The LA2050 grant partially funds the construction and operation of the Thai Community Development Center’s (Thai CDC) $6 million Thai Town Marketplace (TTMP), a business incubator social enterprise which serves as a new approach to urban revitalization and an innovative “green” community public market as it sits on top of the Metro subway station at the western entrance of Thai Town at Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue making the area a truly equitable Transit Oriented Community. Creating the first “Health/Wealth Zone”, the TTMP will deliberately link health and economic outcomes by helping low-income entrepreneurs start their first business, creating 18 businesses every three years and over 60 jobs, teaching vendors financial and health literacy, hosting monthly health and information booths for visitors and helping the food insecure access fresh produce at our adjacent farmers’ market, and making local organizations’ social services more accessible.

Stage of Implementation

Construction of the TTMP is now complete and Thai CDC is now in the process of installing different components of the marketplace. They include the installation of the kitchen equipment, windows, windscreen, doors, canopy, indoor and outdoor furniture and signage, and security cameras. The outdoor patio landscaping will follow as well as the fabrication of the six outdoor kiosks for the retail businesses and the recruitment and training of the entrepreneurs. The phone and fax lines as well as the internet have been successfully installed.

Once all installations are complete, the TTMP will go through the city’s building and safety inspection as well as the county’s public health department inspection. Once it passes both inspections, the TTMP will receive the Certificate of Occupancy and the health permit to open and operate.

In the meantime, our Business Counselor has been assisting our 12 indoor food vendors with their loan application to purchase their equipment and supplies to start their businesses in the food stalls.  They will receive free ongoing one-on-one business counseling and technical assistance as they operate their business to become profitable and viable enough to move into their own brick and mortar after three to five years of being incubated in our TTMP.

Project Goals Met in Five Months

With the TTMP in the final stage of construction completion during the start of the grant period and construction completed by the mid-year of the grant period and currently at the stage of installing multiple components, the LA2050 Grants Challenge partially funded the last stage of construction, procurement of kitchen equipment, and our TTMP Operations Manager’s and Thai CDC Business Counselor’s time.

As the TTMP is not yet open to implement the project goals of marketing and promotional activities of our vendors, the project goals met during this period based on the TTMP stage of development included the procurement, delivery, reconciliation and inventory of all kitchen equipment and furniture and the vendor selection and completion of the electrical blueprint for the installation of the security cameras.  During this period, our Business Counselor was also able to help 12 of our indoor food stall vendors apply for loans to purchase their equipment and supplies and get them ready to start their business.

Impact on the LA2050 Issue Area

Our project impacts the LA2050 issue areas of Income Inequality and BIPOC/Women-Owned Businesses.

The TTMP will provide 18 business start-up opportunities to low-income entrepreneurs, produce at least 38 permanent living-wage jobs, 20 temporary construction-related jobs, and 18 new businesses each business cycle. Entrepreneurs and workers will receive workplace support and will be paid a living wage; all entrepreneurs will fall within 200% of the federal poverty level.  All entrepreneurs are Asian Pacific Islander immigrants and a majority of them are women.

The TTMP is also a community-centered means of combating gentrification and increasing job opportunities and economic mobility, boosting our local economy, ensuring development without displacement, and protecting our neighborhood’s cultural diversity.

Current Number of People Benefitted

The number of people benefitting from our TTMP so far are the 12 low-income entrepreneurs who have been selected to occupy the food stalls and operate their first micro-enterprises. They had graduated from our 27-hour Entrepreneurship Training Program and received assistance to develop their business plans. Over two dozen people of color also benefitted from the construction jobs that our project created who were paid prevailing wage.

Additional Successes Related to Project/Organization from the LA2050 Grants Challenge

The additional success we experienced as a result of participating in the LA2050 Grants Challenge include the increased visibility and funding Thai CDC and our TTMP received from the publicity and online giving campaign LA2050 engaged in to announce and promote the awardees.

Challenges in Project Implementation and Strategies to Overcome Challenges

As our TTMP project is a construction project, the challenges have been the delays in construction caused by lack of parking for construction workers, inability to block off areas and streets for construction staging and work, supply chain issues, inclement weather, the field not matching the plans, vendor rebidding and replacements, vandalism of the site, change orders, work stoppages due to delays in third-party approval of drawdowns for payments, wrong equipment delivered, stolen equipment, time for replacement equipment to arrive, and the time to remobilize construction workers after work stoppages.

The strategies we employed to overcome the challenges include raising additional funds to fill the gap in construction cost caused by delays and increasing staffing to provide project management.

The Outlook Ahead in the Next Six Month of Grant Implementation

Thai CDC is excited about the outlook ahead in the next six months as with the construction completed, we can now start planning the soft opening of the TTMP to allow our low-income entrepreneurs to begin operating their micro-enterprises and tweak any issues. Then we will plan the grand opening with dignitaries, funders, social media influencers, the mainstream and ethnic media, performers, and the community in attendance.

Evaluating Success at the End of the Grant Period

Thai CDC will evaluate the success of its project at the end of the grant period by the following milestones:

• Completion of installation of all components
• Completion of outdoor patio landscaping
• Fabrication and installation of the 6 retail kiosks
• Recruitment, selection, and training of the six entrepreneurs for the kiosks
• $200,000 in loans/grants secured for 12 food vendors to purchase their equipment and supplies before starting their business
• 12 low-income entrepreneurs ready to start operating their business with assistance from our business counselor
• Inspections by the city’s building and safety and the county’s public health department completed
• Issuance of health permits and the Temporary Certificate of Occupancy leading up to the issuance of the Certificate of Occupancy
• Holding the Soft Opening of the TTMP
• Holding the Grand Opening of the TTMP
• Being able to celebrate the TTMP with our dignitaries, funders, beneficiaries, and community members