The Broad Foundation engaged Estolano Advisors to assist in refining its grantmaking strategy to guide the Foundation’s investments in the coming years. The refined strategy aims to increase access to economic opportunities in Los Angeles’ historically marginalized communities with a focus on a clean economy. To inform the direction of new grantmaking areas, our firm interviewed cross sector experts and practitioners, including community-based leaders, and gathered insights on crucial issues, opportunities, and unmet needs. Throughout the process, our team facilitated working sessions with foundation leadership to further define program priorities and goals. Estolano Advisors developed a grantmaking strategy that includes a problem statement, goals and objectives, and an articulation of key investment opportunities within each program area. 

Our firm worked with LISC San Diego to develop an Economic Resiliency Agenda focused on San Diego’s Diamond District. The document is a three-year roadmap that supports an integrated, place-based approach to advancing economic mobility and resilience for communities in the Diamond District. The Agenda was informed by community-based organizations, local leaders, and local government to reflect recommendations that will nurture the District’s strengths, address areas of need, and foster climate resilience. The identified strategies relate to workforce development, small business development, place-making, and community ownership. Estolano Advisors conducted a quantitative baseline conditions analysis, an existing documents review, and interviews with various stakeholders. EA used feedback from LISC SD, a Community Advisory Group, and interviewed stakeholders to shape and refine the Agenda’s priorities and strategies.

Our firm developed an Economic Development Roadmap to guide implementation of an economic development fund that was established by the County of Los Angeles. The Roadmap recommends potential fund uses and enumerates tasks needed to carry out a robust economic development strategy.

Estolano Advisors along with Mount Wilson Ventures and data analysts Madeline Wander and Pamela Stephens, developed a Tech Strategy for the City of Glendale by undertaking the following tasks: 1) defining the term “technology” and its subsectors, 2) understanding factors of success and assessing the economic landscape of Glendale, 3) determining promising tech subsectors for Glendale EDC to pursue, and 4) crafting strategies and initiatives that will create opportunities for business growth. As a part of this research, EA carried out interviews with local tech leaders and employers in the City of Glendale. The Tech Strategy was finalized in 2017. We then worked with the City to implement many recommendations set forth in the Strategy, EA assisted the City in the recruitment of applicants for the accelerator RFP, the evaluation of 20 proposals, and the selection of two operators – Hero House and Children’s Hospital KidsX.

Our firm worked with LISC LA to develop a three-year strategic plan that outlines the local office’s economic development priorities, program strategies, actions the organization will take towards achieving its goals, and metrics for success. To accomplish this, we interviewed key stakeholders and facilitated staff workshops to capture diverse perspectives about LISC LA’s work and the various strategic plan components.

As part of a larger Budget Equity Project exploring how equitably local governments used American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) recovery funds, Estolano Advisors worked with the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy (IRPPE)to develop eight policy briefs that explore various ARPA uses. EA researched topics like Community Land Trusts, Guaranteed Income, Low-Cost Immigration Legal Assistance, Participatory Budgeting, and Workforce Wraparound Services to develop high-level overviews of each type of policy or program that include: the equity issue they address, the potential benefits, how to best design the policy or program, where it has been successful, complementary policies, and additional resources on the topic.

The Los Angeles Reforms for Equity and Public Acknowledgment of Institutional Racism (L.A. REPAIR) launched its first participatory budgeting program where it will distribute $8.5 million to nine highest need neighborhoods in the city of L.A called REPAIR Zones. Through a democratic process, residents will determine how this funding is used. The Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP) engaged EA on behalf of LA CHRED to evaluate to what extent this inaugural pilot deepens democracy, expands transparency, emphasizes public ownership of government resources, and builds stronger communities. EA partnered closely with PBP and LA CHRED to conduct a mixed methods evaluation of the program pilot’s two cohorts across four programmatic outcomes approved by the City of Los Angeles City Council. For the evaluation, EA developed evaluation metrics for each stage of the participatory budgeting process, adapting for key stakeholder audiences; created and administered qualitative surveys; and analyzed both qualitative survey results and quantitative demographic participant data against neighborhood-specific Census data. EA also designed an event observation protocol and trained program staff, members of the program’s Advisory Committee and Community Engagement Partners.