Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles) reaffirmed her commitment to protecting critical funding for California’s working families through the signing of the Budget Act of 2025, passed by the State Senate last week. In a year of tough budget decisions threatening rollbacks to essential protections, Senator Smallwood-Cuevas fought to ensure that the urgent needs of working families, immigrants, and communities of color were not ignored.
Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas - Los Angeles
Senate District
28
Senator Smallwood-Cuevas was elected in 2022 representing the communities of Ladera Heights, View Park, Arlington Heights, Arlington Park, Baldwin Hills, Carthay, Century City, Cheviot Hills, Crenshaw, Del Rey, Downtown, Hyde Park, Jefferson Park, Leimert Park, Mar Vista, Mid City, South Los Angeles, University Park, West Adams, and West LA.
Lola is an educator, labor organizer, and community. Raised by a single mother who worked as a home care worker, CNA and then registered nurse, Senator Smallwood-Cuevas has life experience of being from a working family who moved to California in search of better education, good union jobs, and a pathway to self-sufficiency.
After graduating from California State University at Hayward, Lola started her career in journalism. Lola’s first union membership was with the Newspaper Guild, where she documented the lives and societal interests of working families. Lola moved on to serve as a researcher and political and community organizer with SEIU Local 1877.
Senator Smallwood-Cuevas co-founded the LA Black Worker Center, where she worked to increase access to quality jobs, reduce employment discrimination, and improve industries that employ Black workers through action and unionization. Coining the term Black worker center, the LABWC went on to be a model for the emerging National Black Worker Center Network. L
Lola has served as a Project Director at the UCLA Labor Center, where she directs the Center for the Advancement of Racial Equity at Work project. Lola and her work have been recognized nationally by former President Barack Obama, Labor Secretary Tom Perez, and many others. She served as the treasurer of the Los Angeles County Workforce Development Board and holds various leadership positions within civic organizations.
Lola’s personal and professional goals have always been centered in making California work for vulnerable workers. Her leadership and professional experience have shaped her understanding of politics, public policy, and how to adapt systems change for the betterment of all Californians.
Lola is a wife and mother of two, lives in Los Angeles, and has spent her life’s work changing the tangible conditions for working families in South Los Angeles.
Latest Press Releases
La Senadora Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Ángeles) reafirmó su compromiso de proteger los fondos cruciales para las familias trabajadoras de California mediante la firma de la Ley de Presupuesto de 2025, aprobada por el Senado Estatal la semana pasada. En un año de difíciles decisiones presupuestarias que amenazaron con reducir protecciones esenciales, la Senadora Smallwood-Cuevas luchó para garantizar que las necesidades urgentes de las familias trabajadoras, los inmigrantes y las comunidades de color no fueran ignoradas.
After a soul-stirring procession and libation ceremony at Sunday’s 15th Annual “Day of Ancestors: Festival of Masks” celebration in Leimert Park, Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles) took the stage to announce, before a crowd of about 500 people, her efforts to state-designate Historic South Los Angeles as a Black Cultural District. The new cultural district will serve as a hub for South LA landmarks, businesses and institutions – while spotlighting legendary areas, such as the Crenshaw corridor, Historic West Adams and Central Avenue – to support the community’s preservation and economic revitalization.