Make the Road by Walking

make the road by walking

ANNUAL REPORT 2001 Dear Friend, We look back on 2001 as a year that has presented special challenges to Bushwick and to many communities around the world. Notwithstanding the terrible violence we have witnessed, both at home and abroad, and the opportunistic use of the tragedy of September 11 to promote a far right-wing domestic agenda that attacks civil liberties, environmental protections, and vital social services, 2001 has also been a year of continued success in our grassroots struggle for equal rights, participatory democracy, and social and economic justice. For Make the Road by Walking, 2001 brought a significant increase in our membership base, now over 600 community members strong; a tripling of our office space; an expansion of our programming to include the Education Justice and Public School Accountability Project, a new parent organizing initiative working with neighborhood mothers to promote educational equity and opportunity for Bushwick youth; and a steadily growing community resolve to organize for change.

In 2001: After five years of persistent direct action organizing and legal work, our Economic Justice and Democracy Project has forced New York City to comply with federal civil rights law and provide equal access to subsistence government benefits for tens of thousands of non-English-speaking residents of New York City. Our Environmental Justice Project acquired a previously trash-strewn vacant lot up the block from Make the Road by Walking’s offices and has begun the exciting process of converting the land into a community-accessible park that will provide much needed open green space for thousands of local children and families. Gays and Lesbians of Bushwick Empowered (GLOBE) has continued providing the only safe space in the Bushwick community for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgen- table of contents der (GLBT) youth and young adults and has conducted successful outreach to increase our GLBT membership. Letter from the Board of Directors 1 The workers in our Workplace Justice Project have won over $100,000 in back pay Who We Are 2 and overtime wages and have succeeded in involving local politicians and the PROJECTS Department of Labor in the fight against sweatshop abuses and for the right of all Economic Justice and Democracy 4 workers to have a safe and non-discriminatory workplace. Education Justice and Public 6 Our Youth Power Project has increased its programming for community youth ages 5 School Accountability through 21 and is gaining increasing recognition for our work in a citywide campaign Environmental Justice 8 which eliminated 53 million dollars in the New York City budget that had been allocated Gays and Lesbians of Bushwick to the expansion of the City’s youth jails. Empowered (GLOBE) 10 Workplace Justice 12 As members of Make the Road by Walking’s Board of Directors, it has been our Youth Power 14 pleasure to provide leadership to this organization as we have built power for our Supporters 16 community, continued to grow, and catalyzed new grassroots leadership. Our work to Budget 17 envision and to create a healthier, safer, and more politically powerful low-income community depends on our collaboration with many allies and the support of thousands of members, community residents, and donors. We hope that 2002 will see continued progress towards creating equal opportunity, justice, and community.

ENRIQUE RIVERA LESLIE MONROY Chairperson, Board of Directors Secretary, Board of Directors Make the Road by Walking Make the Road by Walking

a2 || make the road by walking || annual report 2001 make the road by walking || annual report 2001 || 1 make the road A Community of Support to provide essential services to residents in order to affirm an WHO WE ethic of cooperation, mutual help, dignity, and animo.

In 2001, Make the Road by Walking secured hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to community residents in back wages and unlawfully withheld government benefits. This legal inter- ARE vention is often vital to helping our low-income members keep a roof over their families’ heads or food on their tables. Make the Road by Walking is a not-for-profit, membership-led organization based in Additionally, we have assisted a growing number of neighborhood tenants in forcing their landlords to address housing code Bushwick, Brooklyn. Our members are low-income Latino and African-American resi- violations, securing heat for freezing families in the wintertime, dents of Bushwick and surrounding neighborhoods. Working within these economi- and repairing leaking ceilings. Our computer classes and poetry cally marginalized neighborhoods, Make the Road by Walking fights for justice and workshops offer vital literacy-development opportunities to community youth in a neighborhood where schools consistently per- opportunity through community organizing on issues of concern to our multi-gener- form far below average, and our weekly food pantry and season- ational membership. al vegetable-buying cooperative provide nearly 200 community residents each month with assistance in meeting basic nutri- Organizing and Activism to build a stronger community and make govern- tional needs. ing institutions subject to democratic community control.

In the past year, our membership grew to over 600 strong. Make the Road by Walking’s membership worked with our full-time staff of 12 to secure numerous organizing victories. As a result of the pressure from a direct action campaign led by the members involved in our Economic Justice and Collaborative Learning that enables people to advocate effectively Democracy Project, as well as a successful federal class action lawsuit filed by Make the for themselves, analyze the root causes of problems, and strate- Road by Walking staff, the Human Resources Administration of New York City has agreed to end decades of illegal national origin discrimination and make comprehensive changes to gize about how these problems can be collectively resolved.

ensure equal access to benefits for non-English-speaking Food Stamps and welfare recipi- Each year Make the Road by Walking trains hundreds of new grassroots community lead- ents that will positively affect over 100,000 New York City immigrants. Two vacant communi- ers. Nearly 100 members have graduated from our regular Encuentros de Líderes ty lots that were being used for illegal waste dumping have been cleaned and reclaimed (Leadership Workshops). These training seminars for community residents help participants because of a direct action campaign led by members of our Environmental Justice Project. collaboratively develop community organizing and advocacy skills, and plan and implement The Project is now converting one of these lots into a community-accessible park that will be organizing campaigns. The Encuentros de Líderes also provide participants with a frame- enjoyed by thousands of Bushwick families and children. In 2001, our Workplace Justice work within which to see the organizing work they are doing. Additionally, through weekly Project helped low-wage immigrant workers recover over $100,000 in unpaid wages from meetings in each organizing issue area, members dialogue about issues critical to our cam- sweatshop employers, and has forced one local factory to implement new safety and health paign work and the governance of the organization. Members elect Make the Road by measures. The workers in the Project created a cooperative fund for workers who are fired Walking’s Board of Directors from within their own ranks, and participate in regular member- by their employers in retaliation for fighting for their rights. This fall our Youth Power Project expanded its ship meetings at which the goals and operation of the organization are discussed and col- programming to include enrichment and leadership development activities for children ages 5-10 as well lectively refined. as for youth ages 11-19. Our youth organizers published Word on the Street, a literacy-building community youth newspaper, trained the local police precinct about respectful treatment of neighborhood youth, and worked with City officials to create more just and effective policing and truancy policies in Bushwick.

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member profile ECONOMIC Josefa Marin

justice& I was born in Mexico and came to Bushwick in 1988. I have lived here with my three DEMOCRACY children ever since. I only recently became a member of Make the Road by Walking, but I In 2001, the Economic Justice and Democracy Project has had have been coming to the Economic Justice a citywide and national impact on welfare public policy. and Democracy Project meetings and partici- As a result of pressure from a direct action cam- protect the civil rights of non-English-speaking pating in events since paign led by the 400 strong Comité de Igualdad para immigrants within New York City. We worked to last April. la Comunidad (Committee for Equality for Our draft innovative local civil rights legislation entitled I came to Make the Road by Walking initially because I had problems with my welfare case. They had shut off my public Community), as well as a federal class action law- the Equal Access to Health and Human Services assistance and food stamps for no reason. I had had the suit filed by Make the Road by Walking staff, the New Act, and we have worked same problem before, and I ended up having to pay for a York City Human Resources Administration has to assemble a coalition of professional translator to help me because my case worker agreed to make comprehensive changes to ensure over one hundred unions, did not speak Spanish. Even after Make the Road by Walking helped me re-open my case, I continued to attend meetings equal access to benefits for non-English-speaking community groups, and and demonstrations. I feel that it is very important to sup- welfare recipients. The City has mailed an alert to advocacy organizations, port the mission of the organization and to help our com- almost 1 million New Yorkers in 17 different lan- as well as over 30 mem- munity be heard. guages advising people of their right to free inter- bers of the New York City I now have a bilingual caseworker, I don’t have to wait end- lessly to be seen, and I am also treated with more respect. pretation and translation services at Welfare Council to lead the effort Being a part of Make the Road by Walking has given me the Centers and has agreed to translate all written to pass this legislation. opportunity to learn what materials for the public into Spanish, Arabic, my rights as a Latina immi- The Economic Justice and Democracy Project has Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, grant are. The trainings here also initiated an equal access to healthcare organ- have helped me take power Vietnamese and Yiddish. These changes will posi- izing campaign that is focusing on improving trans- in my own life and better tively affect over 100,000 New York City immigrants. understand the good and lation and interpretation services at two of North bad things that have hap- Make the Road by Walking members are also Brooklyn’s largest hospitals. pened to me in this country, spearheading an innovative legislative initiative to and our organizing has been victorious. On October 9, 2001 we won Ramirez vs. Giuliani. I felt so proud—I had worked very hard to push for this change.

4 || make the road by walking || annual report 2001 make the road by walking || annual report 2001 || 5 project member profile EDUCATION Nilda Reyes I have been an active member of the Economic Justice and Democracy Project (Comité para la Igualidad para la Comunidad) justice& for the past two years and heard about the Education Justice Project through my work with Comité. I was very interested in the Education Justice Project because I have two children in Bushwick public schools. In Project meetings I’m learning what my rights as PUBLIC SCHOOL a parent are and more about the schools in Bushwick. I have already seen changes in my life as a result of my involvement in the Education Justice Project. Now if I have a problem, I accountability have somewhere to turn. I think with time we will see significant changes in the school system because of this Project. We just started it in the Fall of 2001, so first we need to gather people and build our force. Then, slowly, we will start making changes. The Education Justice and Public School Accountability Project Currently, I am focusing my energy on outreach to other community parents. I pass out flyers to parents after school when they pick up their children. I want to help our group grow. I think the works to organize community parents to improve the quality of Project is needed because Bushwick schools are failing our children. Schools in Bushwick are very low-performing, and the older the kids get, the worse the schools get. What’s worse, there are no local public schools and to promote educational equity citywide. efforts by neighborhood schools to communicate with parents. We need to fight this and make improvements in these schools for the sake of our children. The Education Justice Project was initiated in In the fall of 2001, Make the Road by Walking response to member concerns about the educa- launched the Education Justice and Public School tional quality of local public schools, as well as Accountability Project. Since then, the Project has youth members’ descriptions of their conducted participatory action research with par- educational experiences as ineffec- ents at local schools and has hosted numerous tive and degrading. Parent members workshops and “Know Your Rights” trainings for expressed feelings of confusion parents. The Project has also provided high-quali- about and alienation from their chil- ty legal advocacy for parents to challenge educa- dren’s educational experiences. They tional inequity and violations of education law described bureaucratic obstacles, a within local public schools. The Project provides lack of translation and interpretation opportunities for parent involvement, training, services for non-English-speaking and collective action to promote educational parents, and difficulties obtaining improvement in Bushwick. information from school employees.

6 || make the road by walking || annual report 2001 make the road by walking || annual report 2001 || 7 project ENVIRON MENTAL justice

The Environmental Justice Project builds a strong membership base of environmental activists, develops grassroots leadership, and organizes for a healthy environment for poor and working class communities of color.

In 2001, the Project launched a multi-neighborhood Project members participated in an innovative com- coalition to combat rat infestation, spearheaded munity mapping program with the New York City direct actions against negligent City officials, and Environmental Justice Alliance and researched the effects of rodent infestation on our Hunter College. We trained a team member profile local environment. This campaign, dubbed “Rat of 10 community residents to sur- Rage” by the media, resulted in action by the New vey the neighborhood and develop Ivellise Vasquez York City Council’s Select Committee on Pest Control, maps which will be critical to our I have 3 children and have lived in Bushwick for the last seven years. Before and increased activity by the Departments of Health open space organizing campaigns that I lived in the Dominican Republic. I became a member of Make the Road and Sanitation in Bushwick. in the future. by Walking in 1999. I first got involved with the organization when the Advancing the struggle for community-accessible The Project provides a vital commu- Environmental Justice Project was working to clean up Grove Street, the street I live on. Landlords in this community do not clean up or take care of open space, the Environmental Justice Project took nity perspective, and a grassroots their properties, so we, the residents, came together to improve our neighborhood. We needed to title to an empty lot that had been used as a haz- membership base, to citywide and make it safer for our children. ardous illegal dumping ground for almost twenty national efforts for environmental I’ve seen so many changes in my life as a result of my work with Make the Road by Walking: the years. Community members took part in a participa- equity. Currently, Make the Road by streets are cleaner, the kids can play more safely, and there are no more holes in the street. We tory design process that developed the model for re- Walking is the lead community- planted trees, got the street lights fixed, and cleaned up empty lots. Not only is Grove Street landscaping the lot into a community accessible based organization in a citywide cleaner and safer, but Bushwick is too. Recently, we had a protest on Menahan Street because park, Children’s Grove, which will open in 2002. The greening program, that is planting hundreds of trees NYCHA was illegally dumping trash in an empty lot. NYCHA felt pressured and cleaned up the lot. Project also forced the New York City Housing throughout the Bushwick community, beautifying the I work very hard to bring more people to the organization. Everything we have achieved thus far is Authority to clean up a lot that they had been using neighborhood, combating air pollution and reducing because of the power of our members, united and working together. Bushwick looks different and is as an illegal dumping ground. childhood asthma rates. different because we, as a group, have power to make change and build power for Bushwick.

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member profile WORKPLACE Esmerelda Valencia

I live in Bushwick with justice my seven-year-old daughter Josselyn. I joined Make the Road by Walking two years ago because I felt an affinity with the work- 2001 will be remembered as the year that the Workplace ers in the Workplace Justice Project. The group helps immigrant workers who are not paid what they are due or are mistreated Justice Project’s organizing group, Trabajadores en Acción because they do not know their rights. (Workers in Action), emerged as a force for immigrant workers’ I wanted to collaborate with this group because in my country I was always a part of organizing for change. Joining Make the rights in New York City. Road by Walking has helped me to help others by fighting collectively for our rights as individuals, as human beings. I am Our weekly meetings bristled with energy and con- ments, the Workplace Justice here fighting and struggling to help this community seek jus- sistently filled Make the Road by Walking’s huge Project had a major victory by hold- tice. Coming to meetings, protesting, getting to know other meeting space to capacity. Week after week, working a manufacturer accountable for like-minded people and working together to achieve our goals and create solutions makes me feel like I am achieving those ers planned and executed demonstrations, met more than $30,000 in egregious things that are very important in my life. with politicians, supported other struggles for wage violations at a Bushwick gar- immigrants’ rights, and recovered over a hundred ment factory. One of my favorite protests was when we went to Manhattan to show support for a fellow worker, Marcelo. We were very well thousand dollars in lost wages for sweatshop work- The Workplace Justice Project also organized. The people leading the chants were in the center and ers. In September, the Project reached an impor- made strides in defense of the the rest of us were marching around them. We were loud, and tant milestone: forty workers from the group, with- health and safety of immigrant called a lot of attention to our protest and the issue at stake. out any legal assistance, confronted a neighbor- workers. After one of our members, The police arrived and tried to intimidate us into leaving, but hood sweatshop employer who was refusing to pay we had secured a permit and knew our rights and stayed strong. Antonio, lost kidney function due to several members of Trabajadores en Acción back The most important part of our group is that we are united. This exposure to hazardous chemicals wages. The flustered employer paid the workers on unity is our power. at work, we filed a complaint with the spot, conceding to their collective power to the Federal Occupational Safety and Health enforce their rights. Administration (OSHA). OSHA cited the factory for Recognizing that sweatshop conditions are largely “serious violations,” issued fines, and cleaned up the responsibility of large manufacturers and retail- the conditions at the factory. ers who benefit from the cheaply-produced gar-

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Make the Road by Walking’s Youth Power Project continues to highlight the enormous potential and opportunities generated by youth-led community organizing efforts and integrating young people into the membership of our organization.

Over the past year, young people working with the with the Project designed and Youth Power Project have researched, written, and conducted a sensitivity train- produced a newspaper on radical activism and ing for ten officers of the New organizing, as well as issues of importance to York Police Department who Bushwick youth; created photo essays about the bear primary responsibility for Bushwick neighborhood; painted a mural illustrating picking up young people who Make the Road by Walking ’s mission; are out of school during member profile and conducted participatory action schools hours. Over 50 young research on a variety of important com- people ages 5 to 19 partici- I am fifteen years old and in 10th grade. I have lived in Bushwick since I was five. I joined Jose Lopez munity issues. pate in the Youth Power Make the Road by Walking’s summer program for youth in 2000. Through coming here I have found out about things that I never knew about. I gained mad knowledge. It has been a Project, releasing youth- Young people have also sustained beautiful learning experience. Being here has opened up a lot of doors for me; I have had a researched reports, conduct- ongoing organizing campaign work, lot of opportunities. I have a tutor who helps me with my schoolwork and I also have learned ing media advocacy, and fighting to create a neighborhood park, by organizing in my community. broadening our base of support among Bushwick challenging city policies which invest I’ve been really involved with the No More Youth Jails campaign. Our main goal in this cam- youth. These young people also receive homework scarce resources in juvenile detention centers paign is to get $64.6 million dollars in the City budget re-allocated away from creating more help, one-on-one academic support, and opportuni- rather than schools, and demanding improvements cells in juvenile detention facilities, away from locking us up. We want to see the money ties to participate in arts and technology program- spent on more resources for youth in neighborhoods like Bushwick or Brownsville or Flatbush, in neighborhood efforts to combat truancy, an epi- ming at Make the Road by Walking. communities that don’t have many services or after-school programs for other youth like me. demic problem in Bushwick. Teenagers working Working together, the Youth Power Project has enabled us to get a lot done. We have trained Bushwick police officers on how to interact with young people in a less confrontational and more helpful way. We’ve had several protests with hundreds of youth mobilizing for Youth Power. Working together in a group helps us get heard by the politicians, and it expands what you’re thinking about because you hear different points of view.

14 || make the road by walking || annual report 2001 make the road by walking || annual report 2001 || 15 2001 Jesse Furman Fiona Lin and Peter Conolly-Smith Jason Scherr Phillip Gallagher Leslie Lowe Larry Shapiro Brian Glick Sarah MacArthur Ron Sharker Seth Green and Susannah Baruch Betsy MacLean and Eric Miles L.M. Myrtle Sharpe Harriet and David Griesinger David and Mary Anne Madsen Jacqueline Sherman SUPPORTERS Robert and Sarah Haft H. Gwen Marcus Thomas and Christina Shropshire Benj Hewitt Sylvia Marmo Tracy Shupp Robert and Dorothy Hilbink Terry Maroney and Janet Prolman Alex Sierck Jennifer Hobbs Jane and James McGroarty Moses Silverman and Betty Robins 75,000 & over Tim Tokarsky Robert Gordon Peggy Horan Alicia and Lance McQuade Dan Sofaer US Environmental Protection Agency Roberta and Michael Gottesman Epin and Scott Hu Christensen Marco Militello Michael Spring NYC Department of Youth and Justine Harris Mark Hurwitz and Camilla Seth David Mode and Liz Pitofsky Jonathon Springer Community Development Gulhima and Ali Maira Lois and Gabriel Isaksen Mollie Parnis Dress Up Your Mathew Stiegler Rockefeller Foundation $5000 & over Elaine and P.J. Mode David Isay Neighborhood Award Lisa Swanson Janice and Andrew Molchon Chris and Mary Jenkins Dorothy Moss Mark Swartz Jeffrey Bauman 50,000 & over Anne and Alan Morrison Philip Joseph National Employment Law Project Charles Thompson Jessica Bauman and Ben Posel Susan Butler Plum Mila Kagan and Dan Rosenbaum Daniel Nessel David Thompson Abigail Disney and Pierre Hauser Children’s Defense Fund Gautam Arya and Anjali Parekh Elizabeth Kalb Louis and Sherry Nevins David Udell New York Foundation Environmental Action Coalition Prakash Amy Kantrowitz Suzy Nevins Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez Open Society Institute Fund for the City of New York Susan and Sandy Sierck Bess and Richard Kaplan Marian and Michael Newman Maria Vullo RTS Family Foundation Kim Hawkins and Annie Keating Skadden, Arps, Meager & Flom Jeremy Katz and Loren Edleson Margarita Nieves Chris Warren Peace Development Fund Robin Friedman and Declan Spring Mark Kempson Anna Sofaer and Michael Pertschuk Timothy P. Wei $25,000 & over St. Anthony’s Fund Dom and Mardi Tuminaro Birinder and J.H. Khalsa Ketty Sykaras Tom and Susan Werman Susan and Michael Friedman Anonymous Bunny Kolodner The Rachel Dobkin Tzedakah Fund of Leslie Westreich Yale Initiative for Public Interest Law Butler Family Fund 100 & over Keiichiro Kubota The Shefa Fund Ben Wides and Lori Chajet Daphne Foundation Joe Kutchera Nancy and Samuel Raskin James Williams Miriam and Erwin Alpern echoing green Foundation $1000 & over Doug Lasdon Marc A. Rivlin Ethan Wohl Laurie Arbecter and Jen Hobbs Edward W. Hazen Foundation David Lee Santiago Rodriguez Gloria Zuazua Brooklyn Borough President’s Office Alan Affra and Kathryn Mathullat Equal Justice Works Ken Levine and Sarah Wolman Daniel Rosenbaum Shree and Salien Chatterjee Kerstin Arusha and Arthur Krantz Merck Family Fund Sarah Levine Leo and Pearl Sandy Chase Manhattan Foundation Ellen Baker Morrison & Forester LLP Citigroup Foundation Dorothy and Melvin Lewis Shila, Chitta, Neal and Paul Sarkar New York Women’s Foundation The Batir Foundation Citizen’s Committee of New York City Patricia Bauman and John L. Bryant Public Welfare Foundation (NEAP Award) Scherman Foundation Jonas Bergman George and Ann Gorham Chris and Jack Bergstrom Skadden Fellowship Foundation Greenpoint Bank Solidago Foundation Cathy Berkman and Larry Shapiro PROGRAM SERVICES Roberta Kaplan and Rachel Lavine Isha, Amitabha, Shona and Unitarian Universalist Veatch at Carol and Martin Kolsky Kumar Bhattachar Legal Services $137,724 Shelter Rock Elizabeth Nevins United Way of New York City Dan Bloom and Naomi Weinstein Jennifer Nevins and Ian McAllister Erika Blumberg Community Education $157,359 Valentine Fund (Tides Foundation) NYC Environmental Justice Alliance EXPENSES Valentine Perry Snyder Fund Meg Chambers and Dave Trubatch Community Organizing $359,378 North Fork Bank Arati and Tatha Chaudhury Clare and Dick O’Brien January 1 to December 31 $10,000 & over May Ying Chen Total Program Services $654,461 Jesse Peretz Anne Clark and James McNew Albert A. List Foundation Pritchard Family Foundation Sabrina Commizoli and Raj Vaswani Community Toolbox for Children’s Ridgewood Savings Bank Community Resource Exchange SUPPORT SERVICES Environmental Health (Tides Ellie and Harry Sachse D’Agostino’s, Inc. Foundation) David and Anna Sarphie Monica de la Torre Management and General $85,611 Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation Lester Silverman and Patty Abramson Eric Dorsch Fundraising $39,048 Jewish Fund for Justice Barbara Wrubel Jason Dragseth JP Morgan Chase Richard Eniclerico Total Support Services $124,659 Kellogg Foundation 500 & over Robert and Elaine Feldman NYC City Council Youth Committee The Astraea Foundation E. Peter Freer Progressive Technology Project William Ball and Farah Brelvi Fresh Samantha, Inc. TOTAL EXPENSES $779,120 Rose and Sherle Wagner Foundation Sheila Birnbaum Alan Friedman Starr Foundation Constance Carden Chenda Fruchter

16 || make the road by walking || annual report 2001 make the road by walking || annual report 2001 || 17 MAKE THE ROAD BY WALKING, INC. 301 Grove Street Bushwick Brooklyn, NY 11237 t: 718-418-7690 f: 718-418-9635 www.maketheroad.org

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