Lessons Learned in NYC, Part One - Worker Justice

I have decided to write first about what I learned about worker justice issues in NYC and beyond.  I will start by stepping back to my first full day in the city and one of many experiences my colleagues at Cornell University Cooperative Extension in New York City (CUCE-NYC) arranged for me.  They set up a very busy two days of meetings, listening sessions and informal conversations.  I was very fortunate to get time to speak with KC Wagner, who is the Director of Workplace Issues at the Worker Institute in the Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) School at Cornell University.  The ILR is part of the land grant structure and does a fair bit of work on promoting workplace fairness, health, safety, equity and social justice under the land grant or outreach banner.  I was really impressed because as far as I know, my own land grant university does little in this area.  I had an intense conversation with KC and Emily Mandell, a graduate student, who were working together on the Nanny Training project and who are now engaged with training elder caregivers.

Emily and KC

I will leave it to my reader to follow the weblink to learn more about the Worker Institute and the fine work they are doing.  The ILR was founded in 1945 to help NY workers with collective bargaining and is a leader in work on national and international workplace issues - the focus is very broad.  I love it that some of the work focuses on the workers themselves and not just the people, organizations and institutions that employ them.  This interview helped me shift my focus for this trip to the conditions that blue collar and unskilled workers endure and have for many decades (and I could say centuries).  We may not have called the skilled laborers of the past who built cathedrals, castles, tenement buildings, roads, etc, blue collar but I think there is a parallel.  I also think of the names we have used for people who help with the household work for more affluent classes: drudges, slaves, servants, chorewomen, etc.  The names have often lacked the panache that they deserve.  I digress.

KC excitedly told me about several projects with which she is involved and how she sees her work one of translating research and education into practical applications.  She worked tirelessly on helping establish the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights for NYC.  She is now working with a collaborative that provides a 35 hour training for caregivers, first for Nannies and now includes elder caregivers.  

I realized early in our conversation just how important labor issues were in the state of New York and in the city.  I came into this trip wanting to know more about the conditions that impacted the immigrant population (past and present) and knew that would be one of the themes of this trip.  I was not disappointed.  I will write more about what I learned about the sweatshops and garment industry in another day or two.  For now I am going to focus on the issues that challenge the current immigrants, especially the women who seek work as house cleaners.

She asked me how long I would be in NYC and highly recommended that I arrange to visit people involved in workplace justice issues in Brooklyn.  I learned about one of the only corners in the country where female day laborers gather seeking housecleaning jobs.  It is in Williamsburg, a working class area of Brooklyn.  I was able to contact Yadira Sanchez at the Worker's Justice Project in Brooklyn and she invited me to come meet her in Williamsburg.  I offered to take her out to lunch.  Mike and I came as arranged to meet at the corner where the women gather each day in hopes of finding a cleaning job,  most of which are in homes of Hasidic Jews who live in the area.  When we found our way to the corner and Yadira there were many women milling about, waiting and hoping for work that day.  It was already 11:30 am.  Some may have already worked once that day.

Day laborers in Williamsburg

We found Yadira and with her were Angel and Maria, both of whom work with the Worker's Justice Project.  The women gathered around us.  We were so different that we stuck out.  Yadira introduced me and I gave a little speech about myself, my sabbatical and wishing them well in their lives and thanking them for their attention.  Yadira, Angel and Maria then led us to a Mexican restaurant where we could talk and we had a wonderful meal and a very animated conversation about the conditions under which these women work, the work that Yadira and her team are doing to ameliorate the conditions and their hopes and dreams for the future.

Maria, Yadira and Angel.  All three are from Mexico.  

I wanted to spend the rest of the day talking with them.  We all had to go our separate ways sadly for me.  I heard from Yadira today.  She asked if I would be writing about our visit on my blog because they need publicity.  They felt that it was a relief to have a real conversation and not to have to speak in sound bites about their work.  I decided to make their story a priority for today's writing.

They told me the story of the really poor conditions under which the women labor.  The Hasidic tradition is to clean all floors on hands and knees and to use harmful chemicals to do that to make sure they are as clean as possible.  They hire the day laborers to clean anywhere from 2-8 hours a day and much of the work is done on their hands and knees on hard surfaces.  Yadira shared with me some of the physical damage that is being observed in the workers.  They have seen a number of women who have hardened calluses on their knees that impact their ability to walk.  They see raw skin from the hands all the way up the arms that do not heal and are being irritated daily by harmful, and possibly carcinogenic chemical cleaners.  They know of women who organs are being permanently pushed in because of the position they must maintain for hours at a time on their hands and knees.  Cleaning synagogue floors may take a full eight hours when done on hands and knees.  They report a more frequent rate of miscarriages than one might expect and postulated that the daily exposure to cleaning chemicals and the constant position of being on hands and knees may contribute.  

The Worker's Justice Project is working with the women on several fronts.  They are giving the workers who will come a 10 hour OHSA training on the recognition and use of harmful chemicals.  They are addressing intimidation in the workplace and standing against being asked to do things that are unsafe.  They are also teaching them about worker rights.  They are creating a housekeeping guide for both employers and workers and are making some progress on identifying leaders within the Hassidic community who can help that community be part of the solution.  They have begun a campaign entitled Stand Up to Clean Up that says it all.  The art work is great.  Take a look at the pictures and the stories.  It is a campaign that makes sense and the time is now for action!  I admire that the Worker's Justice Project has formed a cleaner's cooperative.   Maria was the first member.  She began as a day laborer on the corner.  She enrolled in English and computer classes through the Worker's Justice Center and is now the bookkeeper for the cooperative.  She uses Excel.  I was impressed because I have still not mastered Excel.  She has become a spokesperson for the group.  Maria is from  the state of Puebla, Mexico.  There is a large group of immigrants from Puebla in the NYC area.  Most are recent immigrants.  

The work with the women is only one of the things these devoted folks do.  I was really inspired and grateful to get a closer look at this project. I would like to have had time to shadow Yadira for a week.  I asked Yadira and Angel about their stories and passions.  We ran out of time before I could hear much from Angel who studied business in college and who was applying that the work on labor and social justice.  Yadira helped co-found the Worker's Justice Project after being involved with the plight of the day laborer when her husband became involved.  She got involved in an organization for day laborers that she loved because it connected her with the community.  When it closed, she used her organizational skills to help found the Worker's Justice Project with Executive Director, Ligia  Guapia.  One of the most gratifying parts of conversation came when I asked Yadira what about the work she does makes her most hopeful.  She answered:

• She really wants to see changes and to see the workers protected under the law. She wants the law to be enforced for safety and dignity.
• She wants women to retrieve what they have lost (in coming to this country, working as virtual slaves under very harmful conditions, etc).  She said that "our country (Mexico) has failed us and this country (US) has failed us.  I want these women to believe in themselves and to know they deserve support.  This is hard work - you have to be emotionally and psychologically healthy to survive."  

She stated as had KC and others across this journey that social justice is very important.  Social justice is not something that lip service fixes.  Taking real steps can make a difference.  The Worker's Justice Center is one beacon for that work.  I was really glad I took KC's advice and reached out to Yadira.  My visit with in Williamsburg was one of the many highlights of my trip to NYC.

I thought I would close with two more pictures.  KC shared her art work with me.  She goes to the Folk School in North Carolina each year and she has been using printing on fabric to connect her work life with her art.

What the day laborers deserve.

The last is a piece of glass art that greeted us when we stepped off the subway at Marcy Avenue to  meet Yadira after an awesome trip over the Williamsburg Bridge.

Beauty is everywhere.

My next post will focus on my visit with the CUCE-NYC group.

Thanks for reading.

Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services Visit

Creating programs based on the needs of the community is a wonderful strategy for successful outcomes.  I have seen many programs based on community need over the years.  Sometimes they are successful and sometimes they fail for a variety of reasons.  Sometimes the organizational structure is not strong enough to support the program, sometimes the personnel change and the new personnel are not a good fit for the service and sometimes the vision for service is linked to one dedicated individual who is not able to sustain the program.  

I found several examples of thriving non-profits on my travels.  Two I have already written about - No More Deaths in Tucson and The Bethlehem Center in Visalia.  I was delighted to visit the Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services Agency at their Oak Park Center on March 17th.  Mike and I were warmly greeted by Lorena Carranza, who is the Parent Education Program Manager at the Oak Park facility and the parent educator for the most of the classes delivered there.

Lorena Carranza
Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services

I was really happy that I took the time to visit this agency. Their mission statement reads: Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services (SFBFS) is dedicated to assisting those in need by alleviating their immediate pain and problems and moving them toward self-sufficiency and financial independence.  I encourage you to visit their website to learn more about the agency.  It was their website that caught my attention when I was searching for places that were offering parent education in Spanish in the Sacramento and Yolo County areas.  

The agency was started as a Food Bank by Father Daniel Madigan in 1976 in the basement of his Oak Park Church.  It is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit agency and is affiliated with the local Catholic Archdiocese in some way.  It was a revelation to me to see the deep connection between the Catholic Church and the Latino immigrant populations in California.  It should not have surprised me but it did.  What I know of Washington State and the communities in Western Washington that I have served over the years is that the church was not as responsive to early waves of immigrants.  Perhaps that is related to the more migratory stream that used to populate our agriculture industry.  I remember serving a community in SW Washington where there were two catholic sisters( nuns) who were community based working with Latinos and other faith communities were filling the gap.  All sorts of denominations were involved.  I was surprised at the time about what one of the sisters referred to as a crisis within the church that the Mexican immigrants were not being served and were basically being abandoned by the church.  Part of the lack of service was probably due to a shortage of Spanish speaking priests.  This was in the mid-1990's.  I still wonder if that is why we see so much religious diversity amongst our immigrant population or if that diversity is everywhere.  

Fr. Madigan was clearly a perceptive servant leader.  He noticed a number of single mothers in the food bank lines and began a Mother-Baby program in 1992.  Mothers could come to classes at the center.  If they attended at least one class a month, they would be eligible for a monthly distribution of diapers, clothing and formula.  There were 8 classes a month offered, all on the same topic, 4 in Spanish and 4 in English.  All were focused on caring for children from birth to 2 years. SFBFS found out people wanted more when they did focus groups in 2011.   They asked Spanish, Russian and English groups of parents what they wanted and why they were not drawing fathers.   All groups asked for more topics, and to extend the topics to cover children up to age 5.  SFBFS changed the name to Parent Education Classes and now offer specific workshops for fathers.

The bulletin board with all the classes/workshops listed.

Lorena had just finished teaching a stress management class in Spanish when we arrived.  It was one of 11 workshops that would be available that week.  Lorena shared with us that parents still earn points that they can trade for baby/child clothes, supplies and diapers when they attend classes.  I love the relevant incentives.  When parents come, all the children spend time in the well equipped and engaging nursery and preschool area.  One of the weekly offering is Story Time for parents and their little ones.  Lorena reported that about seventy percent of the parents who come to the center are Latino and of those a large majority are undocumented.  Lorena shared that SFBFS under the auspices of Catholic Charities of Sacramento is offering six workshops this spring on DAPA, the executive order that offers Deferred Action for Parental Arrivals.  Lorena reported that there was a great deal of hope and excitement in the community she serves and in her agency around DAPA.

Lorena gave us a tour of the Oak Park Center.  The building is lovely.  It holds space for children, youth and parents to learn together.  It houses afters school programs, a teaching garden, classrooms for English learning, computer classrooms for adults and youth, the clothing bank for the parenting program, administrative offices and early learning spaces.  I was really impressed by the comprehensive range of services that grew out of a church basement food bank.  

The garden space

I was even more impressed by Lorena and her poise and commitment.  She moved to Sacramento as a newly married young women from Monterrey, Mexico.  Her husband was offered a job because of his unique skills.  She did not know English when she arrived.  A twist of fate led her to learn what she called "hospital" English because of a condition with which her daughter was born.  Lorena spent a lot of time in and out of medical centers with her daughter during her early years.  When she was declared well, Lorena came to the SFBFS to enroll in English classes and she has stayed ever since. Her English is beautiful.  The agency is obviously part of her extended family.  She has been on staff for over seven years.  Lorena talked about the stress of moving to a different country and having to adapt without family nearby.  She teaches stress courses at the center.  I imagine she is amazing because she has learned how to overcome stress in her own life.  I believe this is an incredible gift to the families who come to the center and would be good for all of the families we want to serve.  My journey has made me so  much more aware of the trauma associated with immigration, especially for those who are undocumented.  Speaking with Lorena and Jose in Tucson also reminded me that stress, trauma and grief are also present for those who immigrate legally or who are born to immigrant parents.  This gives me much food for thought as I think about what to add to our lessons.

As Mike and I drove away felt deep gratitude for the gifts SFBFS was giving the community and for the gift of time and presence they gave me on my visit!

Thanks for reading!

Central Valley and NorCal

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I love green, in nature, in clothes, in paintings and quilts, and yes, the color of my eyes has always given me a pass on this day.  We have left the desert and are in a greener part of California.  We are in Davis, home of the University of California (UC) at Davis.  I learned it was originally a branch of the the original University of California at Berkeley.  It was started just as an agricultural branch and has grown up over the years into a lovely campus and town.  In my world of Extension UC Davis is considered one of the premier Land Grant Universities.  The Cooperative Extension offices here are large.  Most are populated with multiple agricultural advisors and there are a few others mixed in.  There are 58 counties in this behemoth state and only scattering of advisors who focus on families by offering nutrition and food security programs.  UC Cooperative Extension has both EFNEP (Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program) and SNAP-ED (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education, formerly know as Food Stamp Education Program Education).  I met with Cathi Lamp and her wonderful team members, Mariana Lopez and Teresa Rios-Spicer, while I was in Tulare County last week.  Yesterday I met with Marcel Horowitz and Sonia Fernandez in Yolo County.  I also met with David Ginsburg, manager for CalFresh/SNAP-ED at the state office.   They run a large program and have over 100 full time staff delivering direct education at the local level.

Cathi, Mariana and Teresa
Tulare County

Sonia, Drew and Marcel posing in front of the soil samples.
Yolo County

There are some interesting things happening in California.  There are large threats to the environment and agriculture from the on-going (fourth year) drought.  All along CA-99 there are large signs about the need for water to help farms survive.  The visible reminders remind all that there is a real threat.  The drought impacts all levels of life here.  Signs in the bathrooms in Davis remind people not to run water while lathering ones hands with soap.  Carefully turn it on and off as needed.  There is less work for the farm workers.  Marcel expected fewer people to show up in the Migrant Camps this year.  One person referred to the San Joaquin Valley as the Dust Bowl.  I had no idea if that was intentional or not.  Yesterday I heard that food prices will increase, people are painting their lawns green and that there are major issues between SoCal and NorCal as the locals refer to the 2 parts of the state about who and what gets the water resource.   So, for now, it is green and lush.  But how long will that last?  How long until the landscape is brown and withered because the water isn't available?  What crops will not be able to be planted.  Will there be a major migration to wetter areas of the country akin to that experienced in the 1930's?

The issues for the undocumented residents seems less urgent here.  Maybe because the population is so rich in Latino families and traditions.  There are some concerns for the safety of the undocumented, especially the parents and children.  When I spoke to my colleagues at the local extension offices they were aware that a number of the people they serve are undocumented.  They do not count (not do we) and they offer education in safe, familiar  places with bi-lingual bi-cultural staff as teachers.  I think the issue of immigration injustice is less pressing in the Central Valley and NorCal than the threat of the drought.  It is not ignored but it is not pressing.  Once people get this far north they settle in and are part of the landscape.

Where I saw more rawness and connection to the issue was at the Bethlehem Center in Visalia.  A faith based NGO that is under the wing of the Catholic Church in Visalia, the Bethlehem Center provides meals, two a day five days a week, some case management, a food pantry and a thrift store for low income and homeless residents of Visalia and the surrounding area.  I met with Benny Rodriguez and Lucio Pulido to talk about their services and to tour their facility.  Benny and Lucio told me that only about 10 percent of their families who come for meals are undocumented (estimated).  Benny shared with me an interesting fact.  In the point of time homeless count for Tulare and Kings Counties combined - 44% live in Visalia.  He said that only 2 children were counted in the last count.  He thinks that the children are hidden during the time for fear of having them taken away.  He also feels that the condition of being undocumented and homeless combined may be compounding the count.  I know that in my county the percent of homeless children is about 27%.

Benny shared with me that Dignity and Respect are the core principles for service at Bethlehem Center.  He spoke about a committee he formed - Voice of the Community.  They asked six of their homeless clients to assess the services at Bethlehem Center.  They told him they wanted more razors in their personal care kits, they wanted AA/NA groups at the center and they wanted inspirational art on the walls of the soup kitchen.  All have been added at the center.   Benny and Lucio excitedly brought out a print that has been used as the source for a mural on the wall.  Christ in the Breadlines was created by Fritz Eichenberg in 1953.  The image is powerful in its woodblock print form and also on the wall with some edits.  The people in the center report that they see themselves in the mural.  A homeless client at the center is the muralist and is also in the finishing stages of a Last Supper mural on the opposite long wall.  I was moved.

Panorama photo of the Christ in the Breadline mural

Benny Rodriguez, Director
Bethlehem Center

I was really glad I visited Tulare County.  I have more to share later.  For now, I will stop and get ready for today's visits and one more day in beautiful Davis, a town full of art!

Shovel Gate
The artist used over 400 used shovels to create this gate that marks one of the entrances to the Davis Arboretum.

Thanks for reading!

Tucson Treasures, Part Three

I am really grateful to have the time to reflect on all that I did, saw and learned in Tucson.  We are spending the week with our friends Marilyn and Dale in Desert Edge, California.  I think that everyone at Healing Waters Park, where they live, who sees me working away every morning on my laptop probably wonder what that woman is working on that keeps her away from the desert.  It is lovely at the end of my work to take a break and enjoy the area.  This morning I am working outside and hummingbirds are visiting me on their way to and from the orange tree that is in blossom.  The smell of the orange blossoms is so sweet that I am lulled into a sense of peace and well being.  Mike has been hiking, biking and enjoying life in the desert while I work.  I think it has been a good trip for him and he is taking full advantage of having his bike on the trip.  He has been riding a 31 mile loop up and down hills and is quite happy to be warm!

Orange blossom

Baby hummers

So, back to reflecting on Tucson.  The day after I visited with Anna and her class on migration, I drive into town to interview Emrys Staton in depth. I met him at the Borderlinks facility where he is a board member and where I had originally met him during our Immigration Justice experience.  Emrys is an social justice activist, theology student and a person with a great deal of integrity who grew up in Arizona.  He came to Tucson from Northern Arizona and was raised as a Unitarian Universalist.  He was exposed to the concepts of suffering and political engagement as a means to alleviate suffering as a child, both through his religious education and by the examples set by his politically involved parents.  It seems to have stuck with him.  He majored in geography with an emphasis on social justice at the University of Arizona.  He told me that he was a sophomore in college on September 11, 2001.  He reported alot of hate being present on campus immediately following the attacks.  He joined Beyond Tolerance, a campus group formed to help mitigate the climate of hate.  His journey towards the activism he now engages in continued by befriending a group of Sudanese refugees who had been settled in Tucson by the UN High Commission on Refugees to attend the university.  He learned from them what it personally meant to be a refugee.  These young men had left their homes at the ages of 9 and 10 to travel safety and it took years of struggle and horrible treatment to arrive in Tucson.  Emrys was horrified by the stories they told.

Emrys

By the end of college he was working in independent media on food and justice issues and would attend protests and actions and be beaten up and then report the experience. This preceded the blog and other social media era.  It was the only way to get the truth out about how demonstrators were being treated.

Emrys became in involved in No More Deaths(NMD) from the beginning.  He attended the inaugural event, a Memorial Day 2004 cross border march between Nogales Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora.  He went first as an independent/citizen news reporter and later as a core member of the organization.  A year later he was fully involved and living with a group of activists who were all dedicated to NMD. He spent time at the first encampment NMD in the desert in the summer months of 2004. The encampment provides first aid, water and respite for migrants crossing the desert in the hottest months of the year.  It still operates and is now sanctioned by the International Red Cross which makes it a little safer than some other humanitarian operations from being raided by law enforcement and anti-immigrant vigilantes.  

I asked Emrys what victories he has seen in his 10 years of work with NMD.  He shared the following:

• There are a lot of people we have kept alive.  We have countered the policies of the US Border Patrol that includes enforcement through deterrence, even if death is a "collateral."
• There many immigrant groups who are now fighting to make the political change,  and they had to survive in order to be activists.
•  They (NMD) are one of the only groups that can call out the Border Patrol.  He believes that we should defund Border Patrol.  The theme that I saw in the office of Borderlinks in posters is Revitalize Not Militarize Border Communities.  He believes this should be the message for all of our borders.  All land 100 miles in from the border is now under the purview of the Border Control.    He stated that we need to be very alert to the role the Border Patrol is playing.  Even as they become integrated into the community the enforcement aspect becomes subtly integrated into the community.  What if a border patrol dad becomes assistant boy scout leader - will he be welcoming to undocumented boys and/or families.  Or a soccer coach or 4-H leader (I add this because that is the youth development program in my world)?
• The revision of police policy in how immigrants are treated for routine infractions of the law.  Immigration papers will no longer be sought.  The policy was big news in Tucson and upsetting to the crafters of the infamous SB 1070.  It is good to know that one significant community is fighting back.  It follows revisions of policies that will no longer check school children for immigration papers in the Tucson area.  
• Emrys wholeheartedly endorsed Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Homeland by Todd Miller.  Todd has a really informative blog.  I intend to order it from my independent bookseller!

I asked Emrys what he sees as future needs for both NMD and all of us who are concerned with immigrant justice.  His answers were not always easy to hear.  He said that the work for the future for NMD is solidarity with immigrant-led groups and movements.  Allegiance with black-lives matter.  Prison industry targets both black and brown skins.  He shared that the International Red Cross endorses the work of NMD.  "We work within international humanitarian guidelines.    We need to keep on message that we are doing that here.  We (our society) need to think about decolonizing the concept of humanitarianism.  It is seen as something that people of privilege do.

We need to look at people most effected by conditions taking leadership for making the change.  We have to hear and believe their voices.  We need to use language that tells the facts and avoid the use of language that creates veneer of legitimacy.  We need to hear what they are saying: They (the US government immigration agents and policies) are “terrorizing and kidnapping” us and our children.  Then we need to take the voices seriously.

Lots to think about from our conversation.  

Thanks for reading.