Need to hire workers?

CASA has experts in construction, carpentry, landscaping, babysitting, housekeeping, painting, tiling, moving, odd jobs, and more!



Call CASA's Center for Employment at 301.431.4177 or email at mescobar@casamd.org.



Click here to fill out contractor form.

Please fill it out and email it to mescobar@casamd.org

or fax to 301.431.4179 to Attn: Employment.



Center for Employment and Leadership Mission

The employment program provides low-income Latino and African immigrants with essential job placement services and contact with companies and contractors. The program also provides the community with CASA identification cards, which are accepted in different public places, with the eventual purpose of creating a membership organization. The program provides skill development for the workers in conjunction with the education department by providing life skill trainings, thereby improving workers’ access to better jobs. The program also provides workers with opportunities to participate in different collective actions to bring better life conditions to the community in general.

The Employment Program collaborates with the legal program to educate workers about their rights as workers. The Program also works in conjunction with the health program to educate workers about healthy life styles and ways to prevent serious illnesses. The employment program works very closely with the organization department to find leaders to be community speakers and represent the workers in different actions related to the growth of the community.



Day Laborers and Workers at CASA

Day laborers are women and men without full-time jobs who seek temporary work to support themselves and their families. This type of employment activity has always existed, but the number of people forced into day labor has increased in recent years as employers seek to replace permanent workers. Day labor pick-up sites at street corners, vacant lots and shopping centers have proliferated and are now common in urban communities.

For more than 10 years, unemployed men have gathered at dawn in a Silver Spring parking lot, hoping to find a day's work. In recent years their numbers have grown to 150 or more on a given day. The majority are immigrants and refugees from Latin America, but some are born in the U.S. All look for jobs with fair wages and employers who treat them with respect.

Unfortunately, the majority returns each day home without finding work. And often those lucky enough to get a job are cheated of their promised wage after days or weeks of hard work. For some employers, day workers are an easily exploitable labor force, without the knowledge or ability to protect themselves.





Program Schedules and Services



For a schedule of services at CASA's CEL, please click here.





Looking to Hire?



For employers looking to hire at CASA, please call 301.431.4177. This line is answered Monday - Friday from 6am to 12 noon.





Contact:



Silvia Navas

Employment Program Manager

Phone: 301.431.4185 ext. 202

Email: snavas@casamd.org





How CASA helps



CASA's Center for Employment and Leadership (CEL) staff members organize workers according to profession and skill level. This process ensures employers that they're hiring a worker with the requisite skills for a specific job. Employers can leave paychecks with CASA to be distributed to workers. In addition, staff members advertise CASA's services to increase the number of employers who use the center.

In 1991, CASA established the Center for Employment and Leadership (CEL) to assist day workers. The CEL has three primary objectives:


Create an organized hiring hall with an equitable system for the selection of workers

Ensure that workers are paid and protected from exploitation.

Ensure that employers are able to hire workers with requisite skills
The center is located on 1.25 acres at 734 University Boulevard E., between Carroll Avenue and Piney Branch Road.


Accomplishments

In FY04 (July 1, 2003- June 30, 2004) CASA's employment project:

¨ Worked with the national Day labor campaign and groups of day laborers from Culmore, Herdon and other organization in different states to introduce and lobby for the Day laborer Protection Act.

¨ Organized a Soccer league with 8 teams to get day laborers involved in sports in order to avoid addiction to alcohol and drugs. This also improved the image of CASA and the Day Laborer Center.

¨ Provided more than 3,500 IDs to community members.

¨ Received the Annie E. Casey Foundation/NCLR Award – Family Strengthening Award for providing high-quality services that meet the needs of Latino families.

¨ Provided approximately 5,760 jobs to men and women in different employment positions (daily, temporary and permanent) during FY04.

¨ Held worker “town-hall” meetings each month where workers suggested better ways to improve the process of obtaining employment and bringing employers to the center.


Employer Participation Information

CASA actively seeks partnerships with area employers to provide quality labor for full time and part time positions. Our workers receive English language classes, industry-specific skills trainings, and computer skills. Some of our partners include:


Clark Construction
Allentuck Landscaping Company
AFL-CIO

If your company is seeking dedicated, quality workers or if you or your company can provide skills trainings to workers, please CONTACT US.


If you would like to volunteer with CASA to give skills training, to work in our CEL, or to work with any of CASA's programs, please click here.