‘These are the people we need to fight for’: City leaders adopt goal to end family, childhood poverty by 2035

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to adopt a goal for the city to end family and childhood poverty by 2035.

The motion is part of Council President Nury Martinez‘ priorities for the year, which she announced on Jan. 11, during one of the City Council’s first meetings of the new year.

“As city leaders and as representatives of these communities, these are the very people that we need to fight for,” Martinez said during the meeting. “The L.A. that is working for those who are wealthy and have access isn’t working for the people who I represent and who a lot of us represent.”

The motion approved Wednesday instructs the Community Investment in Families Department to develop a plan to meet the goal, including through recommendations for a prioritized expansion of current city programs and the creation of new programs. It also instructs the department to work with the state, the county and the Los Angeles Unified School District on the plan.

The chief legislative analyst, meanwhile, is tasked with reporting on a list of all city programs and efforts aimed at reducing family and children poverty in Los Angeles and identifying any service gaps.

The city administrative officer and the CLA will report on a list of anti-poverty programs and policies in the city that are tied to its response to the COVID-19 pandemic and provide recommendations on how to continue them beyond the current state of emergency.

“In 2019, 100,362 families and 193,369 children under the age of 18 lived below poverty levels in Los Angeles,” according to the motion, which was seconded by Councilwomen Monica Rodriguez and Nithya Raman. “Nearly a quarter of all kids under the age of five in Los Angeles live in poverty. These are heartbreaking truths and shameful strains on the moral fabric of our city and nation.”