For Immediate Release
April 26, 2015
Contact:
Pilar Rocha-Goldberg, El Centro Hispano NC, procha@elcentronc.org
Salvador G. Sarmiento, NDLON, sgarmiento@ndlon.org
Carrboro Opens First Workers Center for Day Laborers in North Carolina
“A promise fulfilled to serve our community—work with dignity, pride & fair wages”
Orange County, NC—On Sunday, community leaders joined Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle and Aldermen Randee Haven-O’Donnell to celebrate the opening of the first workers’ center for day laborers in North Carolina. Workers and community leaders celebrated the opening with a procession from the street corner where day laborers would congregate to the new location for the workers center.
Members of The Carrboro Day Laborer Task Force and El Centro Hispano hosted Mayor Lavelle and residents from across Orange County for the official ribbon-cutting followed by tours of the new space located at 201 W. Weaver Street in the Town of Carrboro. The workers center—the Center for Employment & Leadership—will serve as a safe place for local day laborers to gather and seek work, and for community members to hire workers safely and fairly.
“Day laborers are a part of our community and we want everyone to be able to integrate, to have job satisfaction, and grow personally,” said Mayor Lavelle after the ceremony. “These employees need protection and our employers also should be able to know how to find these workers. We want to make it better for both parts of the equation to be able to connect.”
The workers center in Carrboro is the first in the state and serves as a model for immigrant inclusion across the United States south, where immigrant populations have been targeted by anti-immigrant legislation and racial profiling. “The worker center’s vision that has come to be true—work with dignity, pride and fair wage” said Randee Haven-O’Donnell of the Board of Aldermen. “This center is a promise fulfilled to serve our community.”
“In the face of legislative efforts that seek to exclude our communities, in establishing this workers center our town has chosen inclusion and dignity,” said Pilar Rocha-Goldberg, President of El Centro Hispano, member organization of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON). “We look forward to building this space for equity, and hope it serves as a model for other communities that seek to protect their immigrant residents rather than exclude them.”
About El Centro Hispano
El Centro Hispano (ECH) is a 501(c)(3) grassroots community based organization dedicated to strengthening the Hispanic/Latino community and improving the quality of life of Hispanic/Latino residents in Durham, Carrboro, Chapel Hill and surrounding areas. We accomplish our mission through service, education and community organizing. We serve more than 11000 people annually in our four core programs.
About the Carrboro Day Laborer Task Force
The project represents 10 years of collaborative planning among various groups including the Town of Carrboro and Board of Aldermen, the Carrboro Police Department, El Centro Hispano, Orange County Justice United, the Chapel Hill/Carrboro Human Rights Center, St. Thomas More Catholic Church, Community Church of Chapel Hill, and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce.
###