The public library is much more than books.

It's a place for information.

The Source at Central Library happens on the last Tuesday of each month from 12 30 to 3.

And it's a one-stop shop for people in need, whether that's maybe you need a free phone, birth certificate, medical care, speaking someone about employment services, plus learning about the programs we have here at the library.

People need services.

That's what we're here to do.

Connect people with services.

As a community health worker, what my job is and what my passion is is to get connect people to resources available under Medi-Cal and available elsewhere in the community.

So you get like a pretty good uh foot traffic here.

It's a well-known event, and as far as like the opportunities and resources that are available, so it gives us a chance and opportunity, otherwise to get engaged people, the population that we're focusing on, the need, you know, assistance, you know.

Like for housing, uh transportation.

This program began to address the uh pressing needs of patrons in our community, and the vendors have really stepped up.

Many local organizations are here providing their services.

There's just so many resources out here that are for everyone, regardless of who you are.

They typically also may experience other barriers such as mental health issues, physical health issues, and other barriers to living and staying successfully housed in LA County.

I'm with the Midnight Mission.

The Midnight Mission is a nonprofit organization that has been around since 1914, providing human services to anybody that comes into the Midnight Mission.

Those services are from emergency services, like three meals a day, place to shower, clean clothes.

We also have a recovery program both for men and women based off of the 12-step approach.

Over at Homeboys, we have training, you know, so that a lot of people are looking for jobs that they don't really know, if they have the skills, any skills, but we're there to give these skills.

So it's a plus win-win situation, and um I'm so happy and grateful to be a part of it.

Many of our service providers uh do speak many community languages, so that includes uh Spanish, Chinese, Thai, uh ASL, even formerly incarcerated, so one of the I'm actually established now, I have a job, I have residency, I have a steady income, I have my medical coverage and everything, and that was all made possible through resources.

I was connected with an Andor T through the library.

The library is the right platform for all the service provider.

Um, the library has already a name.

But also has the resources that we need.

You can cruise through, maybe you get a free pen, and in the process, you can learn about services that maybe you didn't even know you needed.

The Central Library is just a great place to be.

You know, we've got air conditioning, restrooms, charge your phone.

Just look at the fact that you have people out here who love you who are generally concerned about you, who've been down the same path that you're navigating right now, and we're here to help.

So no matter how bleak it looks, no matter how bad, there's people here to help you like me, and uh we're gonna get it, we're gonna get it done.

You know, and with the resources being available, we're gonna get you connected.

That's what my job is, that's what my passion is, and I think I speak for the vast majority of these people here at the source today, too.

That's why they come every last Tuesday of the month.

Today we're here in Lincoln Heights in Council District 1, hosting our third annual backpack giveaway where we're giving out 1,700 backpacks to families across the district.

We know that coming into the new school year gets expensive, right?

You gotta buy new shoes, new pants, new uniforms, backpacks, pencils, paper.

Kids matter in Lincoln Heights has been putting kids first and the community at the center.

Do whatever we go through, ups, downs, we stick together, and that's why these events are important and need to continue for years on.

How about you, buddy?

It's great for the kids just to uh get them ready for school.

They can come and get a backpack with school supplies for their kids.

There's a lot of different service providers that are providing different resources and services.

These events are incredibly important to the community because right now families are struggling.

Uniforms are expensive, school supplies are expensive, the rent is too damn high.

We're here to try to line the load on our family so that they can focus on staying housed on feeding their families.

And the events like these kind of close the loop for some of the struggles that they have or some of the gaps that they might have.

It's just it brings the community together, it supports one another.

A lot of fun, and uh we love the turnout.

I think it's great, and uh, you know, definitely gonna be here next year again.

We are here in front of Santa High School, a location where an individual from our community was shot by ice agents last year, and we know that what often happens when law enforcement has shot someone, they aren't allowing medical aid to be rendered to our community members.

And what we wanted to do, along with voters of tomorrow, young people who are truly our next generation of leaders who said we need to do something about this, and so we brought together folks to pass AB2318, focused on providing timely medical aid, and if you don't allow that, once a scene has been secured, then you have to provide documentation showcasing why not.

As an EMT, I think that giving care to a patient and preserving life is one of the utmost responsibilities that I have, and I think that ensuring that that is placed in the legislature and placed in laws is super important.

I love the fact that a lot of young people like myself are able to come out and speak on it today.

When we have grown up here in Los Angeles, we're seeing that our communities are being torn apart by federal law enforcement officers who are coming in, there are people being killed, they're people that are not getting their right to do process, which is so important in this country.

It's one of the promises that any people in the United States are given.

And so for us, we thought, you know what, we have this amazing platform of voters of tomorrow.

We can use voters of tomorrow to kind of build partnerships with other organizations who believe in the same vision that we do.

Democracy hinges on civic engagement, political participation.

If we bar ourselves completely from the entire process, we render ourselves silent.