Newsletter – 2025 End-of-Year Issue

Greetings Neighbors,

As the year draws to a close, I want to thank you for your support and the trust you place in me to serve our mighty 28th District of Los Angeles. It is an honor to represent you, and I’m grateful for your voices and engagement that help make our district strong.

While this past year brought challenges, we were able to continue making real progress because we refused to settle for the status quo. That spirit – and the united spirit of our community – is what drives the work I do, both in our district and at the Capitol.

In this newsletter issue, I’m sharing some of the important work we’ve done throughout the year. This includes advancing legislation to better protect working families and to secure public investments that support equitable economic opportunities. I’m especially proud of the collaborative work we’ve done with our community partners and residents to make our district a better place to live and work.

Equally important, I’ve valued the meaningful discussions I’ve had with many of you – at town halls, community events, and constituent meetings. Your voices guide my work each and every day, and I remain committed to fighting for your rights with integrity and transparency.

As we look toward 2026, I will count on your continued engagement as we work together to help move our district and state forward. I wish you a joyful and a hopeful New Year.

Warm Regards,

Lola Smallwood-Cuevas
Senator, 28th District

I’m pleased to share that Governor Gavin Newsom signed my bill package that strengthens worker protections for California’s working families:

• SB 303 – Enables state and local agencies to engage in bias and anti-discrimination programs while keeping employees' participation in these programs confidential and inadmissible in civil court proceedings.
• SB 464 – This is a California Legislative Black Caucus priority bill that expands pay data reporting requirements to public employers and will make other changes to add job categories, expand salary bands, and other changes to ensure higher quality data from the pay data reports.
• SB 578 – Requires the Department of Industrial Relations to establish and administer the California Workplace Outreach Project to promote awareness of, and compliance with, workplace protections that affect workers.
• SB 648 – Gives the Labor Commissioner the authority to investigate and issue citations or file a civil action for gratuities taken or withheld from employees in violation of existing law.

To view all of the legislation that I authored this year, please visit here.

In a year of tough budget decisions threatening rollbacks to essential protections, I fought alongside my progressive legislative colleagues to ensure that the urgent needs of working families, immigrants, and communities of color were not ignored. Highlights of our budget wins include:

• Film & TV Tax Credit Program – Expanded to $750 Million
  Historic expansion of this tax credit program to keep production jobs, businesses and contractors in California.
• Wildfire Recovery – $39 Million
  Transitions seasonal firefighter positions to permanent union roles.
• California Worker Outreach Project – $13 Million
  Funds multilingual outreach, education, and legal rights training for low-wage, immigrant and frontline workers.
• Community Mediation and Reconciliation – $3.9 Million
  Supports early intervention in civil rights disputes through a dedicated mediation unit and maintains funding for community-based efforts to deescalate conflict and build trust.
• Historic South Los Angeles Black Cultural District – $2.5 million
  Establishes California’s first state-recognized Black Cultural District to preserve Black heritage, promote local economic opportunity, and uplift the legacy of South LA.
• Workforce Training for Industry Needs – $1.5 Million
  Creates a statewide strategy aligned with higher education and workforce training with industry needs, expanding access to quality career pathways — especially for underrepresented communities.
• Civil Rights Enforcement – $1.4 Million
  Expands the state’s capacity to investigate hate incidents and protect residents from discrimination and civil rights violations.
   

Here’s just a glimpse of our district outreach in 2025 (Top Clockwise): SD28 Constituent Service Day at the Pueblo del Rio housing community in March; MLK Day Parade in South LA in April; SD28 Hispanic Heritage Month Community Event at Mary McLeod Bethune Middle School in September; SD28 Free Food Giveaway at McCarty Memorial Christian Church in South LA in November; Taste of Soul mega-event along the Crenshaw corridor in October.

Over the past year, I focused on several priority projects that reflect my commitment to a recovery and future that uplifts all communities and leaves no one behind. In January, I prioritized a strong and coordinated response to the devastating Los Angeles wildfires by joining Senator Sasha Renée Pérez in hosting an “Equitable Recovery for Altadena: A Listening Session” held at Pasadena Church East Campus. These conversations were essential to ensuring that recovery efforts were grounded in lived experience and delivered with urgency, equity and accountability.

In March, I convened labor leaders and advocates at our first Workforce Equity Summit to advance fair access to quality jobs and build pathways to economic mobility. Also in May, I kicked off our community outreach discussions on the long-vacant former EDD Crenshaw building by hosting a Social Housing Teach-In.  Our free virtual event invited local neighbors and stakeholders to learn about social housing, how it’s working in communities across the country, and why it could help us transform the Crenshaw site into a place that delivers lasting affordability and stability.

At the same time, I led the effort to designate Historic South LA as California’s first Black Cultural District to preserve the community’s rich history and culture while strengthening local economic development. A cultural district designation is crucial for South LA’s future economic growth, especially as Los Angeles prepares to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, in addition to other future global events.

To prepare for the 2028 Games, I partnered with Senator Ben Allen, who serves as Chair of the Senate’s Special Committee on International Sporting Events, in leading a series of tours at Exposition Park in our district this year to highlight the venues that will be at the center of these Olympics Games. The tours provided an opportunity to showcase ongoing investments in the park, plan transportation and public safety measures, and discuss how this global event must deliver lasting benefits for local residents. Special thanks to our Governor and Senator Allen for their support of these tours.

Left Photo: Altadena residents share their experiences from the LA wildfires during the listening session. Right Photo: Senator Sasha Renée Pérez joins Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas for a TV news interview about the listening session.

Left Photo: Shown at the Workforce Equity Summit are (from left) Dr. Manuel Pastor, Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at USC; Dr. Steven Pitts, former Associate Director of UC Berkeley Labor Center; Saba Waheed, UCLA Labor Center Director; Capri Maddox, LA Civil Rights Executive Director; and Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas. Right Graphic: A flyer promoting SD28’s virtual Social Housing Teach-In.

Shown at the Historic South LA Black Cultural District designation press event are (from left) Yvonne Farrow, Co-Director, Vision Theatre Performing Arts Center; Hakeem Parke-Davis, Planning Deputy, LA City Councilwoman Heather Hutt; Aminah Muhammad, President, Leimert Park Merchants Association; Vince Bertoni, Director of Planning, LA City Planning; Cameron Shaw, Executive Director, California African American Museum; Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas; Jacqueline Hamilton, Deputy Mayor, LA Mayor Karen Bass; Daniel Tarica, General Manager, City of LA Cultural Affairs Department; Ken Bernstein, Principal City Planner, Historic Resources, LA City Planning; Karen Mack, Executive Director, LA Commons; Xavier Clark, Planning Deputy, LA City Councilman Curren Price Jr.; and Terri Osborne, Planning Deputy, LA City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson.

Left Photo: Gathered at the LA28 Exposition Park legislative tour are (from left) Assemblymember Tina McKinnor; Senator Ben Allen; Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel; Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas; Assemblymember Sade Elhawary; Senator Bill Stern; and former Senator Roderick Wright. Right Photo: Senator Smallwood-Cuevas meets with LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover at their Downtown LA headquarters.

Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas stands with legislative colleagues at an immigrant rights press conference at the Capitol steps.

Throughout the year, I joined legislative colleagues and community leaders to stand up for immigrant rights and speak out against the harmful ICE raids that tear families apart and spread fear in our neighborhoods. We reaffirmed our commitment to ensuring that every person — regardless of immigration status — is treated with dignity and due process under the law. We worked together to push for policies that protect families, strengthen trust between communities and local government, and reflect our shared values of fairness and humanity.

This year, I had the opportunity to join my legislative colleagues in participating in several tours to learn about leading green initiatives. These learning tours included Portugal’s innovative sustainability programs, Canada’s “California Recycling Challenge,” and New York City Climate Week.

Our district is stronger because of the people who step up every day to serve others. That’s why I nominated several community leaders and changemakers who are making a difference in our 28th District. Here’s a list of those I recognized at the State Capitol this year:

• Latino Theatre Company – Nonprofit of the Year
• Karen Mack, Executive Director, LA Commons – Unsung Hero
• Malik Books – CLBC Black Business of the Year
• Stephanie Wiggins, CEO, LA Metro – Woman of the Year

2024 scholarship awardee Selah Johnson shown being recognized on the Senate floor this year.

Throughout the year, I worked closely with the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), which oversees the Community College Rising Scholar Program that provides at-risk students with greater access to millions of dollars worth in textbook costs. CLBC also administered over half a million dollars in scholarships that were awarded to college students and college-bound scholars across the state, including this year’s Minerva Scholarship award recipients from our 28th District – Divine Oludimu and Brennen Higgins-Bell. Congrats to both!

I am honored to have been recognized this year by labor, social justice, and climate resilience organizations. These awards include:

• 100% Labor Vote Award – California Federation of Labor Unions
• Community Impact Award – Turning Point
• 100% State Legislative Scorecard Award – Equality California
• Beloved Community Award – Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• Climate Justice Queen Award – California Environmental Voters
• Legislative Arts Champion Award – California for the Arts
• Legislative Honoree – Crystal Stairs
• Reproductive Award – Reproductive Freedom for All

These acknowledgments reflect the collective work we’ve done to stand up for working families, advance equity and opportunity, and build communities that are healthier and more resilient for the future. I’m grateful to these organizations for their partnership, advocacy and trust — and I remain committed to continuing this work in the year ahead alongside the people of California.