After terming out on the Board, Molina ran again for the Los Angeles City Council in 2015, but was defeated by incumbent José Huizar.

[1] Molina was considered a trailblazer and helped revitalize Los Angeles's Grand Park and supported the LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes project, and has been said to have paved the way for future female and Latina politicians.

[7][8] After leaving the White House, she served in San Francisco as a deputy director for the Department of Health and Human Services.

[6] As city councilwoman, she found government unresponsive to her concerns of yet another proposal to build a prison near schools in the predominantly Chicano and Mexican neighborhood.

By committing social workers to aid in helping manage and track these students' academic success the program was able to raise the graduation rate from the national average of 58% to 80%.

When Molina retired from her supervisor position in 2014 because of term limits, she stated that one of her biggest regrets was that she was not able to do more to improve the high school graduation rates amongst fostered youth.

[28][26] In 2014, facing a term limit on the Board of Supervisors, Molina announced that she was challenging 14th district incumbent José Huizar for his seat on the City Council.

[1][32] In April 2008, Molina introduced legislation to the board of supervisors which would severely increase penalties on food vendors in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, including East L.A.

Newspaper editorials decried the move, and a petition was quickly set up to attempt to force a repeal of the legislation.

Molina said in her statement that the law "simply goes too far" and that "a lot of people have pointed out that I am sworn as an L.A. County supervisor to uphold the Constitution.

Another motion by councilmembers Monica Rodriguez and Kevin de León renamed the pedestrian crosswalks "Gloria Molina Legacy Pathway".

A couple of days after, the Metro Board of Directors voted to dedicate the East LA Civic Center station to Molina.