LOS ANGELES, CA — Today, amid the Trump administration’s ongoing government shutdown, which has threatened to disrupt critical programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez introduced a motion to provide emergency food assistance to working families throughout Council District 1.
The motion allocates $200,000 from Council District 1 discretionary funds (AB 1290) to the City’s Community Investment for Families Department (CIFD) to expand food distributions at the FamilySource Center operated by Central City Neighborhood Partners (CCNP), one of the City’s most trusted community-based partners serving low-income and immigrant families.
“No family should ever have to choose between paying rent and buying groceries — but that’s exactly what the Trump shutdown will force thousands of our neighbors to do,” said Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez. “While the Trump administration leaves our communities to go hungry, we will step in to make sure they can survive this shutdown. This investment is about ensuring our families have access to healthy food and a semblance of stability in their own neighborhoods.”
Even before the shutdown, working families were already under siege. The Republican megabill (H.R. 1) aimed to slash 20 percent of the SNAP budget, threatening food assistance for over 97 percent of CalFresh households through new eligibility restrictions and state funding constraints. Now, with the Trump administration’s shutdown set to pause SNAP benefits on November 1 as they ramp up ICE raids and deportations that disrupt household incomes and spread fear in immigrant and mixed-status families, millions are being hit from all sides: losing wages, losing benefits, and losing access to the programs meant to keep them fed.
“With this new support from Councilmember Hernandez, we’ll be able to expand our reach and ensure even more families don’t go to bed hungry,” said Diana Alfaro, Associate Executive Director at Central City Neighborhood Partners. “In times when the federal government turns its back on low-income and immigrant communities, partnerships like this are a lifeline and proof that Los Angeles can take care of its own.”
Councilmember Hernandez’s office already provides healthy groceries to more than 2,000 families every month, and has previously invested $300,000 in food distribution efforts across Council District 1. With this new $200,000 allocation, her office has now directed a total of half a million dollars toward fighting hunger and keeping families fed. Since the rise of federal immigration enforcement raids, she has also expanded those efforts to include direct home delivery for families too afraid to leave their homes.