Program Updates | DataCenter

Right to the City-Los Angeles release a city-wide housing report card

On 06.30.10, In Program Updates, Publications, Reports, By admin

‘F’ por inspección de vivienda de alquiler – Róger Lindo, La Opinion, 30 June 2010
View the Report Card

DataCenter provided research support to the Right to the City Los Angeles on a report card based on 481 surveys of residents living in Koreatown, South Los Angeles and Boyle Heights. The survey, similar to what the city uses for its housing inspections, found residents living in substandard housing – facing issues of infestations and problems with the structure (particularly walls and ceiling), plumbing, heating, wiring and building upkeep and safety. The report card fails the city in its role to provide habitable living conditions for most tenants and its Code Enforcement process that has not worked. RTTC LA will use the report card to urge the City of Los Angeles to enact stricter policies along with community based solutions to improve the housing and living conditions for over 1 million tenants in the City.

The survey was implemented by Right to the City Alliance members: ¡Comunidad Presente!, Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance, South Asian Network, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, Union de Vecinos with additional research support provided by UCLA Professor Jackie Leavitt.

Tagged with: housing conditions • report card • Right to the City Los Angeles

Editorial: Domestic Workers’ Rights

On 06.08.10, In In the Media, Program Updates, By admin

from 6 June 2010, New York Times

New York State has the chance to lead the nation in extending basic workplace protections to domestic workers — the nannies, housekeepers and caregivers for the elderly who are as essential to the economy as they are overlooked and unprotected.

The State Senate has just passed a domestic workers’ bill of rights, with an array of guarantees that most workers take for granted, like paid holidays, sick days, vacation days and the right to overtime pay and collective bargaining.
Read the full article

BREAKING NEWS: Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights Passed in NY Senate

On 06.03.10, In In the Media, Program Updates, By admin

In the News:
Victoria laboral para trabajadores domésticos – Catalina Jaramillo, El Diario NY
For Nannies, Hope for Workplace Protection - Russ Buettner, The New York Times
NY Lawmakers Approve Domestic Worker Rights – Michael Virtanen, The Associated Press

Congratulations to Domestic Workers United, for the passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in the NY State Legislature! On June 1st, the NY State Legislature passed a bill that provides collective bargaining rights and labor protection for domestic workers. If Gov. Patterson signs the bill into law, it will be the first of its kind in the country. (more…)

Tagged with: associated press • bill of rights • domestic workers • new york • new york times • senate

We Call These Projects Home

On 05.27.10, In Program Updates, Publications, Reports, By admin

The Right to the City Alliance, along with DataCenter support, recently released a public housing report titled “We Call These Projects Home”. Read the Huffington Post’s op-ed about the report and download the PDF report here!

Tagged with: huffington post op-ed • public housing • report • right to the city alliance • we call these projects home • white paper

Training on the Basics of Research Strategizing

On 05.12.10, In Program Updates, By admin

by Saba Waheed

Last month, DataCenter trained 40 people in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The participants came from various fields including public health, organizing, academia, social services and policy advocacy. In Los Angeles, we partnered with Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA) at the The California Wellness Foundation convening of their work and health grantees and guided participants through the research planning and strategizing process. The audience was especially energized by MUA staff Claudia Reyes and Juana Flores who laid out in detail how they were able to design the survey instruments, train members, implement the survey and conduct analysis and then transfer that data into an effective organizing strategy. Similarly, in San Francisco, we provided a half day training on research and planning through CompassPoint. We had good discussions on ways that data could tell a community’s story. These trainings have emerged out of years of creating and improving curricula that can simply outline the basics in research planning but more importantly, guide in picking methods strategically so that the information is being leveraged in the most powerful way.

Tagged with: compasspoint • datacenter workshops • mujeres unidas y activas • research strategizing • the california wellness foundation • trainings

Southeast Asian Youth Survey finally to be released!

On 05.12.10, In Movement Research, Program Updates, Publications, Reports, By admin

PRYSM

We are pleased to announce the release of “The Quality of Life for Southeast Asian Youth in Providence” by Providence Youth Movement (PrYSM). The report has been 4-years in the making, and includes data from the Southeast Asian Youth Survey, conducted by PrYSM youth back in 2006. The survey interviewed over 360 Southeast Asian youth living in Providence, RI. DataCenter provided support and training for the project. It will be released at S.E.A. The Future, a conference which will take place on May 15-16, 2010, at the MET -Peace Street Campus. The convening is historical and is the first initiative to bring together a large sector of Southeast Asian community leadership in Rhode Island – they are expecting to bring together 140-150 youth and adult leaders, stakeholders, and decision-makers.

Tagged with: PrYSM • southeast asian youth survey

Decolonizing the University Conference

On 03.12.10, In Events, Program Updates, By admin

by Catalina Garzon

February 26th, 2010
University of California, Berkeley

DataCenter co-facilitated a workshop on “Decolonizing Research” with Pacific Institute’s Community Strategies Program at the Decolonizing the University Conference. Hosted at Berkeley, the conference gathered hundreds of students from across the UC and CSU university systems to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Third World Strike that led to the formation of Ethnic Studies Departments at UC Berkeley, San Francisco State, and other campuses. Miho Kim co-led the workshop with Program Co-Director Catalina Garzón. Fifteen students attended the interactive workshop, which focused on discussing the historical treatment of low-income and communities of color as “research subjects” and on re-imagining the role of researchers in documenting community-generated knowledge to support empowerment and social change.

Tagged with: decolonizing research • Decolonizing the University Conference • uc berkeley

Khmer Girls for Action: Second Data Workshop

On 03.03.10, In Program Updates, By admin

“Duh!” written on numerous post-its were placed on a human body drawn on butcher paper. The body was one of three, each one representing a different audience that would receive findings from the youth survey. The body represented Khmer youth and workshop participants felt that the response of youth to each finding they reviewed, would be – of course, we already knew that.
(more…)

Tagged with: data feud • khmer girls for action • second data workshop

National Domestic Workers Alliance Project

On 03.03.10, In Program Updates, By admin

In 2003, DataCenter was approached by the Domestic Workers United to partner on a participatory, worker-led research project to document the working conditions of domestic workers in New York City. That project led to a parallel one in the Bay Area and the two projects laid down the groundwork for institutionalizing community-led research at the DataCenter.
(more…)

Tagged with: center for urban economic development • national domestic workers alliance