CERF–Community Economic Resilience Fund

Current Opportunity: CERF – CA’s $600M COVID Recovery Program

Click to find your CERF Region

The Community Economic Resilience Fund Program (CERF) is a multi-year statewide initiative to promote an equitable recovery from COVID-19 by funding the development of new regional plans and strategies that will direct investments to diversify local economies, develop sustainable industries and create high-quality jobs for all Californians. 

The CERF Program organizes the state into 13 regions and will roll out in two phases. In Phase 1, each region is tasked with developing a strategic plan that serves as their road map to a resilient, equitable and sustainable regional economy. For Phase 2, the strategies and priorities identified in those plans will then be eligible for the $600M in funding.

Current Phase 1 – Planning: A key component of the planning phase is community outreach and inclusive engagement. Arts and culture leaders should be at the table in this phase as a constituency and partner, assisting the planning leaders in meeting their inclusivity and transparency goals while bringing their own holistic, generative, problem-solving approach to community success. Importantly, involvement in this phase is required in order to potentially receive any project funding in the second phase.

Phase 2 – Implementation: This is where we hope that arts-based solutions to strengthening local communities or economies are identified and prioritized, or that the arts are established as a component of key projects. The funding priorities and processes have not been deter

CERF and the Creative Economy Learning Session

In June 2022, Californians for the Arts partnered with Arts for LA and California Forward to present the Creative Economy Learning and Networking Sessions. The session featured an introduction to the Community Economic Resilience Fund (CERF), the state’s historic $600 million regional economic development program. It also featured a discussion on the creative economy and its importance. The virtual event also linked arts advocates with the regional agencies leading the CERF process in their community.

View the recording or access the slides to learn more.  

How To Get Involved in CERF

  • Participate

    • Reach out to the CERF planning leaders in your region. Here is a link to the CERF leaders in your region.

    • Sign up for CERF newsletters and join planning sessions that are being organized in your region. [https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/oqgGRO2/JustTransitionRoadmap]

    • Consider joining the CERF planning process by participating in one of their committees (Governance, Outreach, Data)

  • Partner

    • The main goal of CERF is to facilitate inclusive planning processes that bring disenfranchised voices to the table. Consider offering arts spaces as sites for community engagement, or offer to help with diverse and equitable outreach strategies. 

  • Organize

    • Consider forming a coalition. The arts councils of the six counties in the Central Coast region have formed a coalition to coordinate and distribute the work of participating. The group positioned themselves as partners with this Letter of Support.

  • Reach out to CFTA for Support

    • Northern CA regions: Kara Q. Smith | kara@californiansforthearts.org

    • Southern CA regions: Tracy Hudak | tracy@californiansforthearts.org

Looking for ideas for arts & culture strategies and sample projects?  

Download our Art + Economic Development Fact Sheet or 

Visit our Arts + Economic Development Models page