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Advancingsocial justice and empowering low-income Vietnamese and immigrant <br />communities in Orange County. <br />Garden Grove, CA 92843 1 www.vietrise.orn I generalcavietrise org I @vietriseoc <br />April 21, 2020 <br />Mayor Pulido and City Councilmembers <br />City of Santa Ana <br />20 Civic Center Plaza <br />P.O. Bo 1988, M31 <br />Santa Ana, CA 92701 <br />Re: 75B. COVID-19 Response Funding Plan <br />Dear Mayor Pulido and Members of the Santa Ana City Council, <br />The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated needs that were already existing in our communities. As you <br />make amendments to your 2015-2020 Consolidated Plan to access emergency funding intended to assist in <br />making a timely response to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, we ask that you consider/prioritize <br />Economic Development, Housing, and Mental Health resources. <br />Economic Development <br />Small businesses have been especially impacted as many do not have the working capital to weather months <br />of mandated shut -down while maintaining payrolls and employment benefits. The amendments being <br />proposed include expanding the city's existing Small Business Incentive Program with $500,000 to provide <br />additional loans and grants. We recommend the following actions to make the program more <br />accessible to the city's small businesses: <br />1. Create a Worker Cooperative Development Fund for grants to nonprofits or community <br />organizations that provide incubation and conversion programs, training and technical <br />assistance. <br />2. Rebuild a robust local economy by waiving business and occupation taxes, permit and <br />license fees for small businesses. For microbusinesses—those with less than five <br />employees —we call on the city to provide grants that cover 40% of payroll costs for the <br />duration of shelter -at-home. <br />3. Hold larger companies accountable to worker policies around collective bargaining rights <br />and paid sick leave; and more. <br />City policy can support workers and small businesses by providing incentives towards the formation of <br />worker cooperatives. Inclusive economic development addresses the root causes of economic disparity and <br />supports wealth building amongst City residents most vulnerable to displacement. <br />Page 1 <br />3 <br />