ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
MEETING DATE: February 25, 2026 AGENDA CATEGORY: Consent - Agreement TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Jennifer M. Byers, Economic and Community Development Director DATE: February 11, 2026
SUBJECT: Amendment No. 2 to Agreement No. 2023-066 with Kern Community College District. (to increase compensation $19,275.70, revised not to exceed $1,369,714.70) for implementation of the Entrepreneurship and Small Business Technical Assistance Program
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of the amendment.
BACKGROUND:
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”) into law to aggressively combat the Covid-19 pandemic and the corresponding economic crisis undermining the health and economic well-being of American workers. Within ARPA, the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) provides $130 billion for local governments to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency or its negative economic impacts.
The City of Bakersfield received a direct allocation of ARPA funding and one of the programs established was the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Technical Assistance and Grant Program (“Program”). Three partners were awarded funding to provide business support services to entrepreneurs, start-ups, and small businesses as grants. In this first allocation, 883 businesses were assisted, including 477 new start- ups, 161 received grant funds and 290 jobs were created.
With the success of the first allocation, an additional $1,000,000 of ARPA funds was added to the original $350,439 KCCD Launchpad program to continue the program through 2026. As of December 2025, the second phase of the program assisted 641 businesses and awarded 58 grants.
On December 17, 2025, council terminated the agreement with the Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce as they were unable to complete their program. This amendment would award $19,275.70 of those unused ARPA funds to the Bakersfield College Launchpad for additional business support services in their program.
The success of the Program is an indicator of community collaboration with our community partners and the City’s commitment to accomplishing the strategic goals, objectives, and implementation framework of the Economic Development Strategic Plan (EDSP) 2021. The EDSP identifies the establishment and enhancement of basic business and entrepreneurship support to help create and maintain young firms and the expansion of mid-sized companies is a prime opportunity for the city.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This program is funded through the American Rescue Plan Act and has no impact to the General Fund.
COUNCIL GOAL:
Economic Opportunity for All
ATTACHMENT:
Agreement No. 2023-066(2)