Contacts: Julian Gross, 415-550-6690
Good Jobs First: Greg LeRoy, 202-626-3780 ext. 27
LAANE: Roxana Tynan, 213-486-9880 ext. 136

Press Release: June 27, 2002
New Model For Economic Development Reform
Report Offers Guide for Labor/Community Coalitions, Highlighting Recent Agreements in Los Angeles That Mandate Living Wages, Other Benefits

Good Jobs First and the California Public Subsidies Project today released a major new report on how communities can secure far-reaching benefits from economic development projects.

"Community Benefits Agreements: Making Development Projects Accountable," written by California civil rights attorney Julian Gross, draws heavily upon the work of Los Angeles community groups and unions in negotiating a recent series of agreements, including the landmark Staples Center deal. The report describes how labor-community coalitions can win concessions from developers, ensuring that redevelopment projects are of maximum value to residents and workers.

These concessions include living wages, local hiring, affordable housing, environmental improvements and funding for other community needs such as health clinics and youth centers. The report also includes a section on monitoring and enforcement of such agreements, as well as verbatim excerpts of key agreements including the Staples Center deal.

"These agreements are the most comprehensive contracts ever won by labor-community coalitions," said Greg LeRoy director of Good Jobs First. "They are best-practice models for any group seeking to make development dollars really pay off for workers, communities and taxpayers."

"The power of these agreements is that they are legally binding," said Madeline Janis-Aparicio, executive director of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), an organization that has played a key role in the three Los Angeles agreements. "We now have the ability to make sure developers really follow through on their promises."

The report is available at Good Jobs First's website at
www.goodjobfirst.org/cba.pdf, as well as www.laane.org/ad/cba.pdf, www.wpusa.org and www.onlinecpi.org.

Janis-Aparicio and other LAANE staffers will speak at Good Jobs First's national conference July 11-13 near Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Agenda and registration forms are available at www.goodjobsfirst.org/flyer.htm.

Julian Gross is a civil rights attorney with a solo practice in San Francisco. He represented LAANE and other community-based organizations in negotiating the Community Benefits Agreements described in the monograph. Julian works with nonprofits across the country on issues of social and economic justice

Good Jobs First is a national resource center promoting corporate and government accountability in economic development. It was founded in 1998 by Greg LeRoy, author of No More Candy Store: States and Cities Making Job Subsidies Accountable.

The California Public Subsidies Project (CPSP) is a coordinated program designed to reform the economic development practices of governments and government agencies in four major regions of California. The four organizations managing the project include: the Center on Policy Initiatives in San Diego, the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy in Oakland, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, and Working Partnerships USA in San Jose. These groups are engaged in research and policy analysis, labor and community organizing, and coalition building with the aim of fostering economic and social justice in their region.