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About Us

How CRA/LA Activities Benefit Los Angeles

Economic Development
We help neighborhoods prosper by assisting existing businesses that want to expand and by attracting new businesses, including shops, hotels, offices and industrial users.

Housing
We use specially earmarked housing funds from property tax increment in our project areas to create affordable multi-family housing — either by rehabilitating existing structures or building new ones. Our programs have made possible the construction of energy-efficient and smoke-free affordable apartments near public transit. We also create needed housing especially for seniors, for students, and for the homeless.

Mixed Use
Some of our developments are planned to incorporate a variety of uses, such as condominiums with ground-floor shops,  apartments with community or social services facilities, and entertainment centers with shops, office space and condominiums.

Public Improvements
We upgrade streets and sidewalks, street lightning and building exteriors in our project areas. As a result, walking, riding and driving through a neighborhood becomes an easier and more pleasant experience. Public improvements also  help neighborhood attract new businesses and keep existing ones.

Community Development
To boost the overall livability of neighborhoods in our project areas, we improve public services such as transit centers, public libraries and parks. We also have a public art program.
 undefined Create Middle-Class Jobs

A primary CRA/LA goal is to create middle-class jobs for people who live and work in our 32 project areas. As of March 2009, our active projects generated an estimated 80,865 jobs, including 63,897 construction jobs that pay an average of $42.15 per hour, with health and pension benefits.

New Careers in Construction
Our Construction Careers and Project Stabilization Policy is a major step toward creating jobs for project area residents who have been unable to find work that can support their families. These residents will have new opportunities to enter apprenticeship programs in the building trades, and will receive first preference in hiring for CRA/LA construction projects.

The policy applies to all projects that receive $1 million or more in CRA/LA funding, or are built on land owned by the CRA/LA. People living in or near our project areas will have priority for at least 30 percent of all construction work hours worked on a project. Agreements with the construction unions will provide access to the apprenticeship programs. 

Cleantech Job Training
In the next few years, we will be developing the Cleantech Corridor, anchored by CRA/LA’s Cleantech Manufacturing Center (CTMC). Our goal is to create new, well-paying jobs in non-polluting industries.

We seek to create partnerships with community and educational organizations that offer training for jobs in cleantech companies. These are companies that develop, manufacture, assemble and distribute environmentally-friendly products — from hybrid cars to solar panels — in a sustainable way. For more information about our cleantech business strategies, click here.

Benefits for Local Communities
By encouraging the hiring of local workers for jobs that can support families, we are assisting local businesses and helping residents of our project areas obtain better wages and benefits. At the same time, we are providing the local construction industry with a skilled, motivated workforce.