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Event Description

As the Los Angeles region works to build an equitable and sustainable economy, partnerships will be needed across county and city agencies, community-based organizations, and philanthropy. Each sector is interested in maximizing federal and state resources allotted to the region, focusing on ensuring funds reach disinvested communities. Fortunately, various efforts are underway to help support collaborative and economic development processes in the region. Opportunities like the Community Economic Resilience Fund (CERF) are striving to bring together various regions, like the Los Angeles region, to develop and align priorities and strategies across all sectors to ensure constituents inform the development of equitable and sustainable resources. It also provides an opportunity to better align workforce demands with industry and employer needs.

Join us to hear from several county, philanthropic, and workforce leaders heading these collaborative efforts. They will speak to the need to secure the Los Angeles region’s ‘fair share’ of federal and state funding, provide examples of recent successful funding coordination efforts, and identify current or future partnership opportunities across the sectors.     

Speakers

Light skinned Latina with brown eyes, brown wavy hair. Smiling. Wearing a black sports jacket and black/silver necklace and pearl earrings. The headshot is of the shoulders up. Gray background.

Maria Garcia SCG Member

Senior Program Officer, Public Policy and Strategic Partnerships, California Community Foundation

Maria is a seasoned strategist and public administration professional with extensive experience working for local governments in forming public-private partnerships. She currently oversees the LA n Sync Initiative at the California Community Foundation, a civic initiative that utilizes public-private partnerships to spur innovation and attract funding to address the critical needs of Los Angeles County.
Jermaine Hampton

Jermaine Hampton

Vice President of Workforce Development & Special Projects, LAEDC

Jermaine Hampton is a seasoned professional with a 14-year career in Workforce Development spanning the nonprofit, public, and private sectors. Currently, he serves as the Vice President of Workforce Development and Special Projects at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), a role he has held for nearly three years. Hampton’s career began in Washington D.C.'s nonprofit sector, where he first honed his expertise.

Hampton's public service career includes significant roles in the Department of Employment Services during the Bowser administration in Washington D.C., where he led successful programs, showcasing his skills in public governance and program management. His career also took him to Atlanta, Georgia, where he contributed to the oversight of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funded programs in DeKalb County.

In his current position at the LAEDC, Hampton leverages his broad experience to champion change, innovation, and community empowerment. Known for his expertise in Economic Development, Staffing Services, and Business Management, he also focuses on essential human-centric services, including aid for individuals experiencing homelessness, veterans, youth, and returning citizens. Hampton's visionary leadership aims at systemic reform and is underpinned by inspiration and perseverance. His programs have been recognized as best practice models, and he was awarded the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP) Leadership Award in 2015.

A genuine change-maker, Hampton’s work continues to drive meaningful impact in community and economic development.
Jessica smiling

Jessica Ku Kim SCG Member

Chief Deputy, Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity

Jessica Ku Kim has worked in economic and workforce development within LA County since 2005 and brings local community knowledge and trust, field experience, subject matter expertise, organizational and sector leadership, and demonstrated outcomes for economic and workforce development programs and services, public-private partnerships, and collaborative systems change. As Chief Deputy of LA County’s Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), Jessica oversees the operations of DEO to ensure enhanced economic and workforce development policy, programs and services, commissions, administration, public affairs and communications, and information technology and data management and analytics that serve to create quality jobs, help small businesses and high-road employers start and grow, and build vibrant local communities and spaces.

Previously, Jessica had served the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) as Vice President of Economic & Workforce Development where she had oversight of worker and small business-focused programs and services, strategic engagement with the public, private, social, and philanthropic sectors, and increasing regional resources, opportunities, and alignment. She sat on both the City and County Workforce Development Boards with direct policy and budgetary responsibility for the two largest public workforce systems in the state. Prior to LAEDC, she has held key roles with the South Bay Workforce Investment Board, ACCORD Community First, The BRIDGE, and Korean Churches for Community Development. She holds a BA and MPA degrees from the California State University and University of California systems as well as numerous advisory roles in the education, economic and workforce development, and AAPI advocacy spaces.

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