NY $1.2 Million Grant Brings Day Laborers Indoors for Job Training
Posted on Tuesday, December 22 @ 10:51:44 EST
Topic: Illegal Immigration News in the US
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 They wait on the city's street corners, often
shivering in the cold, hoping someone will drive by and offer them a
job. Soon, they will be able to come indoors.
Beginning next month, day laborers will be eligible for job
training and social service programs in three Queens neighborhoods
under a new $1.2 million initiative paid for with federal stimulus dollars.
But advocates say they won't be satisfied with anything less than full-fledged immigration centers.
Subjects: Illegal immigration, illegal aliens, illegal immigrants, day labor, employment, stimulus, package, dollars, day laborers
BY Clare Trapasso
NY Daily News
Tuesday, December 22nd 2009
"The city is doing a great job trying to create
these kinds of services for our community," said Ligia Guallpa of the
Latin American Workers Project, a Jackson Heights-based nonprofit. But,
she added, "the city needs to consider creating real, sustainable job
centers."
The new services will be available for low-wage immigrants in
Jackson Heights, Woodside and Flushing starting on Jan. 4. The city
Department of Youth and Community Development also will launch two
similar programs in Brooklyn and one on Staten Island.
But Guallpa said she would rather see the city invest in permanent
job centers that can educate and train workers and advocate on behalf
of them. She is worried about what will happen to the initiative when
the stimulus money runs out in September.
Day laborers routinely contend with intimidation from local
residents, merchants and police, she said. And with the poor economy,
there's less work for the immigrants, who often get stiffed on their
pay, she added. Her group runs a day-laborer center in Brooklyn that
organizes workers and provides job and English-language training.
"We need job centers that...understand the real issues that day
laborers are facing in New York City," said Guallpa, whose group
applied to run one of the Brooklyn programs.
Each group participating in the initiative will be required to work
with about 80 immigrants, said Youth and Community Development
spokesman Ryan Dodge.
Edwin Meléndez, a member of the city's Temporary Commission on Day
Laborer Job Centers, believes job centers can be good for the community
too. "You mitigate the conflict between workers and merchants and
neighbors who may object to [the day laborers] standing on corners," he
said.
Councilman-elect Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights) said he plans to advocate for permanent centers during his term.
"We need to address the problems that day laborers face holistically, rather than piecemeal," Dromm said.
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