Anaheim will direct $250,000 to an assistance fund created to help families affected by the recent surge in federal immigration enforcement that will give grants for rent, utilities and other household expenses.
Last month, the city partnered with the nonprofit Anaheim Community Foundation to launch Anaheim Contigo, which accepts donations from the community to fund emergency assistance grants for families affected by the sweeps.
The $250,000 in new money for Anaheim Contigo, approved by a split 5-2 City Council on Tuesday, July 15, would significantly bolster the fund, which had received $35,000 in donations to date.
“We are called right now to meet this moment with compassion and expediency,” Mayor Ashleigh Aitken said. “Current immigration actions are sowing fear among our residents and intimidating our communities. Unjust enforcement every day is tearing our families apart and it’s tearing at the fabric of our community.”
“It’s a facade of unity with the community if we’re not willing to put a dime toward helping our residents,” Aitken continued.
Only Anaheim residents who are low-income and can demonstrate an immediate need are eligible for the grants. Residents can apply at the city’s family resource centers.
The grants are meant to pay for rent, utilities and household essentials. City officials said some Anaheim residents have avoided going to work out of fear of coming into contact with federal immigration officials at their jobs, stressing the need for help to pay their bills.
The new funding is enough to help 500 people. The city already has more than 100 people who have reached out for assistance.
The City Council directed staff to look for any existing housing dollars or grants that could be allocated to Anaheim Contigo. The backup funding plan would rely on reallocating money from other city departments or cost savings that come up throughout the year.
City spokesperson Mike Lyster told the council about a single mother of two teens who has been unable to work as a delivery driver and a family of five whose father’s work at a nursery was affected by immigration enforcement activity at the facility. These are two examples, Lyster said, of people who have already received the grants; both received $500 to help with rent or utilities.
The Samueli Foundation contributed $10,000 to the Anaheim Contigo fund, and Councilmembers Norma Campos Kurtz and Carlos Leon donated a few thousand each to it as well.
Councilmember Natalie Rubalcava said she hoped the Samueli contribution would spur other large companies in the city to contribute, too.
Councilmembers Natalie Meeks and Ryan Balius voted against supporting Anaheim Contigo with city dollars.
“The council approved a budget three weeks ago, and I believed that there was no excess,” Meeks said. “A reduction of $250,000 will have impacts to our community. And this agenda item asks this body to take this action with no information about what those impacts are.”
City officials on Tuesday said there hasn’t been any federal immigration enforcement since July 9. A car wash on Euclid saw six people detained over two separate enforcement incidents and had to be closed over a busy Fourth of July, Lyster said.