Downtown Hiring Agreement Means Good Business and Good Jobs

Five years ago, residents of the Central City East section of downtown LA got together to form the Los Angeles Community Action Network – or LA CAN – to address the many challenges facing their neighborhood.

Families in Central City East are on the lowest rung of LA’s economic ladder. Yet many of LA CAN’s members work and have a substantial work history. The problem is, their work is sporadic and their work history is not well documented. As a result, they can’t get decent housing, can’t get credit and they are more vulnerable to health problems. Sometimes they are forced to live on the street.

LA CAN tries to change all of that by building neighborhood leadership among their members, many of whose families have lived in central Los Angeles for generations. Members lead workshops, organize fellow downtown residents, and testify at public hearings. Today, 90% of LA CAN staff are former members—and three LA CAN members serve on the downtown neighborhood council.

Last fall, they heard about a restaurant that was opening in the neighborhood. LA CAN members organized and attended the zoning hearing to give voice to community concerns. After the hearing, the consultant representing the restaurant approached the members of LA CAN. She was under the impression that the neighborhood was in such bad shape that development of any kind would help. But after hearing their testimony, she pledged to work with LA CAN members to make sure that this development truly benefited the community.

LA CAN proposed that the restaurant and the organization join forces to give low-income residents access to what people in any community need: good jobs. The consultant immediately took to the idea. She had set up a local hiring program before and found it was great for business – the client got employees who had an easy commute and were loyal to the business, and the business immediately built goodwill in the neighborhood, strengthening its customer base.

LA CAN members held meetings and brainstormed about what they would like to see in a local hiring plan. Then they got in touch with LAFLA Attorney Ben Beach after hearing about his work and focus on community-centered development. Ben, an Equal Justice Works Fellow, worked with the leaders to draft a local hiring agreement that (1) met their goals, (2) was workable and (3) was enforceable. Then, the leaders presented that proposal to the restaurant. After that, the leaders of LA CAN conducted all of the negotiations themselves, bringing changes back to Ben for discussion, until a deal was reached.

On May 17th, 2004, in a nearly completed downtown restaurant, the leaders of LA CAN signed a local hiring agreement with the restaurant owner that will create up to 30 living wage jobs for low-income residents of downtown at two new downtown establishments.

Qualifying downtown residents will have access to on-the-job training, a security guard certification program and a solid foothold on jobs in the hospitality industry—and up the economic ladder. What’s more, the restaurant owner has agreed to build on this success by working to implement similar agreements at all of its downtown businesses.

Leaders from LA CAN say that before partnering with LAFLA, responsive, high quality legal service was the “the one missing link” in their work. Now that they have it, they can take a proactive and systemic approach to the core issues facing low-income residents of downtown LA. They can come to the table to negotiate win-win solutions to some of the City’s most vexing problems. The can make sure that development in their community truly benefits their community.

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