McKellogg Poverty Q3

Published by Paola Avendano on

City and County governments can replicate programs like the Los Angeles Regional Initiative for Social Enterprise (LA:RISE). LA:RISE is an innovative partnership that unites the City and County of Los Angeles to help people with high employment barriers get jobs, stay employed, and build a better life. LA:RISE connects employment social enterprises to the workforce system, supportive services, and employers, allowing all partners to bring their expertise and resources to the table. LA:RISE has employed over 2,800 individuals facing barriers since 2016.

Programs like LA:RISE allow City and County governments to diversify and leverage workforce dollars to serve those hardest to reach by providing wrap around supports and transitional employment as a pathway back into the workforce. Local governments also need to create systems that integrate employment and housing. For example, the City of Los Angeles, Employment Social Enterprises and A Bridge Home providers are partnering to help transitional housing residents find employment.

County governments can also choose public benefits policies that address the ‘benefits cliff’ and slow the decrease in benefits when the earnings of low wage workers start to rise. Local governments can also provide benefits like low cost housing, and health insurance through local plans that enable low wage workers to access better health care services if their employers do not provide it and commercial plans are unaffordable or limited in scope. Lastly cities and counties can establish procurement policies that favor employment social enterprises in public contracting, offering them a similar status to minority and women-owned businesses.