The mission of the Day Worker Center is to assist day laborers in Santa Cruz County to secure safe employment, develop job skills, improve wages, and become more fully engaged members of our community. The Center facilitates the employment of day laborers in a safe hiring space and through an organized and dignified process.
The Day Worker Center of Santa Cruz County is a component of the Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization providing services to promote economic stability since 1965. The Center was established by a diverse group of community stakeholders including day workers, leaders from churches, labor organizations, non-profit organizations, and the community, to provide job-matching services for hundreds of local homeowners and businesses annually.
Oversight and administration comes from the Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County’s Administration division. In addition, the Day Worker Committee, composed of current Day Worker Center members, works actively to develop and carry out the day-to-day worker-related activities at the Center. In addition to supporting the day laborer population, the Center contributes to our community in the following ways:
- provides a location for employers to hire workers via telephone, by email or online and in person during Center hours of operation
- reaches out to day workers soliciting work on the streets to inform them about the Center’s services
- provides worker-led community service activities
- helps coordinate and participate in community events such as neighborhood clean-ups
- provides English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to the workers while waiting for job matches, facilitating interactions with employers and workers
- decreases the number of workers soliciting employment on the street
- reduces complaints in the areas where workers congregate, in turn reducing the number of calls to law enforcement
- reduces strain on local emergency rooms by providing making referrals for medical needs before they become an acute crisis to appropriate providers
The mission of the Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County is to advocate for, coordinate, and administer community programs to combat poverty and the causes of poverty in Santa Cruz County.
