On October 13, 2022, the Los Angeles Community Investment for Families Department (CIFD) convened the 2022 Ending Poverty Summit at the California Endowment Center for Healthy Communities Los Angeles.
The Summit expanded upon the first Poverty Summit in 2019, which sparked a citywide commitment to end child and family poverty by 2035. In the wake of the first Summit, the COVID-19 global pandemic exacerbated the economic, health, and housing crises faced by many Angelenos. In response, the City, county, state, and federal governments took action by providing emergency funds and services to families, and piloting programs to alleviate poverty in the short and long term. The City of Los Angeles, recognizing the severity of the issue, restructured its City departments to focus on the poverty plaguing the City and intensified efforts to tackle homelessness. As a result, the former Housing and Community Investment Department (HCID), which led the 2019 Summit, was split into two separate departments on August 8, 2021 through ordinance number 187122. Through this ordinance, the City Council established CIFD to focus on poverty reduction initiatives and services for low-income families. CIFD is the administrator for the City’s social safety net, including various programs and services for families, youth and survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. CIFD’s mission is to align and augment community investments for families and neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles and create opportunities for all Angelenos to prosper.”
The 2022 Summit aimed to re-engage stakeholders, generate meaningful ideas, solidify commitments, and contribute to the action plan to end poverty in Los Angeles by 2035. The Summit consisted of panels, keynote speeches, and breakout roundtable discussions, with participants from diverse organizations s eated alongside stakeholders from different sectors to encourage collaborative partnership. Some significant findings from the Summit included:
- Providing unrestricted funding to individuals and service providers. Unrestricted funding demonstrates trust and allows them to use dollars for what they most need, such as allowing organizations to use funds for operations and provide their staff with the support they need through competitive salaries and mental health assistance.
- Poverty is rooted in racism, necessitating policies that address the systemic factors contributing to the economic struggles faced by families of color, such as housing protection, labor rights, and accessible education.
- Lack of awareness about existing poverty reduction policies and programs leads to redundancies and confusion among stakeholders and those needing support.
The report on the Summit’s activities includes data on the current state of poverty in Los Angeles, an overview of existing poverty alleviation programs, and recommendations to achieve the 2035 goal. Central to each recommendation is the reminder that these programs and policies must place people experiencing poverty at the core of discussions concerning their challenges.