LABORS TRAINING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE
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Mission Statement
Labor’s Training and Community Development Alliance (the “Alliance”) is a 501c(3) organization funded by grants, private donations and contracts with other entities, whose mission is to provide job-related training to the transitioning labor force and to participate in the development of community projects for the benefit of union members and the general public. Its main program is currently the Employee Rights Center.
About This Cause
The San Diego area is home to large immigrant worker populations from three very different parts of the world: (1) Mexico & Latin America, (2) Southeast Asia and (3) East Africa. They all share a common problem of limited access to services and resources even when they qualify for them. They need education and assistance to access benefits like paid family medical leave, state disability insurance, or health related clinical services. Finally, they need education and training about their rights to safe and healthy work and community environments to achieve full integration into their new community. Since its inception in 1999 the Employee Rights Center has provided the only non-profit outreach to low-income workers in San Diego County who lack union representation to provide them education and advocacy regarding their rights. In 2004 the Employee Rights Center expanded this kind of outreach to include immigration rights through “Labor’s Immigration Program”. In the years that followed Center staff reviewed the policy analysis “Low Wage Injured Workers and Access to Clinical Care” by Glenn Shor, PhD, MPP funded in part by The California Wellness Foundation. Its analysis and recommendations very much fit the Center’s ongoing approach to this issue. Starting in 2008 the Center established a San Diego site for the Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP) in coordination with the Labor Occupational Safety & Health (LOSHP Program at UCLA. This program is sponsored by the National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH) and the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics (AOEC). Through this program the Center brings yearly research and reporting to San Diego workplaces and established regular relations with the Masters in Public Health program at San Diego State University to recruit local students. This research informs the Center and its partners about the connections or the lack thereof between working conditions and workers access to health through local resources. In 2007 the Center became a founding member of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium creating greater coordination and support for those member organizations advocating for greater immigrant rights and the legalization of those undocumented. The more that immigrants know about their rights to public health benefits the more likely they are to use them. In 2011 it helped organize and operate the San Diego Naturalization Collaborative which seeks to expand and streamline the naturalization process for the large number of eligible immigrants in San Diego. Of course, immigrants greatly increase their eligibility to public health benefits upon becoming U.S. citizens. Also, for the past four years the Center has helped organize and continues to partner with the United Taxi Workers of San Diego (UTWSD), an association of lease taxi drivers comprised largely (70%) of African immigrant males who seek to improve their working conditions and community through civic engagement. This association seeks to represent the 2,000 local taxi drivers in advocating for safer and healthier working conditions and for better health in their immigrant communities. The Center’s part-time organizer provides ongoing resources for this work, especially her expertise in using social media to communicate with taxi drivers who work up to 12 hours per day, 6 or 7 days per week throughout the San Diego area. Health surveys have become a useful tool in this regard. Lastly, the Center provides legal services and referrals regarding immigration status, with special emphasis on naturalization, which improves access to public health benefits, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (D.A.C.A.), which legalizes undocumented workers who gain legal work status and subsequent empowerment to claim those benefits that give them access to health care, i.e., workers compensation and state disability insurances. It provides legal services and referrals regarding these workplace rights. Through its Community Health Educator the Center brings ACA enrollers to its clients at the Center, provides case management to residents, and conducts monthly workshops.