that sounds great uh which is would explain the funding it's not that much because you're sort of at a early stage I would just suggest uh you know talking to aging and and housing uh housing because the first round of Erp money was for older folks and disabled folks and so if people can't pay the rent it's probably because they don't have a good job right or on a fixed income and so I think having that information is is GNA be important but that's just a suggestion that I would make and then sorry I I'm taking a long time that was a great suggestion by the way yeah and then thank you thank you um and something else I've been sort of thinking about quite a bit and this is sort of to the the loss of Labor uh in the city we do have a lot of um a lot of folks showing up to uh the the the family sore centers who are just coming to the United States for the first time uh you know I live in little Armenia and folks are coming with skills but there's nobody to analyze those skills and see where you know we can connect them uh many of them find jobs through friends and families but I I think that's gonna also so unfortunately uh you know for so many geopolitical reasons including climate change and you know etc etc like we're going to continue to to see that and I think thinking about how we connect those folks uh you know to to work I think is going to be super important and you know and we took a a tour of the of the youth Source centers and seeing the disconnected youth I think that's another like really important place to to connect them as well also many recent arrivals uh you know folks are coming in so just wanted to make that and then my last question is um are is any of this going to are you able to have the infrastructure in your department to be able to pay the vendors uh you know when I went to the Work Source Center the gentleman was like where's my million dollars right and I hear that so many times I just want to make sure your your department is you know staffed for that and if not it's not if it's not a conversation for this then we can take it offline but um it's it's a major problem because folks cannot front that kind of money right and and it's not just the Worksource cers but it's a lot of different folks lot of vendors out there um you know yeah AC cross it it's just really it's it's just I mean anyways so are you is this relevant to this sort of design or no definitely and and just to be frank I mean that one of the biggest obstacles to the success of our programs right because we are putting a lot on our community based organizations you know to front money you know that's taking us too long to reimburse um and so they do slow down when they're out of money and and so that means they serve less people um you know again we're all anxiously waiting to see the the final um you know mayor's budget to be released I know there's some recommendations to reduce um our staffing and to eliminate some vacancies um I know um carollyn has spent a lot of time meeting with different folks trying to just really explain the impact of that of those recommendations um I did mention you know one of the items on on our presentation was the implementation of a new Grant Management System um so we know that it is going to be critical that we you know that we do a better job of utilizing technology to help um improve our internal processes um so we are in the process and um of implementing a grant management system that will allow us to that allow contractors to move um the invoicing process online so it would be a virtual process it will allow us to better align the contract you know invoicing process and and Grant reporting processes and so we do expect that once fully implemented that that will help streamline the process and allow us to uh to pay vendors you know more timely yeah thank you uh I'm glad to hear that and I'm looking forward to the budget coming out too because that's one of my focuses uh for sure uh yeah so yeah again thank you I thank you for the report I know it's we're still a lot of work to do uh happy to here uh there was going to be some sort of navigation at the Worksource cen

2024-04-19 22:53

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