Los Angeles County, CA, August 16, 2024 – In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program, Los Angeles County is dedicated to actively promoting awareness, education, and advocacy for this vital community resource. In that effort, a celebration was held at the SEED School LA and Evermont, to showcase the project as an example of how this funding source can help transform communities.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), for the past 50 years, the CDBG Program has been an important resource used by communities to fund programs and activities to address infrastructure, affordable housing, along with community and economic development needs. The CDBG Program has long been considered the most successful Federally-supported Program approved by Congress that allows local governments to address their specific needs. Los Angeles County, through the Los Angeles County Development Authority (LACDA), administers the largest CDBG Urban County Program in the nation, encompassing the County’s unincorporated neighborhoods, along with 47 participating cities. Partners also include numerous community-based organizations and various County Departments.  
To help celebrate the CDBG Program’s 50th anniversary, Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, officials from HUD, as well as partner agencies, joined the LACDA on tours of the SEED School LA and Evermont, to demonstrate the transformative role this funding source has played to positively impact the community. Located at Vermont Avenue and Manchester Avenue in South Los Angeles, the site remains under construction but once completed, will include a school, commercial and retail spaces, a transit plaza, and a Metro training facility. This location was selected to highlight how the CDBG Program can be utilized as a creative funding tool to address the needs of a distressed community lacking investment for many years.

The SEED School LA is Los Angeles County’s first college-prep public boarding school. The SEED model provides students with a pathway to college and career readiness by creating a curriculum that includes computer sciences, engineering, and the studies of systems and societies through transportation infrastructure. The SEED School LA received a $4.1 million CDBG Float Loan for infrastructure to support the development of the school site.

Next door to the SEED School LA is Evermont, a mixed-use transit-oriented affordable housing community developed in partnership with the City of Los Angeles, BRIDGE Housing, the Coalition for Responsible Community Development (CRCD), and Primestor. Evermont received over $14 million in gap financing through the Section 108 Loan Guarantee and CDBG Programs for the offsite improvements needed to support this mixed-use development. Once completed, the community will include 180 apartment units, with 58 units dedicated to permanent supportive housing for families, 62 units dedicated to unhoused seniors, and the remaining units designated as affordable family units.

“CDBG funding has been critical to community amenities such as shopping centers, libraries, parks, and health centers. I’m proud of the investment which has made Magic Johnson Park, Florence Library, the Senior Grant Program, and SEED School LA happen. Thank you to our Federal partners for the continued collaboration with LA County and LACDA,” said Supervisor Mitchell.

“For 50 Years, the CDBG Program has allowed the LACDA to help meet its mission to Build Better Lives and Better Neighborhoods, for individuals, families, and businesses within the County,” said Emilio Salas, LACDA Executive Director. “The CDBG Program’s success is rooted in its flexibility, by allowing local governments like Los Angeles County to directly address community needs, which we’ve been able to do successfully since the Program’s inception. We are thankful to the Federal government for helping sustain the CDBG Program and we are hopeful to continue receiving this funding source for many years in the future.”

More information on the CDBG Programs and other programs operated by the LACDA is available at www.lacda.org. All media may contact Elisa Vásquez, LACDA Public Information Officer, at (626) 586-1762.