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DataCenter “Translates” SHAPE UP SF Policy Analysis

On 01.12.11, In Publications, Reports, Uncategorized, By DataCenter

We are excited to share with you our latest project, the Shape Up SF Policy Analysis. This is a translation of a research-heavy report produced by the San Francisco Department of Public Health, with recommendations to create environments that promote physical activities. Thanks to DataCenter, Shape Up is a concise, accessible and useful document that policymakers and organizations will use to create a healthier San Francisco Bay Area community.

Said Marianne S. Szeto of the Shape Up San Francisco Coalition,

“Datacenter… pulled out key concepts into sidebars and tables, and organized information so that it is intuitive for our audience. Always professional and courteous, the DataCenter staff was a delight to work with and the end result was a polished and useful document that we can share with policymakers, community-based organizations, and other partners.”

Check out the full report .

More information about the Shape UP San Francisco Coalition.

Video Tributes

On 12.08.10, In Events, By DataCenter

In case we missed you at the Gala, here are the video tributes to Zoia and Fred. Special thanks to Ron Nobu Sakamoto for creating the videos!
Click here to view photos of the Gala on Flickr
Click here to view Lincoln Cushing’s Historical Gallery Panels

Tribute to Fred Goff from DataCenter on Vimeo.

Tribute to Zoia Horn from DataCenter on Vimeo.

Tagged with: fred goff • miho kim • photos • regeneration gala • ron nobu sakamoto • video tributes

Data Center Print Newsletter 2010

On 12.02.10, In Newsletters, Program Updates, Publications, Uncategorized, By DataCenter

Read about the highlights of 2010, including a Domestic Workers’ Victory, our most recent publications, stories from our Regeneration Gala, a new Teen Center in West Oakland, and much more!

Look for it in the coming weeks in your mailbox!

Not on our mailing list? Sign up!

or Download it Now (pdf)

New York Passes First Domestic Workers Bill of Rights

On 11.29.10, In Events, In the Media, Movement Research, By DataCenter

On August 31, 2010, New York domestic workers celebrated a groundbreaking victory: the passage of the historic Domestic Workers’ (change to Workers) Bill of Rights in the entire country. It requires that privately employed domestic workers receive holiday, sick, vacation and overtime wages, regardless of an employee’s immigration status. Similar measures are being considered in California and Colorado.

“This is the first legislation in the United States to give basic rights and protections to domestic workers and will cover New York’s 200,000 domestic workers, including nannies, elderly caregivers and housekeepers. The new law requires that private employers provide overtime pay for domestic workers, one day off a week, three days paid leave annually after one year and inclusion in disability benefits laws regardless of immigration status. Similar measures are being considered in California and Colorado.

This victory demonstrates the crucial role that research plays in organizing, at the grassroots level, for broad policy change. In 2004, the Domestic Workers United in partnership with DataCenter published Home is Where the Work Is: Inside New York’s Domestic Work Industry. This seminal study helped pave the way for the bill’s passage and continues to be one of the most authoritative sources of data on this largely invisible and vulnerable workforce. The study also showed how domestic workers can use their own experiential data and be recognized as genuine policymaking experts, heralding a change in the domestic industry as a whole.

DataCenter Partners with Neighborhood Funders Group

On 10.28.10, In Program Updates, By DataCenter

By Miho Kim | Executive Director

DataCenter has partnered with the Washington, D.C.-based Neighborhood Funders Group (NFG), a national philanthropic affinity group of social justice grantmaking institutions, to design and conduct a membership-wide survey for longitudinal use and in preparation for a strategic planning process to commence in January 2011. The data generated from the survey is designed to provide NFG with an in-depth and up-to-date understanding of the member foundations and their current relationship to and involvement with NFG. This will inform NFG’s future strategic direction, programming and services.
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Domestic Worker Survey Project Retreat

On 10.28.10, In Program Updates, By DataCenter

By Christina Fletes | Research Fellow

From October 12th to the 15th, the DataCenter, National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), Center for Urban Economic Developement (CUED), and workers and staff from Adhikaar in New York, Institute of Popular Education of Southern California (IDEPSCA) in Los Angeles, and the Women’s Collective of La Raza Centro Legal in San Francisco gathered to create the survey questions for the national survey project on domestic workers.

DataCenter shared information on how to design a survey?from the types of questions to the structure of the survey. We led activities in which retreat participants were able to practice writing survey questions, learn about the qualities of good and bad questions, and dialogue about what they were learning. During group discussions, we came to understand the importance of having each and everyone one of us present. Sometimes while discussing a question we would hear from those with previous survey experience. This helped us understand the effectiveness of the question and the ways in which to modify it. At other times, domestic workers would give us unique input on why a question was confusing or was not getting to the core of the issue.

This week was a testament to why participatory research, like the one the DataCenter engages in, is so important to organizing our communities and pushing for change. We all bring unique experiences, knowledge and expertise.

“We are the future!” DataCenter and SOUL at CTWO

On 10.03.10, In Program Updates, By DataCenter

By Haruki Eda, DataCenter Fall 2010 Intern

Miho and I, as a new DataCenter intern, co-facilitated this workshop during the National Youth Organizing Training Institute (NYOTI) by School of Unity and Liberation (SOUL), hosted at Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO) in Oakland. A total of 15 youth organizers from the Bay Area, New York City, Boston, and Arizona actively engaged in activities and shared in discussions, to learn the why and how of using research for their work. Our aim was to demystify research and investigation, and to reframe it as a strategic tool to build the power behind their voices in campaigns.

We began with a bingo game that reaffirmed we are already using research every day, and that our communities are experts. “Of course we are experts in our lives, we know that! But what does society say about youth of color?” Miho asked. “Problems,” “criminals,” “stupid,” the participants replied. When Miho asked how they and their own communities see themselves as youth of color, however, we heard “We are the future!” “Strong!” “Beautiful!” “Smart!”… It was very powerful.
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Stories, Culture, & Social Change

On 09.23.10, In About Us, In the Media, By DataCenter

August 31, 2010 – Opening Remarks to CompassPoint Nonprofit Day
By Miho Kim, Executive Director, DataCenter

When I first learned about storytelling being the theme for this year’s Non Profit Day, I was excited. And then, this question crossed my mind. “Will I be expected to share my own story in front of all these people I don’t even know, in a professional setting, at a conference, of all places?!” And then I didn’t like the theme so much any more.

I tell my stories all the time. In fact, I consider myself pretty proficient in telling stories and in listening, and being the holder of stories shared by elders and others. But, that’s not something I don’t do much in my professional capacity or in professional spaces. I was intentionally not bringing that powerful tool called storytelling actively into my professional spaces.
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Tagged with: compasspoint • Nonprofit day 2010 • opening remarks • storytelling

Check, Please!

On 09.20.10, In In the Media, Movement Research, Publications, By DataCenter

The Chinese Progressive Association(CPA), with support from the DataCenter, released the groundbreaking report that documents the working and health conditions of San Francisco Chinatown’s restaurant workers. This report, based on surveys of 433 restaurant workers interviewed by their peers and observational data on 106 restaurants, found a prevalence of low-road industry practices such as wage violations, lack of benefits, poor working conditions, and stressful and hazardous workplaces. These conditions leave workers insecure in their jobs and vulnerable to injury and illness, while negatively affecting consumers, businesses, and the community. The problems in Chinatown reflect a national epidemic of wage theft and lowered labor standards. The report concludes with a series of recommendations to address working conditions for restaurant workers as well as all low wage workers.
» Download the full report (pdf)
» Download the executive summary (pdf)
» Download reports in Chinese, Spanish, or English (pdf)

In The Media: Over 160 people and at least a dozen media outlets attended the press release. Here are some links to newspaper and local television coverage:
SF Chronicle – SF Appeal – The Bay Citizen – Channel 7 – Channel 2

Tagged with: check • chinatown • chinese progressive association • please! • San Francisco restaurant workers • working conditions

Environmental Justice Academy 2010

On 09.20.10, In Movement Research, Program Updates, By DataCenter

By Omonigho Oiyemhonlan, Stanford University, DataCenter Summer Intern

Special Thanks to Jon Frappier and Max Weintraub for presenting at the Camp!

On September 11th & 12th, the DataCenter hosted it third annual research training academy, and first research academy focused on environmental justice. The academy had an amazing turnout with participants from local organizations such as: Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Youth United for Community Action, Greenaction, Pacific Institute, and the Winnemem Wintu tribe.

What made this academy particularly special was the level of enthusiasm and dedication the participants brought. They were not gathered in the 3rd floor conference room to dwell on our past successes or commend each other for the most recent, campaign endeavors. Instead, the DataCenter staff was met with gregarious community organizers, interns, and staff that came prepared with serious questions about how to strategically improve their research framework and realize the goals of their campaign issues. We came prepared to challenge our colleagues and happily they came ready to make the utmost of this opportunity and pose their questions and concerns related to their on-going organizing.
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Tagged with: environmental justice camp • research • summer internships