Business View Civil and Municipal | Volume 2, Issue 9

26 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE 9 CDFIs who are trying to establish themselves and grow. We prioritize the community economic development priorities of non-profit organizations and how we can help them meet their goals. Whether it’s training, webinars, technical assistance, or research, we try to be that additional source of support that they need to move their agenda. BVM: What methods do you use to help all these different agencies? Barragán: CCEDA is small in size, with about four full-time staff. But we have about a dozen consultants across the State of California, who are available to us whenever we have an organization that is seeking to pursue a real estate agenda or to raise money. We provide assistance through training (which used to be in person but has now gone to Zoom and webinars), as well as direct technical assistance. We will hold one or two training sessions per month on a number of subjects, all in support of non- profits trying to pursue a community economic agenda. In addition, for organizations that would like additional one-on-one assistance from an experienced and skilled consultant, we will create that match. We are funded with a combination of State of California dollars, financial institution and corporate dollars, and fee for service. So in many cases, we are able to provide real estate consultant services to a non- profit at no charge. Other times, for example: we just completed a feasibility study for a community development corporation in Modesto, and the local community foundation paid for it. BVM: Do you have a resource base for all the information you compile? Barragán: Yes. We actually have a whole series of “how-to” information manuals that are available