Brief

The Mayor, through the Community Investment Department, is requesting approval for funding adjustments related to the California Volunteers Youth Service Corps in Los Angeles. The proposal addresses Cycle 4, Round 4, and adjustments to Round 3 allocations. The file was introduced September 11, 2026, and is currently pending review in the Civil Rights, Immigration, Social Services and Neighborhoods Committee.

Full summary

The Mayor's Office and Community Investment Department are asking the City Council to accept $17,940,190 in Round 4 grant funding from the Governor's California Volunteers program to continue the L.A. Youth Service Corps through December 31, 2027, and to approve revised budget allocations for the ongoing Round 3 grant. Since 2022, the City has received roughly $97 million across three prior rounds to place high-need young people ages 16 to 30 in paid jobs and internships; more than 4,000 participants have logged 1.4 million hours of paid service. Round 4 is $4 million less than Round 3, so the City is concentrating the new funding on six projects with the strongest track records: Angeleno Corps ($4.28 million), Clean L.A. Youth/Clean Corridors ($5 million), L.A. City Pathways ($3.05 million), Student to Student Success ($1.72 million), Summer Night Lights ($883,000), and Operation Flame Wildland Firefighter Academy ($675,500). About 60 percent of the Round 4 budget goes directly to participant wages and 16 percent to wraparound services such as transportation, training, and work clothing. The six projects are projected to serve 976 young people during the 2026-2027 program year. The Round 4 directives ask Council to authorize the Mayor to sign the grant agreement with California Volunteers, establish new City fund accounts, authorize subcontracts with nonprofit partners including Archdiocesan Youth Employment Services, El Proyecto Del Barrio, Coalition for Responsible Community Development, Para Los Ninos, and Watts Labor Community Action Committee, and allow up to $5 million in temporary City loans to front-fund participant costs while awaiting state reimbursement. The proposal also asks the Controller to correct the official fund name from "Californians for All Youth Service Corps Cycle 4" to "California Volunteers Youth Service Corps - Cycle 4" to match the state grant designation. On the Round 3 side, the $22 million grant runs through December 31, 2026, and as of late July 2026 had served 541 of its 1,158 targeted participants while expending about 25 percent of funds. The Community Investment Department is requesting authority to shift allocations among Round 3 line items — redirecting money away from programs with lower enrollment such as Senior Hospitality Internship for L.A. Youth and Early Childhood Education Student Advancement toward higher-performing ones and toward grants management overhead — in order to maximize spending before the grant closes. These adjustments were previewed at the Workforce Development Board's July 2026 quarterly meeting. Programs funded under the Youth Service Corps are designed to create direct pipelines into City employment: Clean L.A. graduates have been hired as maintenance laborers by the Bureau of Sanitation and Bureau of Street Services, Angeleno Corps members serve at more than 50 community-based organizations, and Operation Flame prepares justice-impacted residents for entry-level wildland firefighting. The Mayor transmitted the report on September 11, 2026; the Community Investment Department's report was referred to the Civil Rights, Immigration, Social Services and Neighborhoods Committee on September 15, 2026, where it remains pending. No Council action has been taken.

Activity (2)

• 2026-09-15 Community Investment Department document(s) referred to Civil Rights, Immigration, Social Services and Neighborhoods Committee.
• 2026-09-11 Document submitted by the Mayor, Community Investment Department report dated September 3, 2026.

Documents (1)

• 2026-09-03 Report from Community Investment Department · report