Inauguration!

On January 20th, 2009 we all gathered at the Day Workers' Center and watched this historic inaugeration of our new president. We had three TV's playing at once, and had speakers hooked up to Spanish radio so we could all understand. We were in solidarity with all those who went to the inauguration in person as we stood in the cold to watch!

After the ceremony was over, we had a discussion and asked ourselves questions such as 'what are our hopes for the future? for this administration?', 'how to you see the relationship between African Americans and Latinos changing as a result of this election?', and 'what are you priorities for this administration?'. All of the questions brought up good conversation and showed a wide range of opinions and perspectives.

The next day, Hilary sent out an email in reflection:

"Dear Brothers and Sisters:

This is indeed an exciting time for all of us in the United States and the world. I felt so proud to hear President Obama mention our patchwork nation and how it is strong because we include everyone. He asked us to take responsibility for ourselves, our nation and our world, and to make sacrifices and hard decisions for the common good.

I couldn't go to Washington DC to see the inauguration but my daughter Gabi was present. She took the bus from Boston where she was going to the university. I ended up watching the inauguration from Seattle, standing outside in the cold alongside 75 day laborers and our staff and volunteers in our workers center. We had four tvs going and also projected it on a screen with Spanish translation. After watching the whole ceremony and hearing Obama's speech, our staff led a discussion with the day laborers analyzing what they had heard. Their conclusion: an immigration reform was not on the horizon and that despite new leadership that they could believe in, things were going to worse for them before they got better. The economic recession is deep and is affecting them first and worst. They have no govt support to get them through the hard economic times when there are no jobs going out of the center and every day more people are coming to the center looking for work. At the same time, govt enforcement of immigration is tightening and will probably not be stopped by the new administration. So it was a hopeful day, but also sobering.


In solidarity,

Hilary"

Dia de Reyes en CASA-Latina

CASA Latina festejo a su comunidad de trabajadores realizando una fiesta que se llama Reyes Magos, esta fiesta se llevo a cabo en el centro comunitario CASCADE, este festejo se realiza por la llegada de los reyes magos al lugar en donde nacio el niño Jesus, y los reyes magos le llevaron sus regalos por esta razon nuestra comunidad festeja esta fiesta.

CASA Latina celebrated this holiday season with our participants in a party celebrating Wise Men (Magi). This event was held at the community center CASCADE. This celebration is carried out by the arrival of the Wise Men to the place where Jesus was born a child, and the Wise Men give their gifts to him. That's why our community is celebrating this event.

The wise men gave gifts to our children, who were very happy to receive gifts.

Los reyes magos entragaron los regalos a nuestros niños que muy felices los recibieron los obsequios.


I think the happiest in this picture are Cris and Sergio (the adults) because the child doesn't understand anything about photos--just gifts!
Pienso que los mas felices de esta fiesta fue Cris y Sergio Porque el Niño no entendia nada de fotos.



These are participants in our Women's Group and the truth is that they look very happy during our celebration.
Estan son las flamantes integrantes del Grupo de Mujeres y la verdad es que se ven muy radiantes y felices en nuestro festejo





Some participants from the Workers' Center that celebrated the Day of the Kings.
Algunos participantes del centro de trabajadores que festejaron el día de reyes



One of the activities we had on this Day of the Kings was singing some songs for the people who came.
Entre las activodades realizadas el dia de reyes magos, ellos cantaron algunas canciones para las personas asistentes.



In these parties we never go without a famous piñata--they're always well received and beautiful.

Lo que en estos festejos nunca falta son las famosas piñatas, las simper bien recibidad y bonitas piñatas.

Party under the piñata! I like candy, and especially candy from the piñata.

Viva !!! la fiesta y abajo la piñata, me gustan los dulces y en especial los de esta Piñata.

Yuuuuuummmmm!!! These are the famous 'Sweet Bread of the Kings' that always looks really tasty.

Huuuummmmmm !!!! Esta son las famosas roscas de reyes que se ven muy apetitosa

These are the Wise Men that are half crazy, but in the end, they're kings that had a party!

Estos son los reyes magos que estan medio locos pero al fin son los reyes que tenia el festejo.

Oooooh, such Wise Men!!!

Huauuu que reyes magos !!!

A family from Casa Latina with the Wise Men.

Una familia de Casa Latina y los reyes magos.

Wells Fargo Protest

This October Casa Latina was involved in national protest through NDLON (National Day Laborers Organizing Network) at Wells Fargo Banks throughout the United States. Our participants were demonstrating to make the case that Wells Fargo should not continue leasing office space to Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona (who once said it was an honor to be compared to the KKK).  Protestors walked the block in front of the Wells Fargo building downtown, chanting and handing out fliers to passersby.  Check out the photos below!

Construction Update!

Last week Casa Latina staff and a few participants went to our new office site to check on the progress.  Everyone was excited to see how things looked.  We can see now a bit of how it will feel when it's all done and we can move in!   We wanted to share some of the excitement with you, so here are a few pictures of our visit.

Hilary and some of our participants sporting their Casa Latina wear by the front entrance to our new offices!

The outside of our new offices still in progress.  Staff basking in the sun and dreaming of moving into our beautiful new space. Can't wait to see the final product!

The inside of the new Day Worker Center.  Our anticipation is building!

Cultural Crossing Visit

This month we had the pleasure of hosting the Cultural Crossing exchange group from Belgium at Casa Latina!  Earlier in the year Hilary went to Belgium with this program that works to encourage dialogue around issues of immigration between practicioners in the United States.  The group started out early in the morning at the Day Workers' Center.

Here you can see the group squeezed into our ESL classroom!

The group also came to the office and talked with the staff.