City Council Budget Hearing Presence!

Last week a group from Casa Latina attended a City Council Budget Hearing. Click here for more information on the City Council Budget. See Hilary’s note about how it went below:

"Congratulations to the organizers—Ara, Pedro, Selvin, Cariño, Hannah—and the day laborers that testified and participated last night in the Council meeting. Everyone was very eloquent in what they said. Afterwards various people from the City thanked us for being there and said that they learned a lot through our participation. Our group had more than 12 people, and we made up almost half of all the public who was there. Everything was simultaneously interpreted so that everyone could understand the presentations and also so they could speak directly to the public in Spanish. Ara, Selvin, and Cariño drove, Hannah helped the day laborers prepare their testimonies, and Pedro motivated all of us. Cariño and Selvin testified and so did two day laborers. Many thanks to everyone! As always, you inspire me a lot!"

Hilary


"Felicidades a los organizadores -- Ara, Pedro, Selvin, Cariño, Hannah-- y los jornaleros que testificaron y participaron anoche en la reunion del Consejal. Fueron muy elocuentes los que hablaron y luego varias personas de la Ciudad nos agradecieron por nuestra participacion y dijeron que habian apredido mucho por nuestra participacion. Eramos mas de 12 personas, y formamos casi la mitad del publico. Todo fue traducido simulaneamente, y por lo tanto los jornaleros podian entender todas las presentaciones y tambien podian hablar directamente al publico en español. Ara, Selvin y Cariño manejaron, Hannah ayudo a los jornaleros a preparar sus testimonios, y Pedro mobilizo a todos. Cariño y Selvin tambien testificaron, ademas de 2 jornaleros. Muchas gracias a todos. Como siempre me inspiran mucho!"

Hilary

¡Somos Vecinos!

This month saw the kick-off of our latest program!



The program, called Somos Vecinos (We are Neighbors), is a language and culture exchange, allowing relationships and understanding to build between our neighbors who speak Spanish and those who speak English.









The classes are held on Thursday evenings from 6:00-8:15 in the Japanese Congregational Church next to our new building. We are excited that this program has already given us the opportunity to partner with our neighbors.








As the students come in, they are divided up into those who are learning English and those who are learning Spanish. After spending an hour in their own language groups learning, there is an hour for the whole group to come together with guided activities, practice what they learned, build relationships, and interact across cultural lines.

We are excited to have the chance to start building relationships in our new neighborhood. We will be beginning a 10-week new program in fall 2008. If you’re interested in finding out more, feel free to email Emily at emily@casa-latina.org.

Workers Assembly on Immigration!

On April 18th, 80 of our workers and several staff members hopped on a bus headed for the Workers Assembly on Immigration in Tacoma!

The day-long conference was held at the Tacoma Campus of the Evergreen State College, and was hosted by The Committee Pro-Immigration Reform and Social Justice, and the Evergreen Labor Center.

The day was an opportunity diverse groups of workers, including immigrants, students, and unions, to come together and have conversations about immigration and labor.

Organizers focused on the idea that an injury to one is an injury to all, and conversations centered around how that phrase applies to immigrants.

Our participants valued the chance to be a part of important and in-depth dialogues.

Over 200 people attended, with CASA Latina bringing about 80! Aside from the good dialogues, there was some tasty food, and of course, fun on the road trip! Check out the video below.

CASA Domestic Workers are Green Clean Certified!

Our newly formed Domestic Workers program recently boosted their qualifications by completing a "Cleaning with Caution" certification class.

The class, a collaboration between the University of Washington, King County, the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle, and Casa Latina, was three sessions long during the month of March.

Domestic Workers who went through the program

received specialized training, environmentally friendly cleaning supplies, and a certification card which will allow them to prove to employers their specialized knowledge.

Needless to say, on the last day of the training, the group was excited to have succesfully completed the class and ready to try out their new skills!

We hope to offer this training again in the near future.

CASA on the BBC!

On March 28, 2008, BBC en Espanol (BBC in Spanish) reporters from Miami came to CASA Latina to record a story in the series called "de Costa a Costa" (Coast to Coast) where they are taking a trip from Washington State to Washington, DC and are reporting on how Latinos are doing in the United States.

Check us out!

Click here to watch an incredible video of Pedro, our Day Worker Center Organizer giving a message to the next president of the United States (in Spanish).

Click here to see the de Costa a Costa website.

Click here and here to see a few more pictures taken by the BBC of our Workers' Center.