City committee hears report that immigration enforcement reduced center use; departments outline emergency funds, outreach and grant plans

City officials told the Arts, Parks, Libraries and Community Enrichment Committee on Oct. 1, 2025, that federal immigration enforcement led to temporary declines in enrollment and activity at municipal Family Source, WorkSource and BusinessSource centers and that departments have pivoted services and secured emergency funding to support affected residents.

Veronica McDonald, assistant general manager for the Community Investment for Families Department (CIFD), said Family Source Centers — 19 neighborhood hubs that require only city residency and low-income status for eligibility — pivoted from large public food distributions to appointment-based and in‑house food packages and increased virtual services. "Between June and August, we served an additional 2,200 new clients," McDonald said, citing the department's tracking of service delivery patterns and enrollment data. She added that historical program headcounts rose across recent program years as the centers scaled services.

Donnie Brooks, chief grants administrator for the Economic and Workforce Development Department (EWDD), described EWDD's network — 14 WorkSource centers, 14 resource centers, 10 BusinessSource centers and seven day-labor centers — and said center staff conducted daily check-ins during the enforcement period, provided Know Your Rights materials and partnered with nonprofits and the county to maintain services. "Our day labor centers have really been at the epicenter of a lot of the activity," Brooks said, describing outreach and recruitment efforts intended to keep workers connected to services.

Jackie Rodriguez of CIFD summarized emergency relief efforts and outreach: philanthropic funds distributed in two phases were used to expand food assistance and direct cash assistance, and CIFD organized multilingual "Know Your Rights" workshops in 14 languages and an "I Belong" public awareness campaign on bus shelters and neighborhood ads. "In total, $1,600,000 of direct cash assistance was distributed to over 2,200 economically impacted households," Rodriguez said.

CIFD also said it secured a $1,300,000 county grant that the department will seek authority to accept at a future committee meeting; staff said most of that award will support direct emergency assistance while a smaller portion will support staffing to manage expanded services.

Department staff listed recommendations for sustaining access during future enforcement surges, including increased funding for emergency assistance, expanded staff capacity to maintain virtual and mobile service delivery, expanded trauma-informed mental health services for affected youth (in partnership with LAUSD), and continued interpretation and multilingual outreach.

EWDD highlighted programmatic constraints: some workforce programs require right-to-work documentation because they are funded by the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which limits the department's ability to waive documentation requirements. EWDD said it is exploring set-aside slots in existing work-experience programs (including LA RISE) and Youth Hire LA internships to provide outreach and employment supports where feasible.

The committee noted and filed the reports and referred the item to the Economic Development and Jobs Committee; staff stated the item will return and was continued to a date to be determined on 10/28/2025 for follow-up on contracts and funding acceptance.

The presentation and committee discussion centered on immediate relief delivered, persistent barriers — notably fear among undocumented workers to sign documents or come to public spaces — and next steps to convert short-term emergency measures into longer-term supports where funding permits.