CERF - Orange County Business Council (OCBC)

COMMUNITY ECONOMIC RESILIENCE FUND (CERF)

The Community Economic Resilience Fund (CERF) was created to promote a sustainable and equitable recovery by supporting new plans and strategies to diversify local economies and develop sustainable industries that create good paying jobs, broadly accessible jobs for all Californians.

Promoting Economic Development

To achieve this goal, the state has designated thirteen regions to receive planning grants to develop region-specific economic development strategies that build an equitable and sustainable economy across California’s diverse regions and foster long-term economic resilience in the overall transition to a carbon-neutral economy.

Promoting Economic Development

Investing Economically

Following this planning grant, the state has allocated a $450 million competitive grant for the thirteen regions to execute projects they laid out during the planning phase.

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Investing Economically

Following this planning grant, the state has allocated a $450 million competitive grant for the thirteen regions to execute projects they laid out during the planning phase.

Orange County has been designated as its own region.

For more information about the CERF program, the full Solicitation for Proposals for Phase 1 can be found here:

View the proposal

View the summary

A summary of the proposal can be found here:

In English

In Spanish

In Vietnamese

In Arabic

In Korean

In Chinese

High Road Transition Collaborative

A major objective of the CERF planning phase is the creation of a High Road Transition Collaborative or HRTC. The HRTC is an inclusive planning group that consists of balanced and meaningful representation from regional stakeholders.

Orange County’s HRTC consists of the following organizations

CEO Leadership Alliance OC

Cox Business

Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce

Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Orange County Business Council

OC Black Chamber of Commerce

Southern California Gas Company

American Indian Chamber of Commerce of CA

Cogstone Resource Management/Member of Gabrielino Tongva Community

Payomkawichum Kaamalam (Acjachemen)

Apolonio Cortes

Donia Kayali

Johnice Williams

Karen Sarabia

Kevin Phung

Maria Aguilar

Sarah Riggs

Sokollin Tes

City of Garden Grove Economic Development Department

City of Santa Ana Economic Development Department

Cooperacion Santa Ana

Cielo

CSUF Center for Entrepreneurship

Octane

Sustain SoCal

California State University, Fullerton

Chapman University

Concordia University Irvine

Irvine Valley College

North Orange County Community College District

Orange County Department of Education

UMASS Global

University of California, Irvine

Banning Ranch Conservancy

Citizens’ Climate Lobby

Climate Action Campaign

Orange County Coastkeeper

Sunrise Movement Orange County

Community Action Partnership of Orange County

Family Assistance Ministries

Jamboree Housing

Latino Health Access

Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance (OCAPICA)

Orange County Communities Organized for Responsible Development (OCCORD)

Orange County United Way

THRIVE Santa Ana

The Kennedy Commission

The Cambodian Family

First 5 Orange County

League of CA Cities: OC Division

Orange Workforce Association

Southern California Association of Governments

Boilermakers Local 92

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 947

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 441

Iron Workers Local 416

Iron Workers Local 433

LA/OC Building and Construction Trades

OC Labor Federation

Plumbers & Steamfitters, Local 582

Sheet Metal Worker Local 105

UA Local Union 250

UNITE HERE Local 11

Charitable Ventures

Orange County Community Foundation

Orange County Grantmakers

Chrysalis

Goodwill Orange County

Hope Builders

Hospitality Training Academy

Orange County Conservation Corps

Vital Link

CEO Leadership Alliance OC

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HRTC Meetings

The HRTC will meet regularly to meet the objectives of CERF.

Next HRTC Meeting:
Date: July 12
Time: 8:30 am

All meetings are open to the public.

Click Here To Join Virtual Meeting

Meetings have a translated closed caption function to support non-English speakers. Click Here to view the instructions on how to turn on this feature.

Sector Investment Coordinator RFQ

The Orange County Jobs First Collaborative is soliciting qualifications for the positions of Catalyst Sector Investment Coordinators. The collaborative seeks to engage sector investment coordinators, with the description of services listed in the RFQ, to advise it on how to fund $9 million in pre-development activities. The collaborative will select up to five sector investment coordinators for a contract term through September 2026. The budget cap for this contract is $1.5 million to cover all the coordinators hired.

For more details the full RFQ can be found here, and the budget template here.

In order to be eligible to apply, please submit a letter of intent to apply by 5:00 pm PST June 1, 2024 to [email protected]. A template letter can be found here.

Stay Updated

To stay updated on the Regional Investment Initiative, please email [email protected].

Regional Plan
Part 1

The first part of the regional plan presents the region’s stakeholders, assesses the factors affecting the region’s economic, environmental, and health conditions, and conducts detailed economic and workforce analyses. The intention is to ensure that the plans take a full account of the factors shaping economic development in the region before developing strategies for recovery and transition.

The draft Regional Plan for Part 1 can be found here.

For the Spanish version of the Regional Plan, click here.

Please send any comments or feedback on the draft regional plan to [email protected]

View executive summary

In English

In Spanish

In Vietnamese

View research highlights

In English

In Spanish

In Vietnamese

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Regional Plan
Part 1

The draft Regional Plan for Part 1 can be found here.

For the Spanish version of the Regional Plan, click here.

Please send any comments or feedback on the draft regional plan to [email protected]

View executive summary

In English

In Spanish

In Vietnamese

View research highlights

In English

In Spanish

In Vietnamese

Outreach and
Engagement

From July through September 2023, CERF Orange County Outreach & Engagement (O&E) grantees sought input and feedback from residents, businesses, and other stakeholders, with a focus on disinvested community members in Orange County. This feedback — on assets and barriers in the region, as well as how the CERF process can best impact the region — has been provided to the Orange County High Road Transition Collaborative (HRTC) as a primary source of information to develop strategies and projects that meet the communities’ needs.

In total, grantees conducted outreach to more than 285,000 individuals across Orange County. About 13,000 individuals provided “high-quality” feedback, meaning that they shared direct input and feedback with grantees.

Two presentations are linked directly below; one deck offers an overview of the O&E process used, while the other offers an overview of the findings, specifically from the O&E survey that was deployed (and for which more than 5,000 responses were received).

Qualitative feedback is still being compiled and analyzed, but those findings will be shared here once ready. If you have questions about O&E efforts, please email [email protected].

To view the October 27, 2023 HRTC presentation of the survey findings, please visit the Orange County CERF YouTube channel or click on this video recording here.

Disinvested
Communities

Investments that benefit disinvested communities will be a priority for proposed projects in the Implementation Phase. CERF defines ‘disinvested communities’ as any of the following: