Track Record

• Bringing the Power of the Union into the Community

  
  In the end of 2009, as we prepare to help push for needed immigration, labor and healthcare reforms at the Federal level, La Fuente’s projects, the NYCPP and LICPP, have focused on developing skilled leaders through local campaign work and practical workshops and trainings. 
  In addition to achieving concrete changes in our communities, members have been energizing and preparing for bigger legislative battles ahead.
  In Upper Manhattan, members have practiced reaching out and involving new community members in activism through house visits and public education about childhood obesity and diabetes. 
  We teamed up with 32BJ SEIU, the Laborers, local allies, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and Olympic gold medalist Kevin Young to engage local parents and children in a summer health fair and walk to raise awareness.
  In the Bronx, we look forward to the official ground-breaking of the soon-to-be-renovated Fox playground this fall.  This renovation is the result of a hard-won advocacy and budget fight by NYCPP members. 
  We are also proud of another campaign victory in the Bronx: we have received a commitment from the Borough President to work with us to provide interpretation services at all Community Board meetings in the Bronx beginning in 2011. 
  These victories will have a concrete impact on community residents’ lives and were a direct result of organizing and activism by local community members.

   



• Promoting Civic Participation at the Local Level

  
  Community Education & Civic Participation
  La Fuente’s projects develop the leadership of rank and file union and community members through civic participation at the neighborhood level.
  Local and federal elections provided context and momentum for members to play leadership roles.  While NYCPP and LICPP cannot endorse candidates, due to our tax-exempt status, we can make sure candidates know community concerns and make sure that community members know where candidates stand on important local and national issues.

   

  Candidate Forums
  In 2009, a number of special elections took place in our neighborhoods—for City Council seats as well as for the Borough President in the Bronx.  NYCPP members helped plan candidate forums in our different neighborhoods together with community allies, mobilized community participation and pressed candidates on important issues.

  
  Immigrant Worker Statement of Principles
  Members engaged those who were already registered or who were not yet eligible to vote by getting them to sign on to pledge cards supporting an “Immigrant Worker Statement of Principles” that we developed together with community and labor partners in NYC.
  
  Throughout the  Summer and Fall of 2008, NYCPP members used the excitement around the national election to register voters and remind them about their rights as voters.  We partnered with local community colleges, churches, mosques and other community groups to set up voter registration tables and to hold “know your rights” workshops.

   



• Leadership Development Institute

  
  In August 2008, we enhanced our Leadership Development Institute in two ways:  we provided an advanced track, and we worked with member leaders to plan and facilitate the entire basic track.
  The advanced track provided an opportunity for more experienced member leaders to examine issues of discrimination and oppression.  This workshop helped us to address some of the challenges we confront as we try to build solidarity among working-class immigrant community members from diverse backgrounds.
  The basic track provided member leaders with the experience of planning and running a day-long workshop for union and community members on organizing and building power.
  We are building on this 2-track model as we develop our 2009 Leadership Development Institute in October.



• Developing Leaders on Long Island

  
  The LICPP’s members have not had as much experience with civic participation as the NYCPP members, and the 2008 election provided an exciting opportunity for them to exercise new skills.
  Following a series of trainings on voter registration, mobilization and door-knocking, a team of mostly immigrant union and community members spent a day knocking on the doors of eligible but unregistered voters.  For many, this was the first time they had done this.
  In the process, one of the people whose door was knocked became an active member of LICPP. 

   



• Votes & Voices

  
  Our Votes & Voices series of political education workshops provides an opportunity for members to connect the campaigns and issues they are working on to a broader political context. 
  The 2009 series, which is taking place this September, provides members with an opportunity to look at timelines illustrating US economic, immigration and education history. 
  Participants will identify trends and relationships between the three and situate their current situation and campaigns in a historical context.

   



• Building Bridges Through Campaigns

  
  The NYCPP has played a leadership role in calling on the New York City Department of Education to include the Muslim holidays in the School Calendar. 
  This campaign has provided an important opportunity for rank-and-file Latino union and community members to work in solidarity with their Muslim brothers and sisters of a wide range of different backgrounds.
  This summer, we had an important initial victory in this campaign.  On June 30, the New York City Council overwhelmingly passed Resolution 1281 supporting recognition of the Muslim Holidays.
  Victor Perez, a member of 32BJ SEIU and NYCPP, spoke at the press conference convened by the Coalition for Muslim School holidays.
  He talked about the importance of different ethnic and religious groups coming together to fight for children’s educational rights and concluded by saying: “Children from all backgrounds and faiths should have equal opportunities for education and be considered full members of our society.” 



• Keep Public Libraries Open

  Brought together parents and children from WashingtonHeights and Bushwick and won the fight to keep public libraries open in these low-income immigrant communities of color, where they were facing severe cuts proposed by the Bloomberg administration.



• Translation and Interpretation Services

  With the help of diverse allies and our membership base, guided the passing of a new law requiring the city’s welfare, food stamps, and Medicaid offices to provide translation and interpretation services to those not proficient in English.



• Social Security “No Match” Letters

  Lead the New York arm of a national campaign against Social Security “No Match” Letters—used by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and employers to fire immigrant workers. Through worker education, collaboration with unions and community groups, press outreach, and concerted pressure on the New York Regional Social Security Office, we forced a dramatic policy reversal—preventing up to 870,000 immigrant workers from being fired and possibly subjected to deportation out of an initial total of 1 million.



• DMV and Anti-REAL ID campaign

  Preventing the suspension of hundreds of thousands of immigrants’ driver’s licenses through our DMV and anti-REAL ID campaign while helping to introduce two bills at the state level that would allow immigrants to keep their licenses.



• REAL ID

  In December 2005, NYCPP and other members of the NY Coalition for Immigrants’ Rights to Drivers’ Licenses worked with the New York City Council to pass a resolution calling for New York State to opt out of the anti-immigrant bill passed by Congress called REAL ID.  This resolution is the first anti-REAL ID implementation resolution at the local level in the nation and is now used as a model by groups in other states.



• Mobilizing Immigrant Voters

  Mobilizing immigrant voters for the 2005 New York City Mayoral election, training our immigrant leaders on non-partisan election work.



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