November 12, 2025 • 20 mins
Jeff Thomas sits down with Kelly LoBianco, Director of Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is CEOs you should know.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hi everybody. I'm Jeff Thomas, executive vice president with iHeartMedia
in Southern California, and I am thrilled to have with
us today Kelly lo Bianco, who is the director of
the La County Department of Economic Opportunity.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
So welcome, thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
So happy to have you here. So I've interviewed like entrepreneurs,
people in the medical industry, like lots of different people
in business, right, business owners and people that started their
own businesses and kind of grew them. They all have
a sense of mission about what they do and want
to help people and really like be part of making
(00:43):
you know, a better community. But you are actually literally
in a career that is all about helping businesses, helping citizens,
helping people here in La County really like better themselves
and create more opportunities for others.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah, that's what that's what we're all about. So the
Department of Economic Opportunity is the county's economic development agency,
and we support workers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses, major industries
in our communities. We're here to support them and ensure
that they thrive. And the interesting thing is, while we
are a government agency. We think of ourselves as an
(01:21):
entrepreneur ourselves because we started our agency just three years ago.
So when you look at all the different public sector agencies,
many of them are one hundred years plus old, but
we're just three years old. We just hit our three
year anniversary, and so we like to think that we
have the same entrepreneurial spirit as those that we're serving
in the community too.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
So I'm curious because your life has basically been as
a do gooder. You're they're helping people and in the
public as well as like public sort of like private sector,
working together your whole career. I think, right, yeah, how
did you get into that? Like what made you want
to be part of you know, that part of business.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
And yeah, when I think about work, it's really hard
for me to think about work that doesn't directly serve
the community.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
That has always just been my friend.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I mean when you were a kid.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
When I was a kid, I moved around a lot.
So I moved around every couple of years. My family
moved to different General Motors plants in different cities in
the US abroad, and so my community was really my
sense of home and that has stuck with me throughout
my entire career. So when I was in middle school
(02:34):
and high school, I was always interested in student government.
I was interested in model United Nations. I was just
really interested in how things got done and what I
saw sort of in my own worldview the powers that
be and how that contributed to the life I was leading,
and some of the things I had hoped to see
for my community around me. And so, you know, when
(02:57):
I was in college, I studied science. I was always
in the community. I was part of all of our
community development groups. And I worked for a senator when
I was a junior in college, and then I went
straight to d C after that, and I kind of
look at my trajectory from federal government to state government,
to local government to community based organizations, and now here
(03:20):
in La County government is, you know, seeing that there's
a lot of opportunities to lift up our communities and
ensure well being is universal. And I saw myself just
sort of going closer and closer to the community than
themselves to see how it all played out and the
part I.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Could have that.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
And I always feel like the closer you are to
where everything actually happens, the more effective you're going to
be right, Yeah, in kind of affecting change and helping
lift up businesses, helping you know, employees, you know people here,
and there's so many different things that you guys are
involved with, right, You're your organizations involved with employers, small businesses.
(03:59):
I hear this term high road businesses, yeah, which a
lot of people might not know what a high road
business is.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah. When you think about our economy and when you
think about economic growth, people think GDP, they think employment numbers.
But the way the Department thinks of it, and the
way I think of it personally, is that we are here,
the public sectors stands in the gap. We're here to
make sure that everyone thrives. And so if we're a
(04:28):
government agency committed to economic growth, it better be.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Inclusive and sustainable.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
We have to make sure that we are supporting LA County,
driving the resources here that our communities need, and having
those resources be reinvested locally. So we think about inclusive
and sustainable growth. We think about making sure that we're
not talking about startup and growth, but we're thinking about
economic mobility, wealth generation, and you know, just disrupting pass
(05:00):
patterns of inequity and so at the department and with
all of our team members, we're always thinking about what
are the kinds of programs and services, What is the
policy we can be shaping, What are the resources that
we can be driving that have those kinds of lasting impacts.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So I would love for you to share when everything
is going perfectly, what a program looks like that's really working, Like,
can you do you have an example that you could
share with us?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, it's an interesting it's interesting that you say that though,
a program that I think is working perfectly is one
that has all voices at the table. So you mentioned
high Road high Road Training partnerships or an example of
a worker centered, industry informed training program that meets the
needs of employers in our region today but also thinks
(05:48):
about how to meet their long term hiring and training
challenges in the future. So a good example I give
is the way healthcare is changing in our region. More
and more healthcare is being delivered.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
In the homes.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
That's the way policy is shaping, that's the way providers
are getting reimbursed. But that often can be a low
wage occupation for many folks, and so we think about
how do you bring employers workers, educational institutions, philanthropy, government
together to think about we need a really skilled, culturally
(06:22):
competent healthcare workforce, and we need folks to be able
to earn enough wages and have a pathway to advancement
that allows them to sustain their families and that also
has better patient care outcomes. So when you bring everyone together,
we're talking about how do you develop programs that lift
everybody up and meet all of these collective needs. It's
(06:43):
not altruism to invest in people for businesses. There everyone
has a gain good business. So we come together, yeah everybody? Yeah, exactly.
So that's not what I think about as a quality
program and one that focuses on that true impact.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
So do you have an example of one that's working
really well right now?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Yeah? We do, we have.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
So for example, we just experienced devastating windstorms and wildfires
in La County where still many folks are still displaced.
We are just on the cusp of our rebuilding efforts
that will take many, many years. But we're working directly
with the Apprenticeship Read News Fund and the LAOC Building Trades.
They are training our construction workers and folks across fourteen
(07:26):
plus trades and they need more folks in the industry
now locally because we have huge rebuilding efforts with the fires,
and so we're working with them as well as a
number of other institutions to create a surge workforce for
the recovery. And so that's an example of one of
the ways that we are investing our job training dollars,
(07:48):
our small business supports and rallying a community around around
what recovery could look like and what our part in
that could be awesome.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And I when I think about all that tentacles that
the DEEO has, there's a lot there, like how do
you manage all the pieces? That's got to be a challenge,
right it is.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
I think one of the things that's important is you
said it at the top, this is if you're working
in the public sector, you have to be driven by
mission and vision. You are entering a space that has
the potential to change the trajectory of so many lives,
(08:29):
to mitigate current challenges and systemic challenges in our country
and in our region, and we just have so much
potential and reach and scale, but that often comes with
a really complex environment in which to do work, and
so you have to be driven by mission and vision,
and to me, that's seeing the community well being to
(08:51):
get you up and motivated every single day.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
And there are a lot of programs that you have
right now that are help helping people, specifically with everything
that's going on around you know in La County with
immigration and some of the challenges that people are having
right now. Tell me about how you're helping.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah, So the a department like ours is focused on
a couple of things.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Resiliency.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
So every day you can engage with someone like us
our department, our Job Centers, our Office of Small Business
and Entrepreneurship Entrepreneur Center to help get access to no
cost legal aid, or to access a training program like
the one I described with the Apprenticeship Readiness Fund and
the Building Trades, or you know, find a grant that
(09:42):
will help you create a new facade on your commercial business.
You can get those resources all the time. And we're
really about building the resiliency of our communities to weather
storms because a department like ours knows that the storms
are always sort of there. We work in an environment
that is ever changing. So if you look at our
entire history as a department, we started three years ago.
(10:04):
We were born in COVID. Since then, we have faced
things like a tornado in Montebello, a tragic shooting in
Monterey Park, multiple different fires, with the most recent one
being unprecedented in La County in January, and now immigration
enforcement actions. And that's on top of just the everyday
(10:26):
challenges of being a worker in business in a global
sized city and county like ours. And so we're about
building the resilience on the every day and also showing.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Up big when we need to.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
And so in moments like these, our department is here
to offer a path for relief so that folks are
able to be well today and then a path to
recovery and then that future resiliency. So for example, with
the windstorms and wildfires, we jump to attention and we
created a Region Small Business and Worker Really Fund within
(11:02):
thirty days, so applications were open. We had over seven
thousand small businesses apply and over seven thousand workers apply
and that period and when we started, we had one
million dollars in the bank that the County Board of
Supervisors and DEEO put in our fund, but we just
wanted to get going, and now we've raised over twenty
five million and we're still pushing out grants up to
(11:23):
twenty five thousand dollars for folks and we've funded over
thirteen hundred businesses and twenty three hundred workers and that's
just the start. And we're also working with folks to do
things like, you know, get their permit expedited on their rebuild,
whether they're a commercial property owner, residential property owner, helping
them navigate the debris removal process, and thinking about ways
(11:46):
that they can retain their businesses.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Why this is all happening.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
So we're just sort of in the mix with people
for the long haul.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
That's a lot like you're doing a lot of different things.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
We're doing a lot of different things, but we don't
do anything alone. That is like a tenant I think
of good economic development, but also of our department. You know,
we're two hundred people strong, which is big and small
if you know, if you know government.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
But well La County is like a country.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, some of our some of our fellow departments are
fifteen thousand people strong, right, but we've got two hundred
excellent staff.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
But we del.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
You know, I am also a believer that you need
what you need right and you leverage your ecosystem, and
so I think we want to make sure that we're
good stewards of taxpayer moneyes that we bring in the
resources that we need, but most of the money goes
out to community. And so we deliver our services with
hundreds and hundreds of organizations. We fund community based organizations,
(12:43):
community colleges, labor institutions, CDFIs, industry associations, worker co ops.
All of these organizations actually help us deliver boots on
the ground. Because La County has ten million people speaks
two hundred plus languages, we need to make sure that
we're meeting people with a trusted partner. So DEEO, we're
(13:03):
hoping to build our presence as a trusted partner in community,
but alongside, hand in hand with organizations that are there
and have relationships with our community members already. And so
the programs that I mentioned, we're running them in partnership
with all of these different organizations. And that's what allows
us to have the reach. That's what allowed us to
reach over ten thousand people in less than thirty days
(13:27):
for the wildfire Relief Fund. And that's what we're doing
right now. And our support of families and workers and
businesses that are impacted by immigration enforcement actions which are ongoing.
So making sure people get the resources they need, have
the right person to call and get through this moment
because while it is certain times and more uncertain times
are inevitably going to come, there's a lot of hope
(13:49):
and opportunity, and we hope that we encourage that in folks.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
So Kelly, when I was a kid, I was really
interested in I loved radio. I love listening to music
and sports on radio, and I was also into like
news and current events. So I thought, I want to
work at a radio station, which I did and I
still do work at radio stations and you know audio.
But at the same time, I was like, you know,
this radio thing might not work out. I need to
(14:14):
have another degree that I can fall back on, which
is political science with an emphasis and public administration. Love
it right, which I never used. And the reason I
never used it is I had really good mentors and
people I worked with when I was coming through the
business early in my career that really helped me grow.
Who are some of the people that you worked with
or inspired you and helped you grow and how did
(14:37):
they do that.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
There's so many people in my life that I have
looked up to, you know. Within the first thirty days
on this job, I was doing a ribbon cutting for
a small business in East LA that we had just
put some grants into to like revitalize their business.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
And I was standing alongside.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Su Hildasalise, you know, and she is my boss now,
but is someone I had looked up to for many
years as Secretary of Labor, and folks like that who have,
in a tough environment in government, been able to sort
of get to the top with a clear vision, with
equity at the forefront, and actually make change that keeps
(15:22):
me going even when I feel like I don't have
all the answers.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
But I will also tell you when I was.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
In college, I had an internship with then Senator Barack Obama,
and that was a really inspirational moment for me because
I knew I was into government.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I knew I was into it.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
I loved politics, I loved operations and how things worked.
I was concerned that community members weren't getting what they needed.
But watching someone with such skill and talent and purpose
was super super inspiring to me, and I an office
(16:02):
like that made me feel important even when I was
responding to constituent emails because that was just important to
them as the major policy change that would drive trillions
of dollars here there or the other place, you know.
So that encouraged me to move to DC. I moved
to DC without a job and did interviews with you know,
hundreds of people to try to make my way in
(16:22):
on Capitol Hill because I just thought it was the
most exciting place to.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Be now here you are in Los Angeles County, which
is way more exciting than being very exciting being on
the hill in DC. Right. Yeah, So people are listening
right now that have never heard of your organization and
they're like, wow, that sounds like something I want to
be part of. Either as an employer, I want to
I want to support. I want to be part of
(16:47):
you know, what La Doe is doing, or people that
want to like actually need help or training, or you know,
small businesses that might need help. How do they find
out about what you do?
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah? I hope people get to know us.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
You know, we want to be a friendly neighbor and
partner in everybody's everybody's life here in LA. So if
folks want to actually access some of our services, say
you are looking for a newer, better job. You have
a great side hustle that you want to formalize, you
want to you're a major industry, and you just want
to start to connect with the county better because you
(17:26):
see there are things that are impacting your ability to
do work well, like, for example, we're working with the
life science industry.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
In Hollywood right now.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Or you're like a group of businesses on a block
that say, like, we want to do more. We're excited
about LA twenty eight and we want to get ready
for it. Folks can go to Opportunity dot a County
dot gov. They can contact us there. We're ready, willing
and able to support and engage. And I also there's
a unique intersection between folks that might want to work
(17:55):
for DEEO and the programs we run because we talked
a little bit about high road. But we as a
county have one hundred thousand plus employees. We despite all
the challenges in our economy, we still are hiring. There's
no hiring frees with us. We still have lots of
positions at at our department and throughout the other forty
(18:15):
odd departments. And just like we want folks to get
hired in aerospace or life science or Hollywood or tech.
We want folks to get hired at the county too.
We need great talent and so we have a program
called the Place Program where folks can get prepared and
you find an expedited pathway into county government.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
But we're hiring too and to EO.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
So if you love economic development, you love helping start
a new department, we could be the place for you.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
That's awesome. And say the website again so people know sure.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Our website is Opportunity dot La County dot gov.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Perfect. And just to wrap up, you've been in La
now what four years?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
That's right?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Okay, so you've had a chance and you've seen a
lot because you're all over the county. Right, tell me
about it's the weekend. You have some time on your
hands unrelated to work. What are you spending your time doing.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah, I love La. If you are not from La,
you know that everyone's trying to get to La. It
is you know, this is the dream. It's beautiful here.
It has everything you could ever want, arts, culture, whether
just great people. I like to be outside. I like
to go running along the La River or on the
(19:26):
Santa Monica Promenade. I like to go hiking up in
the Santa Monica Mountains. I was just up in the
in the Antelote Valley hiking last weekend. But I'm a
big concert goer two so I often am at the
Hollywood Bowl.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
We're at the Ford.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
What was the last concert you went to.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
I saw LCD sound System in Pulp a few weekends ago.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
My wife will be so jealous. She wanted to go
see that show and she didn't do it.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
So next time. They're still touring.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
It's awesome. Well, it was so nice having you here.
Thank you for being here today and telling us all
about the DEO and you're doing great things. Congratulations on
all that you've done in a very short period of time.
And I hope people more people lean in and really
take advantage of what's there.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Thank you so much. We really appreciate the opportunity to
be on here today and I hope people know that
DEO is here for you. This is just the start,
so get in touch with us. Listen to CEOs you
should know on the iHeartRadio app.
This is CEOs you should know.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hi everybody. I'm Jeff Thomas, executive vice president with iHeartMedia
in Southern California, and I am thrilled to have with
us today Kelly lo Bianco, who is the director of
the La County Department of Economic Opportunity.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
So welcome, thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
So happy to have you here. So I've interviewed like entrepreneurs,
people in the medical industry, like lots of different people
in business, right, business owners and people that started their
own businesses and kind of grew them. They all have
a sense of mission about what they do and want
to help people and really like be part of making
(00:43):
you know, a better community. But you are actually literally
in a career that is all about helping businesses, helping citizens,
helping people here in La County really like better themselves
and create more opportunities for others.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yeah, that's what that's what we're all about. So the
Department of Economic Opportunity is the county's economic development agency,
and we support workers, entrepreneurs, and small businesses, major industries
in our communities. We're here to support them and ensure
that they thrive. And the interesting thing is, while we
are a government agency. We think of ourselves as an
(01:21):
entrepreneur ourselves because we started our agency just three years ago.
So when you look at all the different public sector agencies,
many of them are one hundred years plus old, but
we're just three years old. We just hit our three
year anniversary, and so we like to think that we
have the same entrepreneurial spirit as those that we're serving
in the community too.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
So I'm curious because your life has basically been as
a do gooder. You're they're helping people and in the
public as well as like public sort of like private sector,
working together your whole career. I think, right, yeah, how
did you get into that? Like what made you want
to be part of you know, that part of business.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
And yeah, when I think about work, it's really hard
for me to think about work that doesn't directly serve
the community.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
That has always just been my friend.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I mean when you were a kid.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
When I was a kid, I moved around a lot.
So I moved around every couple of years. My family
moved to different General Motors plants in different cities in
the US abroad, and so my community was really my
sense of home and that has stuck with me throughout
my entire career. So when I was in middle school
(02:34):
and high school, I was always interested in student government.
I was interested in model United Nations. I was just
really interested in how things got done and what I
saw sort of in my own worldview the powers that
be and how that contributed to the life I was leading,
and some of the things I had hoped to see
for my community around me. And so, you know, when
(02:57):
I was in college, I studied science. I was always
in the community. I was part of all of our
community development groups. And I worked for a senator when
I was a junior in college, and then I went
straight to d C after that, and I kind of
look at my trajectory from federal government to state government,
to local government to community based organizations, and now here
(03:20):
in La County government is, you know, seeing that there's
a lot of opportunities to lift up our communities and
ensure well being is universal. And I saw myself just
sort of going closer and closer to the community than
themselves to see how it all played out and the
part I.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Could have that.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
And I always feel like the closer you are to
where everything actually happens, the more effective you're going to
be right, Yeah, in kind of affecting change and helping
lift up businesses, helping you know, employees, you know people here,
and there's so many different things that you guys are
involved with, right, You're your organizations involved with employers, small businesses.
(03:59):
I hear this term high road businesses, yeah, which a
lot of people might not know what a high road
business is.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah. When you think about our economy and when you
think about economic growth, people think GDP, they think employment numbers.
But the way the Department thinks of it, and the
way I think of it personally, is that we are here,
the public sectors stands in the gap. We're here to
make sure that everyone thrives. And so if we're a
(04:28):
government agency committed to economic growth, it better be.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Inclusive and sustainable.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
We have to make sure that we are supporting LA County,
driving the resources here that our communities need, and having
those resources be reinvested locally. So we think about inclusive
and sustainable growth. We think about making sure that we're
not talking about startup and growth, but we're thinking about
economic mobility, wealth generation, and you know, just disrupting pass
(05:00):
patterns of inequity and so at the department and with
all of our team members, we're always thinking about what
are the kinds of programs and services, What is the
policy we can be shaping, What are the resources that
we can be driving that have those kinds of lasting impacts.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
So I would love for you to share when everything
is going perfectly, what a program looks like that's really working, Like,
can you do you have an example that you could
share with us?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, it's an interesting it's interesting that you say that though,
a program that I think is working perfectly is one
that has all voices at the table. So you mentioned
high Road high Road Training partnerships or an example of
a worker centered, industry informed training program that meets the
needs of employers in our region today but also thinks
(05:48):
about how to meet their long term hiring and training
challenges in the future. So a good example I give
is the way healthcare is changing in our region. More
and more healthcare is being delivered.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
In the homes.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
That's the way policy is shaping, that's the way providers
are getting reimbursed. But that often can be a low
wage occupation for many folks, and so we think about
how do you bring employers workers, educational institutions, philanthropy, government
together to think about we need a really skilled, culturally
(06:22):
competent healthcare workforce, and we need folks to be able
to earn enough wages and have a pathway to advancement
that allows them to sustain their families and that also
has better patient care outcomes. So when you bring everyone together,
we're talking about how do you develop programs that lift
everybody up and meet all of these collective needs. It's
(06:43):
not altruism to invest in people for businesses. There everyone
has a gain good business. So we come together, yeah everybody? Yeah, exactly.
So that's not what I think about as a quality
program and one that focuses on that true impact.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
So do you have an example of one that's working
really well right now?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Yeah? We do, we have.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
So for example, we just experienced devastating windstorms and wildfires
in La County where still many folks are still displaced.
We are just on the cusp of our rebuilding efforts
that will take many, many years. But we're working directly
with the Apprenticeship Read News Fund and the LAOC Building Trades.
They are training our construction workers and folks across fourteen
(07:26):
plus trades and they need more folks in the industry
now locally because we have huge rebuilding efforts with the fires,
and so we're working with them as well as a
number of other institutions to create a surge workforce for
the recovery. And so that's an example of one of
the ways that we are investing our job training dollars,
(07:48):
our small business supports and rallying a community around around
what recovery could look like and what our part in
that could be awesome.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And I when I think about all that tentacles that
the DEEO has, there's a lot there, like how do
you manage all the pieces? That's got to be a challenge,
right it is.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
I think one of the things that's important is you
said it at the top, this is if you're working
in the public sector, you have to be driven by
mission and vision. You are entering a space that has
the potential to change the trajectory of so many lives,
(08:29):
to mitigate current challenges and systemic challenges in our country
and in our region, and we just have so much
potential and reach and scale, but that often comes with
a really complex environment in which to do work, and
so you have to be driven by mission and vision,
and to me, that's seeing the community well being to
(08:51):
get you up and motivated every single day.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
And there are a lot of programs that you have
right now that are help helping people, specifically with everything
that's going on around you know in La County with
immigration and some of the challenges that people are having
right now. Tell me about how you're helping.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Yeah, So the a department like ours is focused on
a couple of things.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Resiliency.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
So every day you can engage with someone like us
our department, our Job Centers, our Office of Small Business
and Entrepreneurship Entrepreneur Center to help get access to no
cost legal aid, or to access a training program like
the one I described with the Apprenticeship Readiness Fund and
the Building Trades, or you know, find a grant that
(09:42):
will help you create a new facade on your commercial business.
You can get those resources all the time. And we're
really about building the resiliency of our communities to weather
storms because a department like ours knows that the storms
are always sort of there. We work in an environment
that is ever changing. So if you look at our
entire history as a department, we started three years ago.
(10:04):
We were born in COVID. Since then, we have faced
things like a tornado in Montebello, a tragic shooting in
Monterey Park, multiple different fires, with the most recent one
being unprecedented in La County in January, and now immigration
enforcement actions. And that's on top of just the everyday
(10:26):
challenges of being a worker in business in a global
sized city and county like ours. And so we're about
building the resilience on the every day and also showing.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Up big when we need to.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
And so in moments like these, our department is here
to offer a path for relief so that folks are
able to be well today and then a path to
recovery and then that future resiliency. So for example, with
the windstorms and wildfires, we jump to attention and we
created a Region Small Business and Worker Really Fund within
(11:02):
thirty days, so applications were open. We had over seven
thousand small businesses apply and over seven thousand workers apply
and that period and when we started, we had one
million dollars in the bank that the County Board of
Supervisors and DEEO put in our fund, but we just
wanted to get going, and now we've raised over twenty
five million and we're still pushing out grants up to
(11:23):
twenty five thousand dollars for folks and we've funded over
thirteen hundred businesses and twenty three hundred workers and that's
just the start. And we're also working with folks to do
things like, you know, get their permit expedited on their rebuild,
whether they're a commercial property owner, residential property owner, helping
them navigate the debris removal process, and thinking about ways
(11:46):
that they can retain their businesses.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Why this is all happening.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
So we're just sort of in the mix with people
for the long haul.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
That's a lot like you're doing a lot of different things.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
We're doing a lot of different things, but we don't
do anything alone. That is like a tenant I think
of good economic development, but also of our department. You know,
we're two hundred people strong, which is big and small
if you know, if you know government.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
But well La County is like a country.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, some of our some of our fellow departments are
fifteen thousand people strong, right, but we've got two hundred
excellent staff.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
But we del.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
You know, I am also a believer that you need
what you need right and you leverage your ecosystem, and
so I think we want to make sure that we're
good stewards of taxpayer moneyes that we bring in the
resources that we need, but most of the money goes
out to community. And so we deliver our services with
hundreds and hundreds of organizations. We fund community based organizations,
(12:43):
community colleges, labor institutions, CDFIs, industry associations, worker co ops.
All of these organizations actually help us deliver boots on
the ground. Because La County has ten million people speaks
two hundred plus languages, we need to make sure that
we're meeting people with a trusted partner. So DEEO, we're
(13:03):
hoping to build our presence as a trusted partner in community,
but alongside, hand in hand with organizations that are there
and have relationships with our community members already. And so
the programs that I mentioned, we're running them in partnership
with all of these different organizations. And that's what allows
us to have the reach. That's what allowed us to
reach over ten thousand people in less than thirty days
(13:27):
for the wildfire Relief Fund. And that's what we're doing
right now. And our support of families and workers and
businesses that are impacted by immigration enforcement actions which are ongoing.
So making sure people get the resources they need, have
the right person to call and get through this moment
because while it is certain times and more uncertain times
are inevitably going to come, there's a lot of hope
(13:49):
and opportunity, and we hope that we encourage that in folks.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
So Kelly, when I was a kid, I was really
interested in I loved radio. I love listening to music
and sports on radio, and I was also into like
news and current events. So I thought, I want to
work at a radio station, which I did and I
still do work at radio stations and you know audio.
But at the same time, I was like, you know,
this radio thing might not work out. I need to
(14:14):
have another degree that I can fall back on, which
is political science with an emphasis and public administration. Love
it right, which I never used. And the reason I
never used it is I had really good mentors and
people I worked with when I was coming through the
business early in my career that really helped me grow.
Who are some of the people that you worked with
or inspired you and helped you grow and how did
(14:37):
they do that.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
There's so many people in my life that I have
looked up to, you know. Within the first thirty days
on this job, I was doing a ribbon cutting for
a small business in East LA that we had just
put some grants into to like revitalize their business.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
And I was standing alongside.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Su Hildasalise, you know, and she is my boss now,
but is someone I had looked up to for many
years as Secretary of Labor, and folks like that who have,
in a tough environment in government, been able to sort
of get to the top with a clear vision, with
equity at the forefront, and actually make change that keeps
(15:22):
me going even when I feel like I don't have
all the answers.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
But I will also tell you when I was.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
In college, I had an internship with then Senator Barack Obama,
and that was a really inspirational moment for me because
I knew I was into government.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I knew I was into it.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
I loved politics, I loved operations and how things worked.
I was concerned that community members weren't getting what they needed.
But watching someone with such skill and talent and purpose
was super super inspiring to me, and I an office
(16:02):
like that made me feel important even when I was
responding to constituent emails because that was just important to
them as the major policy change that would drive trillions
of dollars here there or the other place, you know.
So that encouraged me to move to DC. I moved
to DC without a job and did interviews with you know,
hundreds of people to try to make my way in
(16:22):
on Capitol Hill because I just thought it was the
most exciting place to.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
Be now here you are in Los Angeles County, which
is way more exciting than being very exciting being on
the hill in DC. Right. Yeah, So people are listening
right now that have never heard of your organization and
they're like, wow, that sounds like something I want to
be part of. Either as an employer, I want to
I want to support. I want to be part of
(16:47):
you know, what La Doe is doing, or people that
want to like actually need help or training, or you know,
small businesses that might need help. How do they find
out about what you do?
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Yeah? I hope people get to know us.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
You know, we want to be a friendly neighbor and
partner in everybody's everybody's life here in LA. So if
folks want to actually access some of our services, say
you are looking for a newer, better job. You have
a great side hustle that you want to formalize, you
want to you're a major industry, and you just want
to start to connect with the county better because you
(17:26):
see there are things that are impacting your ability to
do work well, like, for example, we're working with the
life science industry.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
In Hollywood right now.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Or you're like a group of businesses on a block
that say, like, we want to do more. We're excited
about LA twenty eight and we want to get ready
for it. Folks can go to Opportunity dot a County
dot gov. They can contact us there. We're ready, willing
and able to support and engage. And I also there's
a unique intersection between folks that might want to work
(17:55):
for DEEO and the programs we run because we talked
a little bit about high road. But we as a
county have one hundred thousand plus employees. We despite all
the challenges in our economy, we still are hiring. There's
no hiring frees with us. We still have lots of
positions at at our department and throughout the other forty
(18:15):
odd departments. And just like we want folks to get
hired in aerospace or life science or Hollywood or tech.
We want folks to get hired at the county too.
We need great talent and so we have a program
called the Place Program where folks can get prepared and
you find an expedited pathway into county government.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
But we're hiring too and to EO.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
So if you love economic development, you love helping start
a new department, we could be the place for you.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
That's awesome. And say the website again so people know sure.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Our website is Opportunity dot La County dot gov.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Perfect. And just to wrap up, you've been in La
now what four years?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
That's right?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Okay, so you've had a chance and you've seen a
lot because you're all over the county. Right, tell me
about it's the weekend. You have some time on your
hands unrelated to work. What are you spending your time doing.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah, I love La. If you are not from La,
you know that everyone's trying to get to La. It
is you know, this is the dream. It's beautiful here.
It has everything you could ever want, arts, culture, whether
just great people. I like to be outside. I like
to go running along the La River or on the
(19:26):
Santa Monica Promenade. I like to go hiking up in
the Santa Monica Mountains. I was just up in the
in the Antelote Valley hiking last weekend. But I'm a
big concert goer two so I often am at the
Hollywood Bowl.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
We're at the Ford.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
What was the last concert you went to.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
I saw LCD sound System in Pulp a few weekends ago.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
My wife will be so jealous. She wanted to go
see that show and she didn't do it.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
So next time. They're still touring.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
It's awesome. Well, it was so nice having you here.
Thank you for being here today and telling us all
about the DEO and you're doing great things. Congratulations on
all that you've done in a very short period of time.
And I hope people more people lean in and really
take advantage of what's there.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Thank you so much. We really appreciate the opportunity to
be on here today and I hope people know that
DEO is here for you. This is just the start,
so get in touch with us. Listen to CEOs you
should know on the iHeartRadio app.
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