http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 538655.htm

Posted on Tue, May. 09, 2006

San Mateo County approves new day worker program


Bay City News Service

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved today a resolution authorizing an agreement between the county and the Multicultural Institute, which will now operate the county's Day Worker Program.

The San Mateo County Human Services Agency noted in a report that members of the Redwood City community have voice concern about day workers congregating to seek employment.

To mitigate those concerns, the county, in contract with El Concilio, launched a pilot day worker program in the North Fair Oaks unincorporated area of Redwood City, according to the report.

Now, as a result of today's unanimous vote, the Multicultural Institute will take over and operate the Day Worker Program.

``I think this is going to be an outstanding program and a novel approach,'' Supervisor Jerry Hill said today.

The Multicultural Institute, which was founded in Berkeley in 1991, will provide street-based outreach to day laborers and employers, according to Rigoberto Caloca-Rivas, executive director of the Multicultural Institute.

According to Caloca-Rivas, the institute will help day laborers find employment, designate pick-up sites for the day laborers that will not be an inconvenience to others and offer day workers access to training, Caloca-Rivas said.

The county hopes to have a 35 percent match rate between day laborers and employers by 2008, according to the report.

``Too many communities have simply just walked away'' from this issue, Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson said.

To help fund the program, the institute was given $288,000, which is to be spent between July 1 and June 30, 2008.