Category Archives: Jornaleros

Pitzer College Benefit Car Wash!!

Please bring you cars out on friday April 20, 2012 in support for the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center and the Fernando Pedraza Community Coalition!!!!

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Carwash Friday April 20, 2012, on the service road in between the Grove House and Atherton.

-Time:10:00 am-2:00pm

-Bring your cars, bikes, whatever!!!!!

-The cost is only $5 (Donations are also accepted :D)

All profits go to both the PEOC and the Fernando Pedraza Community Coalition

 

The PEOC is a non-profit day labor organization whose mission is to provide an opportunity for day laborers to find safe work at a fair wage, to organize and advocate for themselves, to obtain new trades and skills that improve their employability and quality of life, and to improve the overall conditions for all workers..

 

The Fernando Pedraza Community Coalition is a loose coalition of day laborers, community members, organizers, and students from the Claremont Colleges and Cal Poly Pomona.

-The goal is to create and maintain a relationship between each group and to create a supportive network for the workers. This includes teaching English, computers, and organizing and helping to fundraise for soccer games, emergencies and other events and needs that present themselves.

Noemi Larrondo

Pitzer College 2014

Pol Stds/Chicano Stds

Spanish Minor

 

PLEASE COME & SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!!!

Pomona council grants center funds

Monica Rodriguez, Staff Writer Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

POMONA – City Council members this week approved allocating $37,000 to the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center.

Council members voted unanimously to allocate the funds, which will help the center continue operating until the end of June.

Nine speakers went before the council on Monday and briefly spoke about the center and how it serves Pomona residents and day laborers.

The center, found on Mission Boulevard just east of the 71 Freeway, is often referred to as the Pomona Day Labor Center and for about 15 years has helped workers obtain short-term and long-term jobs. The center has assisted workers negotiate fair wages in addition to helping them in other areas such as learn English and improving their jobs skills.

Councilman Steve Atchley said the funding will help the center in the short term. “Maybe we bought a little time,” he said.

The center has made great progress finding other revenue sources that have allowed it to reduce its reliance on city funding, Atchley said. It’s difficult to say if the city will be able to help the center in the future, he said.

The city must close a $2.5 million gap in the 2012-13 fiscal year budget and prepare for 2013-14, which is expected to be another financially difficult fiscal year, Atchley said.

To provide some assistance to the center, the city will need an increase in revenue, one time funds or some help from the state, he said. However, Atchley said he’s not counting on the state to provide cities with assistance.

For about 13 years, the city has provided financial assistance to the center, according to a city staff report. The last eight years of funding came from the city’s Redevelopment Agency. The last time the Redevelopment Agency provided financial assistance to the center was for the 2010-11 fiscal year when $123,930 was allocated, according to the city staff report.

Funds were not allocated for the 2011-12 fiscal year as a result of the passage of legislation approving the dismantling of the state’s redevelopment agencies, which left the future of the city’s agency unclear.

The center has survived with the use of grants, reserves and in-kind services and by scaling back some of its hours of operation.

The funds the City Council allocated for the center came from the General Fund’s General Services Division budget.

That budget contains funds for general government expenses such as dues for government associations, for some contract services and for contingencies, said Mark Gluba, assistant to the city manager.

Some expenses in that budget area “did not come to fruition,” said Raymond Fong, the city’s redevelopment director.

City administrators proposed using some of those funds for the center.

How to fund the center for the 2012-2013 fiscal year will be a matter to be addressed as part of the budget development process, Fong said.

The center will need at least $75,000 from the city to operate the coming year and efforts will made assist with that sum, he said.

However, “we’re not guaranteeing $75,000,” Fong said.

The $75,000 is the minimum needed to keep the center running, said Suzanne Foster, the center’s executive director. To continue offering programs and services the center has offered it must raise $150,000 to $200,000, she said.

Finding that money will not be easy.

“A lot of foundations are not accepting unsolicited proposals,” Foster said. Some groups and foundations are only funding groups they’ve funded before or groups they’ve invited to apply for grants, she said.

So the search for funding continues, including identifying grant opportunities that fit with the work the center carries out and the needs of the workers.Reach Monica via email or call her at 909-483-9336.

POMONA: Centro jornalero recibe apoyo de la ciudad

ALEJANDRO CANO

ALEJANDRO CANO ESPECIAL PARA LA PRENSA

Publicado: 17 abril 2012 10:40 AM

Junta Directiva de Pomona

ALEJANDRO CANO/ESPECIAL PARA LA PRENSA John Nolte, presidente de la junta directiva del centro jornalero, dijo que se ganó una batalla, pero que con la unión comunitaria se ganará la guerra.

Conocido como el Centro de Oportunidades Económicas de Pomona (PEOC), el centro jornalero continuará ofreciendo sus servicios, aunque de manera limitada, por los próximos meses debido a que el lunes 16 de abril por la noche, el Concejo Municipal de dicha localidad aprobó otorgar 37,000 dólares que serán destinados al mantenimiento y funcionamiento del mismo.
Para los opositores de la inmigración ilegal, el centro jornalero ubicado en las intersecciones de la Avenida Mission y la Autopista 71 en la ciudad de Pomona es una carga más para la ciudad y debería ser disuelto. Pero para una centena de trabajadores que todos los días se congregan en el lugar con la esperanza de conseguir trabajo, el centro representa su segundo hogar.
“Lo miramos como una victoria. Entendemos que la ciudad está en problemas económicos y agradecemos el esfuerzo por mantener abierto el centro”, comentó Suzanne Foster, directora ejecutiva de PEOC. “El centro es mucho más que un lugar para conseguir empleo, es un santuario para los inmigrantes donde se sienten protegidos y seguros”.
Foster indicó que los 37,000 dólares destinados por el concejo de manera unánime mantendrán el centro abierto por los próximos cuatro meses, dependiendo de cuánto recorte se implemente. Debido a que el centro no había recibido ayuda financiera alguna por los últimos 18 meses, la directiva tuvo que implementar recortes que afectan directamente al trabajador, admitió Foster.
“Ya no abrimos los domingos, eliminamos los baños portátiles de afuera, reducimos el horario de servicio diario y estamos viendo la manera de evitar recortes de empleados. La situación es crítica al grado de que si seguimos así, tendremos que cancelar las clases de inglés y las sesiones informativas sobre los derechos del trabajador”, añadió Foster.
Según directivos, el centro necesita 250,000 dólares anuales para poder operar al máximo, ofreciendo información legal, clases de inglés y talleres de salud, así como información laboral que beneficia al trabajador. Existen planes para destinar 75,000 dólares adicionales al centro antes del 30 de junio, dijo Foster, plan que de ser aprobado por el concejo de la ciudad mantendría el centro abierto el próximo año.
Por su parte, John Nolte, presidente de la junta directiva de PEOC, dijo que se ganó una lucha, pero que aún falta mucho para ganar la guerra. Nolte instó a la comunidad a seguir más unida que nunca para poder adjudicarse victorias en temas de retenes vehiculares y separación de familias por razones de inmigración.
“Esto es prueba de que cuando el pueblo se une, se triunfa. Hoy hemos triunfado, un triunfo que fue posible por la unión ejercida”, indicó Nolte.
El centro fue fundado en 1998 en respuesta a las denuncias de abuso de poder y perfil racial ejercido en contra de los jornaleros que todos los días se congregaban en las afueras de una tienda de materiales de construcción local. Desde entonces, el concejo ha destinado millones de dólares para su mantenimiento.
Conjuntamente, fundaciones como Liberty Hill, Public Welfare y California Wellness, entre otras, han otorgado becas para que la directiva implemente sesiones educativas en varios centros jornaleros ubicados en las ciudades de Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino y Riverside.
El centro tiene como misión proveer a los trabajadores una oportunidad de empleo seguro sin correr el peligro de ser maltratados y abusados por los contratistas. Para lograr este objetivo, el centro ha unido fuerzas con universidades locales, así como coaliciones y organizaciones no lucrativas que defienden los derechos del inmigrante.

Centro para Jornaleros

Christian Gavilanes is featured in this news broadcast on Channel 62. The Pomona city council agreed to continue funding the center. Although it still needs more funding in the coming year, a big victory was won in getting the city council to fund the center for the next three months and to decide on more funding in June. Thanks to all the Pitzer students, Pomona High School students, day laborers, and community supporters who turned out to support!