City Council Unanimously Votes to Implement Local Hire Policy

After passing a historic city-wide project labor agreement in April of this year, Long Beach will continue to support its residents as the City Council voted on Tuesday night’s meeting to implement a First Source Agreement (FSA) Pilot Program, called Long Beach First. This policy was brought forth by Councilmember Lena Gonzalez and Councilmember Rex Richardson.

“Long Beach residents are eager to obtain employment in the city that they call home, and they deserve the opportunity to be considered first for our local jobs,” said Councilwoman Lena Gonzalez. “There are very few FSA programs in the Country and I look forward to seeing the city move in a positive direction with the implementation of this program.”

Long Beach First will serve as the City’s pipeline to connect locals to opportunities created through City contracts. The implementation would apply to awards for non-professional services above $100,000, and construction projects between $100,000 and $500,000 for a period of two years.

“We know that given the right opportunity, Long Beach residents will rise to the occasion,” stated 9^th District Councilmember Rex Richardson.  “The Long Beach First policy does just that.  It provides our residents a first shot at every net new job created through our city’s bidding process.”

FSAs connect people who are looking for jobs with training programs and work with employers to fill only new vacancies with local residents. They are typically partnerships between a municipality, a non-profit agency, employment service providers or regional workforce investment board and local employers.

To help inform the development of a local hiring policy, the City sought community feedback from the Ministerial Alliance on April 30, 2015, and, subsequently, through a series of community feedback sessions. These sessions were broadly communicated through an English, Spanish, Tagalog and Khmer-language flyer, and shared with community-based organizations. Information was also posted on the Pacific Gateway website.

Special thanks to Councilmember Roberto Uranga and Dee Andrews for their strong support for the program and for hosting community feedback meetings in their districts.

For more info about the agenda item: http://tinyurl.com/q6qz9za