Recommendation to request City Manager to direct the Economic Development Department to work with Los Angeles Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the Long Beach Community Foundation to establish Long Beach as a "Kiva City"; and Increase appropriations in the General Fund (GF) in the Economic Development Department (ED) by $25,000, offset by the First, Fifth, Sixth and Ninth Council Districts one-time infrastructure funds transferred from the Capital Projects Fund (CP) in the Public Works Department (PW) to support the hiring of a new, temporary part-time staff member.
So I'm sure a lot of what you talked about can be reflected. Thanks. Great. Thank you. There's a motion in a second. Please cast your votes. Motion carries gray in the next one. And we have three items that were related to this. So we're going to do 22, 24 and 25. When I read. That's one. I'm sorry. 22, 23, 25. Item 22. Communication from Vice Mayor Richardson. Councilwoman Gonzales. Councilwoman Mongo. Councilman Andrew's recommendation to direct the Economic Development Department to work with Los Angeles Local Initiatives Support Corporation and a Long Beach Community Foundation to establish Long Beach as Akiva City Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just have a couple a couple of points here to make. So blueprint. Objective number two on economic inclusion specifically calls out increasing nontraditional capital resources for minorities and women owned businesses. Kiva is a nonprofit, innovative, online microfinance platform that works to expand access to financial services for small business owners who have the dream and potential but are locked out of commercial traditional commercial loans. Using the Kiva platform, borrowers can apply for crowdfunded loans of up to $10,000 with a 0% interest rate. Kiva Borrowers are typically entrepreneurs who cannot qualify for conventional business financing due to poor credit time in business or little financial collateral. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. Long Beach is home to diverse communities and economies, with more than 9800 small businesses employing nearly 100,000 people. Yet one of the biggest challenges facing these small business owners, especially women and minority owned businesses, is the inability to access capital. That's why Long Beach becoming a key city is vital to the success of our vital of our vibrant small business community. To date, there are only 16 cities across the U.S. with Kiva City designation, and since 2005, Kiva has crowdfunded more than 2.4 million loans totaling over $1,000,000,000, with a global repayment rate of 97%. The Kiva platform has attracted the community, a community of over 1.6 million Lennar lenders from 180 different countries. So the proposal tonight is to help get Kiva off the ground in Long Beach and to support a part time point person. This person will provide support to city staff regarding the Kiva platform. Ten Key Kiva trainings as needed. Market and promote the program. Recruit and train Kiva borrowers to use Kiva Lending Program. Help set up other Kiva trustee partners within the city. Provide annual or semiannual training to Cuba. Trustee Partners and the City of Long Beach. Provide one on one support to help organizations identify and bring forth strong Kiva borrowers. Fundraise for a match that meets previous terms, which has no interest, no fees, and no credit score. One of our partners on Kiva is the Los Angeles Local Initiative Support Corporation, who will bring technical advice, technical assistance to the city to train staff and borrowers to use the Kiva application. So I want to thank. Executive director to new address input for helping to. For volunteering to offer this support. They'll also help us to market and promote the program, recruit borrowers and use their $100,000 accelerator fund to help borrowers reach their goals quicker. In addition, I want to thank the Long Beach Community Foundation, who've already pledged to help support the first year costs. Your support is invaluable to the success of this program, and I want to thank co-sponsors Councilwoman Gonzalez, Councilwoman Mongeau and Councilmember Andrews for dedicating one time funds to help bring Keep It Along Beach as well. But it's not too late. If council members have ideas or suggestions, you're more than welcome to put in some funds on these startup costs too. So I couldn't. So that's totally with a couldn't ask before do the Brown act. But we can totally ask now. So anybody who wants to get in on Kiva, now's the time. I'm pretty sure every district it once was off the ground. We're going to want every one of our businesses to participate. So. So you're more than welcome to help us get off the ground. Thank you. And that's my motion. Thank you, Councilwoman Gonzales. I just want to say thanks again, Vice Mayor. I think when I first heard about Kiva was in and about in Kenya. Actually, I wasn't in Kenya, but I heard about it as an initiative that was taking place in Kenya for entrepreneurs there in a third world country. And I thought, it's interesting, we're going to bring it here. But now that I looked at this, this is absolutely fantastic, especially in the whole realm of economic inclusion. And I will say as well, just to reiterate the points I've said before with women and just making sure that women are at the table, making sure that women are presenting. So I'm glad to see that, to know it will be a part of that. I know she's a very strong woman. That will absolutely be a great part of this program and making sure that we are, of course, providing opportunities for borrowers to sorry for lenders to understand what the risks are. And really, I'm actually looking at the Kiva website and it shows that the repayment rate is, I think, averaging over 95%. Yeah, 97, 95%, which is fantastic. So I think that. Is really great. This is a fantastic program. I'm glad we brought this here. And I want to thank John Keisler as well for his work in this. And Sergio, thank you. Thank you. Councilman Pearce. I want to thank you again for bringing this item. When I think about the second District and I think about how many great startups we have, coffee shops, chocolatiers was actually ended up in the first district. But a lot of these small people that start in their homes could benefit from Kiva. So RECs, I'm in, come in and look. I'll take that as a friendly amendment. That's a friendly amendment to include city to maybe to in being a part of, of this initiative. And I really look forward to having some conversations with staff and doing some outreach as well. So fantastic. Thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Mongo. Was there disclosure of how much you just committed to? I think it's I think it's 6200 is what. We're committing. 62. And so. It's less. Right. That would be true. Five, five, 5000. And so thank you for that. The five ways. Now I just want to thank council members for putting their money where their mouth is because I think that's what really demonstrates to businesses. Businesses put money and they finance refinanced their homes. Some of them who even have good credit, they they don't need a loan that's as big as banks sometimes give. And so the process and the paperwork and the work, this crowd funding of loans is just an amazing opportunity. I'm already a lender on Kiva and I hope you'll go online and join me. Get ready. Loan the Long Beach business some money soon. Thank you. Is there a public comment on this? I know we've heard saying saying none. We have a motion and a second. Please cast your votes.