Oakland-based DataCenter Celebrates 30 Years as
a “Research Tank” for Activists
Through three decades and many social movements,
the DataCenter has brought the power of fact-finding to the people

Contact: Leilani Ly-Huong Nguyen 510.835.4692 x 310

Oakland, CA – Hundreds of community activists and supporters will gather
in Oakland on Thursday, October 25th, to share an evening of jubilation and
storytelling as they celebrate the 30th anniversary of the DataCenter. Unlike
university-based research centers or traditional think tanks, the DataCenter’s
sole focus is on helping ordinary people to use the tools of social science to
challenge abuses of power.

“The DataCenter is an invaluable resource for community members who are
leading the local struggles that add up to the national social movements that
literally change the world,” said Saba Waheed, one of six staff with many
years of research experience and the official job title of Information Activist.

Over the years, the DataCenter’s track record as a critical partner to nonprofit
organizations has been affirmed by local and national victories as diverse as
the activists it serves.

• In 1996 Asian Immigrant Women Advocates reached an historic agreement
with clothing company Jessica McClintock in 1996 creating worker protections
for thousands of garment workers in the San Francisco Bay Area. The
DataCenter provided critical research for the campaign.

• In the 1980’s the Pentagon commended that DataCenter for having the best
database in the country on plant closures.

• Throughout the 1980s, the DataCenter provided documentation for immigration
attorneys representing Central Americans who sought political asylum in the US.

• The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals cited statistics compiled by the DataCenter
when it ruled that a proposed ski area development in the San Francisco Peaks
region would violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the National
Environmental Policy Act.

• The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination used media
documentation assembled by the DataCenter to confirm the massive and
persistent state discrimination against the Western Shoshone and ruled to
monitor the situation to prevent further human rights violations by the US
government.

• Working with a coalition of Bay Area organizations, DataCenter uncovered
connections between Supervisors and the Super Jail developers that proved
instrumental in the community campaign to halt the construction of the 'super
jail' youth detention facility in Alameda County.

• Through a research partnership with the Restaurant Opportunities Center in
New York, DataCenter successfully advocated for the inclusion of tipped
restaurant workers in the New York State minimum wage increase initiative.

• Last year, the DataCenter partnered with three Bay Area organizations use
research to argue for historic legislation to establish employment rights for
domestic workers. While State legislators found the arguments persuasive, and
passed it in both the Assembly and Senate, Governor Schwartzenegger vetoed
the Household Worker Equity Bill.

DataCenter staff use the term Research Justice to counter the presumption that
research need be an elite enterprise. A core concept is the idea that the production
of knowledge about social problems should be guided in part by the people whose
lives are most directly affected by economic inequity, environmental degradation,
racism and other harms.

History
Born of the longstanding organization North American Congress on Latin
America (NACLA), the DataCenter was first an investigative research library
where staffers monitored 400 print publications.

Hailed as a goldmine for journalists, the DataCenter produced publications on
such timely topics as the decline of manufacturing (Plant Shutdowns Monitor
and Steel Monitor, 1981) and the rise of the Right (see The Reagan File, 1980,
and CultureWatch newsletter, 1993-2000). Its international reputation as an
information resource attracted visitors and clients such as Michael Manley,
former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Jerry Brown, former California Governor
and Mayor of Oakland, the UN Center for Transnational Corporations, and
lawyers for United Farmworkers Union founder Cesar Chavez.

As the muckrakers, community leaders, and whistleblowers who have benefited
from DataCenter fact-finding can attest, holding corporations and governments
accountable is hard work. But as the gap between rich and poor continues to
grow, the DataCenter is more determined than ever to help community members
counter abuses of power with facts that help solidify the case for social justice.

Sample quotes from a handful of contacts available for interviews prior to
October 25:

“The work with the DataCenter has enabled many [taxi] drivers to reflect on
their own conditions, expand our membership base and develop longer term
goals for the future.” - Ronald Blount, Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania

“The DataCenter has been far ahead of its time in embracing a methodology
wherein community members define their own research agenda and then
acquire the skills to carry it out themselves.” - Linta Varghese, professor,
Vassar College

“DataCenter helped us to draw attention to the realities of Koreatown's
working families. The data we gathered and analyzed together lead us to
prioritize the need for just workplaces, affordable and safe housing, and
affordable health care.” - Vy Nguyen, Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance
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