EL PASO, Texas -- Some employees of Mercado Mayapan and Café Mayapan -- a local non-profit organization that employs displaced female workers -- marched into El Paso city hall Thursday after the business shut down.

The workers held signs and demanded assistance from Mayor John Cook and U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas. About 50 employees and supporters stormed into city hall and spoke to Cook, then moved on to Reyes’ downtown offices.

"We're here because we're waiting for economic help," said Mari Lorena, a Mayapan employee.

Administrators of Mayapan’s parent organization, La Mujer Obrera, said that the organization has been promised federal funding but it has been delayed. They said they have no more money to operate and pay employees.

“We've been working on a package of $2 million in federal funding that comes both from the government and the city of El Paso. We have been working on this almost a year," said Cindy Arnold, an administrator of La Mujer Obrera. "It was our understanding that those funds would become available between Sept. 1 and Oct. 1.”

But because the money has been delayed, Arnold said, they can no longer afford to pay more than 100 workers employed by Mayapan.

While Cook sympathized with the women, he said that the funding and decision making lies with the federal government.

A spokesman for Reyes’ office said that their office is working to help secure funding and speed up the process, but no funding has come in yet.

Meanwhile, La Mujer Obrera has applied for an emergency loan to continue operations.

"Things have progressed since this morning but we still have no more money in the bank as when we did last night when we made this decision," Arnold said.

The loan has not been approved or denied. Stay with KFOX for updates.