Community Economic Resilience Fund
A program being developed by OPR, GO-Biz, and LWDA to support resilient, equitable, and sustainable regional economies.
What is the Community Economic Resilience Fund?
The CERF was created to promote a sustainable and equitable recovery from the economic distress of COVID-19 by supporting new plans and strategies to diversify local economies and develop sustainable industries that create high-quality, broadly accessible jobs for all Californians.
Specifically, the Community Economic Resilience Fund Program (CERF) would support communities and regional groups in producing regional roadmaps for economic recovery and transition that prioritize the creation of accessible, high-quality jobs in sustainable industries.
Initially, CERF’s Program funding of $600M was appropriated from the American Rescue Plan Act Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Fund of 2021 until the 2022 budget revised the source of funds to the State General Fund in SB 115 (2022). Regardless of the final funding source, the same goal remains: To 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.
CERF Leadership Team
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), the California Labor Workforce Development Agency (LWDA), and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) – which together form the CERF Leadership Team – will facilitate the development of the CERF.
The CERF Leadership team is tasked with creating program guidelines, evaluation metrics, conducting oversight, and decision making related to the creation and management of the program and competitive grant structures.