Caption: Jessica Lall, CCA’s President & CEO, speaking at the 2019 CCA Holiday Party.

Our region faced extreme challenges this year with the COVID-19 pandemic hitting at an already vulnerable time with our severe housing and homelessness crises. Through these unprecedented events and incredible difficulties, our members showcased the value, strength and impact they provide to our city. With your partnership, we continue to persevere through these troubling times together, and we thank you for your investment in CCA and helping us push our mission and vision. Although the future is still unknown, we know that with your help and leadership, Downtown can recover into an even more vibrant neighborhood for our city’s residents, employees and visitors. I want to reflect on some of the highlights of what our CCA coalition achieved this year, including our many policy accomplishments.

Proactively Responding to COVID-19

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit LA and Safer at Home orders began, we pushed for flexibility so that businesses could respond nimbly to the challenges arising and we spoke to media to showcase the impact on businesses, especially as ordinances were quickly drafted without input from impacted stakeholders. We engaged members in important conversations with policymakers to discuss the pandemic and workplace safety, best practices and DTLA’s most pressing issues.

After the protests in DTLA, we collaborated with our nonprofit and BID members to support businesses and help rebuild our neighborhood. Additionally, we knew there was a lot of confusing information around how city budgets work and helped by writing a CCA Reflects piece explaining LA’s budget process and how stakeholders can get involved.

Focusing on Downtown’s Resilience

We focused on challenging the narrative being perpetuated that urban areas like DTLA are “dying” and instead focused on DTLA’s historical resilience and priceless amenities that are still accessible during a pandemic. We are glad to have engaged Angelenos by speaking on KPCC’s Airtalk with Larry Mantle to discuss the evolution of DTLA and value of urban centers.

As part of our commitment to civic engagement, we organized a voter registration effort with Strategies 360 to increase Downtown's efficacy as a voting bloc. Our Voter Guides for both the March and November elections helped inform our members and community on our endorsements and positions on relevant ballot measures. We are excited to have Councilmember Kevin de León represent our district and we have been engaged with his team as he develops and pushes his policy agenda for Downtown.

Continuing Homelessness and Housing Advocacy

We were involved in important housing policy issues, including the DTLA 2040 Community Plan, which will define the future and character of DTLA. We engaged our members through working groups and informational communications – including our booklet of neighborhood profiles – to become effective advocates to ensure the Plan promotes a bold, exciting and resilient future for our city center. We have also been vocal about DTLA 2040 as an opportunity to depoliticize and streamline development. Following our 2018 micro-unit and 2019 mass timber white papers, we have seen both micro-unit and mass timber construction begin in DTLA which can help address our housing supply shortage. We also continued to work with our coalition on homelessness to track policy and legal issues, support projects and try to catalyze positive change.

Expanding Childcare and Schools in DTLA

We published a white paper on expanding opportunities for childcare and schools in DTLA along with a press release which gained traction and informed motions at the City that help advance several of our policy recommendations. We also launched our DTLA Education and Child Care Task Force to continue leveraging the expertise of our members and achieve our policy goals. We know that having childcare and elementary school options became even more critical during the pandemic, and we will continue to push for more opportunities in DTLA.

Enhancing Membership During Crisis

At a time when digital is the only method of communication, we leveraged the moment and expanded our social media and promotional efforts to increase our reach and effectiveness as a voice to represent our members. We launched an ongoing initiative called DTLA on Display to highlight and support establishments that people can visit. Additionally, we launched projects in our effort to take a more data-driven approach in our advocacy, including our Member Development Projects page and Nonprofit Member Impacts page to showcase our members’ collective impact on our economy and community. Despite a virtual format, we have been working closer than ever with our members to promote efforts in our news stories, CCA Delivers and on social media.

We know next year will bring a new set of challenges and that it will be a difficult year. However, we know that no matter the circumstance, we are steadfast in our mission to enhance Downtown’s vibrancy and increase investment in the region. We look forward to seeing you at our events and committee meetings next year, whether they are virtual or in-person. Wishing you a safe and happy holiday, and a bright new year!

Best,

Jessica Lall

President & CEO