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UCLA Study Examines How Pico-Union’s Community-Based Organizations Were a Lifeline for Residents Excluded From Federal Relief

New analysis documents how Latino-led organizations in a majority-immigrant Los Angeles neighborhood leveraged community trust and cultural knowledge to deliver economic support and navigate compounding structural challenges.

LOS ANGELES (March 18, 2026) — A new case study from the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (LPPI) examines how community-based organizations (CBO) in Pico-Union, a densely populated, majority-Latino neighborhood in central Los Angeles known for its immigrant entrepreneurship and cultural vitality, mobilized culturally responsive economic development strategies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and overlapping crises of housing instability, immigration enforcement, and economic hardship.

The case study examines the experiences of three longstanding nonprofit organizations —Inclusive Action for the City, Central City Neighborhood Partners, and the Central American Resource Center—whose deep roots in the community made them uniquely equipped to respond when formal systems could not reach residents most in need.

Pico-Union is a historic immigrant gateway neighborhood in central Los Angeles, often described as an “urban Ellis Island” for Latino migrants. Home predominantly to Salvadoran and Guatemalan families, alongside Mexican and other immigrant communities, the neighborhood has long been shaped by the entrepreneurial spirit and cultural vitality of its residents. Today, Pico-Union boasts more than 2,300 businesses, a thriving street vending presence, and a rich informal economy — reflecting the ingenuity and resilience of a community that has consistently built opportunity from limited resources.

At the same time, the neighborhood has long faced deep structural challenges. Median household income stands at $44,500, approximately 64% of the Los Angeles city median. Nine out of 10 households rent, and in 2023, one-third of households were overcrowded, compared to 12% citywide. Residents also contend with limited access to green space and public infrastructure, and diesel particulate matter exposure runs 54% above the county average — a legacy of historic disinvestment that has left every census tract in Pico-Union designated as a disadvantaged community under California’s SB 535.  These structural conditions intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, when residents faced elevated health risks, income loss, and exclusion from federal relief programs tied to formal employment or immigration status.

Key findings from the study:

• Pico-Union faces compounding structural challenges: The neighborhood’s extreme housing overcrowding, low household incomes, and high concentration of noncitizen residents create conditions that leave many families outside the reach of formal safety nets. These are the cumulative results of decades of public disinvestment, exclusionary housing policy, and the absence of culturally responsive public infrastructure.
• COVID-19 hit Pico-Union harder than almost anywhere in Los Angeles: Cumulative COVID-19 mortality in Pico-Union reached 886 deaths per 100,000 residents — more than twice the citywide rate of 349 and the countywide rate of 340. Federal relief programs, including the Paycheck Protection Program, did not reach Pico-Union equitably: The neighborhood received just $1,700 per resident, compared to $2,900 per resident countywide.
• Community organizations filled gaps that the government could not: When federal relief programs excluded undocumented and mixed-status families, community-based organizations stepped in. They launched mutual aid networks, distributed food, provided emergency cash assistance, coordinated walk-in COVID testing and vaccination, offered legal services, and countered misinformation in residents’ primary languages — including Indigenous languages spoken by Zapotec, Kanjobal, and K’iche’ community members. 
• Trust is the infrastructure that formal systems cannot replace: The speed and effectiveness of community response was made possible by decades of relationship-building. CBOs knew their communities — their languages, their fears, their networks — and that knowledge was irreplaceable. Residents who were afraid to seek help from government agencies came to trusted local organizations instead. 
• Community power is the foundation of long-term economic resilience: Beyond crisis response, Pico-Union organizations are advancing an alternative vision of economic development — one that prioritizes community power, protects residents from displacement, and recognizes informal and cultural economies as foundational assets rather than problems to be managed. 

“What this research shows us is not just what happened in Pico-Union during COVID-19. it is a window into what community-based organizations are doing every day across Los Angeles, across California, and across the country,” said Silvia R. González, director of research at LPPI. “When formal systems fail our communities, these organizations don’t wait. They mobilize. They show up. They find ways to serve people that government programs were never designed to reach. What we need now is for cities like Los Angeles to recognize this not as a workaround, but as a model — and to build formal, sustainable pathways to fund and partner with these organizations so communities don’t have to keep surviving on resilience alone.”

“Especially in this moment when so many of our Latino-led and serving organizations here in Los Angeles are living in fear and uncertainty about their ability to continue to do this vital work, the lessons learned from past crises like COVID-19 are crucial to our survival today,” said Cecilia Nuńez, co-author of the report and former research policy fellow at LPPI. “Now is the time for public and private partners to lean into community-led and trusted methods to ensure the Latino and immigrant Angelinos are protected and supported in accessing their basic needs.”

The study underscores a critical tension: Community-based organizations in Pico-Union are operating in a permanent state of crisis response, with growing demand and shrinking resources. 

González concluded: “The January 2025 wildfires, ongoing federal immigration enforcement, and continued public disinvestment have only deepened the pressure. Without sustained public and philanthropic investment, the institutions that have kept Pico-Union afloat are themselves at risk.”

Read the full study here.

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About the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute

The UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute is a non-partisan research institute that seeks to inform, engage, and empower Latinos through innovative research and policy analysis. LPPI aims to promote equitable and inclusive policies that address the needs of the Latino community and advance social justice. latino.ucla.edu