DOCSLIB.ORG

Building Career Ladders for the Working Poor Through Literacy Training

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Building Career Ladders for the Working Poor Through Literacy Training Building Career Ladders for the Working Poor Through Literacy Training Introduction Authors Lee Bruno Using U.S. Census Bureau data, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) determined that 7.1 million workers were living at or below the official poverty level in 2007, which Ying Jin Dwayne Norris represented 5.1 percent of the total workforce (U.S. Department of Labor [DOL], 2009). The Working Poor Families Project, funded by the Annie E. Casey, Ford, and Joyce and American Institutes for Research Mott foundations, claims that 25 percent of working families can be considered low income; and, an income level of twice the poverty income was the criterion for working July 2010 poor (Waldron, Roberts, & Reamer, 2004). Although the operational definitions of “poor” and “working” vary, both the Census Bureau and the Working Poor Families Project Contents document that a willingness to work hard does not equate to a living wage. Beyond the Introduction.......................... 1 implications this situation has for the welfare of the working poor and their families, having such a significant share of the Nation’s workforce permanently attached to a Working Poor Compared With Other Workers............ 2 minimally valued job poses a threat to the Nation’s ability to provide a workforce for 21st Demographic and century high-growth industries. The working poor make up a pool of invisible talent that Socioeconomic Comparisons.. 2 could be the basis for a revitalized workforce that fills high-demand jobs in energy, health, Prose and Quantitative technology, and science sectors of the economy. Literacy Levels ........................ 3 Literacy and Occupations ...... 4 In a sense, the working poor might be considered invisible because social safety nets are designed for the unemployed person or the person who meets poverty guidelines. At the Literacy’s Role in Career same time, the working poor are an overlooked talent pool that demonstrates through Ladders ................................. 4 individual work histories the essential soft skills that are important for all jobs. Further, the NAAL Data’s Implications working poor demonstrate the employability skills needed to find jobs and meet an for Literacy Training........... 6 employer’s behavioral expectations to sustain employment. Need for Literacy Assessment Tools..................... 8 So what accounts for the working poor’s inability to hold jobs with higher salaries, The Working Poor as a especially jobs that are in high-growth industries? Using data collected from the 2003 Target Group........................... 8 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL),1 this report compares workers who Changes in How Postsecondary Schools reported an average weekly wage that, if they were employed full time, was less than 2 Approach Literacy Training.. 8 125 percent of official poverty levels for a family of three1 with workers whose hourly wages translate into incomes greater than 125 percent of official poverty levels for a family Summary............................... 9 of three. All workers represented in the NAAL study are thus divided into the working poor References............................. 9 and the working nonpoor—or “other workers,” for the purposes of this report. Under Appendix A: Methodology contract to the DOL’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA), the American and Technical Notes......... A-1 Institutes for Research (AIR) has used the NAAL data, from a sample of 9,296 workers, to The 2003 NAAL address the following research questions: Assessment ...........................A-1 Descriptions of Background What distinguishes the working poor from other workers? Variables ..............................A-1 What are the literacy requirements that pose barriers to occupations that would lift Statistical Procedures .........A-2 poor workers to “other” worker status? Linking Occupational 3 Information Network How can ETA’s workforce investment system3 best address the literacy barriers to Occupation Descriptors to the upward mobility of the working poor? NAAL Literacy Scales ........A-2 A detailed description of background variables and methodology used in this report is provided in Appendix A: Methodology and Technical Notes. 1 The 2003 NAAL study (http://nces.ed.gov/naal/) provided information on the literacy proficiency of nearly 18,000 adults, 16 years of age or older. See the appendix of this report for a description of the study. For an interpretation of the literacy scales and performance levels on the NAAL assessment, see Kutner et al. (2007). 2This is the income requirement for immigrants imposed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which is less restrictive than the Federal poverty guidelines. (INS 2009). 3 http://www.doleta.gov/etainfo/wrksys/WIMission 1 Working Poor Compared With Other Workers age, gender, nativity status, schooling, labor force status, household income), along with their practices for gaining Demographic and Socioeconomic Comparisons information. Table 1 compares age, sex, race/ethnicity, native language, and educational attainment of the working In addition to assessing the literacy skills of respondents, poor with those of other workers and the general the NAAL gathered extensive background information on population of NAAL respondents4 their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics (e.g., Table 1. Percentage distribution of working poor, other workers, and the general population across demographic and socioeconomic characteristics Characteristic Working poor % Working nonpoor % General population % Age 18–24 years 31* ** 8 14 25–39 years 29* 38 28 40–49 years 19* 28 21 50–64 years 15* ** 24 22 65+ years 6* ** 2 16 Sex Female 60* ** 40 52 Male 41* ** 60 48 Race/ethnicity White 62* ** 74 71 Black 13* 10 11 Hispanic 19* ** 11 12 Other 6 5 6 Language spoken before school English only 76* ** 83 81 English and Spanish (with or without other) 2 2 2 English and other 3 4 4 Spanish only or with other 4* ** 7 8 Other only 4 5 5 Educational attainment 0–8 years 7* 2 6 9–12 years 11* ** 6 9 GED/equivalency 8* ** 4 5 H.S. grad 30* ** 22 27 Vocational degree 6 6 6 Some college 13 13 12 A.A./2 years of studies 13 14 12 College graduate 7* ** 17 12 Graduate studies/degree 4* ** 17 11 * Significantly different from other workers at the significance level of 0.05. ** Significantly different from the general population at the significance level of 0.05. Note: Percentages may not sum to 100% because of rounding. Age. There was a marked difference between the number Sex. The number of females among the working poor of youth 18–24 years of age among the working poor (60 percent) and the general population (52 percent) was (31 percent) compared with other workers (8 percent), greater than among other workers (40 percent). This suggesting that income may influence whether youth difference may have resulted from two intertwining entered the workforce rather than postsecondary education factors—gender wage gaps and the higher probability that and training. In no other respect was age a feature that women will be single heads of families. Women earn distinguished the two groups of workers. about 80 percent of what men earn for similar types of jobs (Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 2009). 4 Many of the background variables examined in this report are based on self-reported data, and because they are also related to one another, complex interactions and relationships among them cannot be explored. Therefore, readers are cautioned not to draw causal inferences on the sole basis of the results presented here. 2 Women also bear the greater responsibility for rearing of the working poor graduated from high school including children when families break up. According to another those with General Education Development (GEDs). With report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the exception of college degree attainment, the working 56 percent of all low-income working mothers are single poor in the NAAL sample were very similar to other mothers and are more likely to have younger children than workers and the general population. higher income mothers (Lee, 2007). Prose and Quantitative Literacy Levels Race/ethnicity. The working poor were more likely to be white (60 percent) or Hispanic (19 percent) than any other The NAAL measured respondents’ proficiencies on three race; however, Hispanic workers were overrepresented literacy scales: prose, document, and quantitative. For among the working poor and white workers were each, proficiency was measured on a scale that ranged underrepresented. It is important to note that the NAAL from 0 to 500. Scores on each of the three literacy scales found that Spanish-only speakers were significant were characterized in terms of four literacy proficiency segments of the working poor, as well, and were also levels: Below Basic, Basic, Intermediate, and Proficient. overrepresented among the working poor. Given the scope of this report and the high correlation between prose and document literacy, the analyses in this Educational attainment. Not surprisingly, the working section focus on the prose and quantitative literacy scales poor were less likely to attain college degrees than other only. workers or the general population; however, the working poor generally matched the educational experience of the Average prose and quantitative scores. Table 2 is a general population through high school but then dropped comparison of the NAAL prose and quantitative literacy of behind other workers and
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Chapter 8: Social Stratification
    UNIT 3 238 SOCIAL INEQUALITY Chapter 8 Social Stratification Chapter 9 Inequalities of Race and Ethnicity Chapter 10 Inequalities of Gender and Age Enrichment Readings Chapter 8 – Elliot Liebow “The Lives of Homeless Women,” page 272 Chapter 9 – Patricia Williams “The Skin Color Tax,” page 306 Chapter 10 – Lois Gould “The Story of Baby X,” page 342 239 CHAPTER 8 SocialSocial StratificationStratification 240 U S Your Sections I Sociological N Imagination 1. Dimensions of G Stratification ane Smith, aged forty and reeling from 2. Explanations of a bitter divorce, was discouraged. A se- Stratification Jrious back injury meant she could no longer work at her nursing aide job. 3. Social Classes in America Without a high school diploma, she found that no one was willing to hire her. 4. Poverty in America Reluctantly, she applied for welfare and was enrolled in a program designed to develop 5. Social Mobility job skills. She completed an eighteen-month course and was hired by an engineering firm. After two years, Jane has moved up in Learning Objectives the company and now thinks of herself as an intelligent, capable person. A different type of welfare story involves After reading this chapter, you will be able to Mary, the “welfare queen.” Many politicians have used her as a typical example of how ❖ explain the relationship between stratifica- the social welfare system is abused. Mary tion and social class. managed to register for government aid ❖ compare and contrast the three dimensions under dozens of assumed names and col- of stratification. lected thousands of dollars from food ❖ stamps and other federally subsidized pro- state the differences among the three grams.
    [Show full text]
  • Positive Organizational Change by and for the Working Poor
    Positive Organizational Change by and for the Working Poor Carrie R. Leana, University of Pittsburgh1 Ellen Ernst Kossek, Michigan State University Leana. C. & Kossek, E. In press. Positive organizational change by and for the working poor, In Using a Positive Lens to Explore Social Change and Organizations: Building a Theoretical and Research Foundation K: Golden-Biddle & J. Dutton, Eds. , Publisher: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.(volume in series: Organization and Management). In this chapter we focus on positive organizational change by and for the working poor. Such change may be initiated informally by employees and/or their managers; it may be enacted through formal organizational policy or informal norms; or it may be the result of organizational reactions to larger societal forces. Regardless of its source we consider organizational change to be positive to the extent that it is both beneficial to employees and sustainable by employers. By positive organizational change, in this chapter we mean organizational change that results in increased well-being for lower wage employees, involving workplace practice or policy that can be supported and embedded over the long term. Over the past decade we have conducted research projects focused on opportunities (or lack thereof) as well as positive interventions for structuring organizational policies and workplace practices to address the needs of the working poor (e.g., Hammer, Kossek, Bodner & Zimmerman, In Press; Kossek & Hammer, 2008; Leana, Appelbaum & Shevchuk, 2009; Mittal, Rosen & Leana, 2009). Each project has addressed somewhat different research questions but all conclude that a multi-level approach is needed to better understand how the condition of poverty can affect career progression, job attachment, and in-role and extra-role performance at 1 Address correspondence to Carrie R.
    [Show full text]
  • In Aid of the Working Poor: the Proper Treatment of Payroll Taxes in Calculating Benefits Under the Aid Ot Families with Dependent Children Program
    Fordham Law Review Volume 52 Issue 6 Article 10 1984 In Aid of the Working Poor: The Proper Treatment of Payroll Taxes in Calculating Benefits Under the Aid ot Families with Dependent Children Program Caro Ann Siciliano Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Caro Ann Siciliano, In Aid of the Working Poor: The Proper Treatment of Payroll Taxes in Calculating Benefits Under the Aid ot Families with Dependent Children Program, 52 Fordham L. Rev. 1171 (1984). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol52/iss6/10 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Law Review by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IN AID OF THE WORKING POOR: THE PROPER TREATMENT OF PAYROLL TAXES IN CALCULATING BENEFITS UNDER THE AID TO FAMILIES WITH DEPENDENT CHILDREN PROGRAM INTRODUCTION Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was enacted by Congress in 1935' as an anti-poverty entitlement program2 designed to provide minimum subsistence3 to impoverished children4 and their adult caretakers. 5 For many years AFDC has also provided substantial 1. Social Security Act (Act), ch. 531, §§ 401-406, 49 Stat. 620, 627-29 (1935) (current version at 42 U.S.C.A. §§ 601-615 (West 1983)). The program was known originally as "Aid to Dependent Children." Id. § 401, 49 Stat.
    [Show full text]
  • Orking Rough, Living Poor
    Working Rough, Living Poor Employment and Income Insecurities faced by Racialized Groups and their Impacts on Health Published by Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services, 2011 Study funded by: To be cited as: Wilson, R.M., P. Landolt, Y.B. Shakya, G. Galabuzi, Z. Zahoorunissa, D. Pham, F. Cabrera, S. Dahy, and M-P. Joly. (2011). Working Rough, Living Poor: Employment and Income Insecurities Faced by Racialized Groups in the Black Creek Area and their Impacts on Health. Toronto: Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services. The content for this report was collaboratively analyzed and written by the core team of the Income Security, Race and Health research working group. The research was designed and implemented with valuable feedback from all our Advisory Committee members and other community partners (see list in Acknowledgement section) The views expressed in this report do not necessarily represent the views of The Wellesley Institute or the Metcalf Foundation. Requests for permission and copies of this report should be addressed to: Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services 500-340 College Street Toronto, ON M5S 3G3 Telephone: (416) 324-8677 Fax: (416) 324-9074 www.accessalliance.ca © 2011 Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services About the Income Security, Race and Health Research Working Group The Income Security, Race and Health (ISRH) Research Working Group is a interdisciplinary research group comprising of academics, service providers, and peer researchers interested in examining racialized economic and health inequalities. The group was established in Toronto in 2006 under the leadership of Access Alliance. The key goals of the ISRH team are to investigate the systemic causes of growing racialized inequalities in employment and income, and to document the health impacts of these inequalities.
    [Show full text]
  • Due April 15
    UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Representation of Poverty in the Roman Empire Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3sp0w5c4 Author Larsen, Mik Robert Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles The Representation of Poverty in the Roman Empire A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Mik R Larsen 2015 © Copyright by Mik R Larsen 2015 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Representation of Poverty in the Roman Empire by Mik R Larsen Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Los Angeles, 2015 Professor Ronald J. Mellor, Chair This dissertation investigates the cultural imagination of Roman elites regarding poverty in their society – how it was defined, how traditional and accepted images of poverty were deployed for rhetorical effect, and in what way elite attitudes toward poverty evolved over the course of the first century and a half under the Empire. It contends that the Roman conception of poverty was as a disordered discourse involving multiple competing definitions which frequently overlapped in practice. It argues that the inherent contradictions in Roman thought about poverty were rarely addressed or acknowledged by authors during this period. The Introduction summarizes scholarly approaches toward Roman perceptions of poverty and offers a set of definitions which describe the variant images of poverty in elite texts. The first chapter addresses poverty’s role in the histories of Livy, and the ways in which his presentation of poverty diverge from his assertion that the loss of paupertas was key to the decline of the Roman state.
    [Show full text]
  • HRD-90-52 the Urban Underclass Preface
    Staff Study ~sC~pf.PLlllber1990 THE URBAN UNDERCLASS Disturbing Problems Demanding Attention 142211 Preface Within the past few years, concern has grown that an “underclass” may be developing in the United States. While there is no single, generally accepted definition of the underclass, those who discuss the issue are usually referring to a group of people who share certain characteristics: l They are permanently without connection to the legitimate labor force. The women in the group are likely to be persistently poor, to experience prolonged welfare dependency, and to experience high rates of out-of- wedlock births, often starting in the teen years. l The children in the group are likely to be persistently poor and to expe- rience high dropout rates. l Some people in the group exhibit disproportionately high rates of crim- inal behavior; others experience high rates of criminal victimization. Individuals and families with these characteristics can be found in all geographic areas, but those discussing the underclass are usually refer- ring to people who are concentrated in urban neighborhoods and who are predominately black or Hispanic. Most of the experts who have studied the issue have concluded that there is an underclass and that it is growing. Many theories seek to explain why this may be happening. The research to date is inconclu- sive, in part because the available data are sparse and lacking in detail. This has made it impossible for the experts even to agree on the size of the underclass. Despite disagreement over size and causation, however, it is clear that people having the characteristics associated with the underclass .
    [Show full text]
  • Testing a Theory of Modern Slavery
    Testing a Theory of Modern Slavery Kevin Bales1 Introduction It is a simple yet potent truth that slavery is a relationship between (at least) two people. Like other common and patterned relationships in human societies, slavery takes various forms and achieves certain ends. The ends or outcomes of slavery tend to be more similar across time and cultures, the forms less so. The different outcomes of slavery are exploitative in nature: appropriation of labor for productive activities resulting in economic gain, use of the enslaved person as an item of conspicuous consumption, sexual use of an enslaved person for pleasure and procreation, and the savings gained when paid servants or workers are replaced with unpaid and unfree workers. Any particular slave may fulfill one, several, or all of these outcomes for the slaveholder. While the outcomes of slavery tend to be similar, the forms of enslavement are more varied. There is a core of central attributes that define a relationship as slavery, but these attributes are embedded in a wide variety of forms reflecting cultural, religious, social, political, ethnic, commercial, and psychological influences and combinations of these influences. The mix of influences that dictate the form of any particular slave/slaveholder relationship may be unique, but follow general patterns reflective of the community and society in which that relationship exists. This is part of the challenge of understanding slavery both historically and today – to parse out the underlying attributes shared by all forms of slavery and to analyze and understand the dynamic and various forms slavery can take in individual cases.
    [Show full text]
  • '<A>Precarious Labour: Russia's 'Other' Transition
    ‘<a>Precarious Labour: Russia’s ‘Other’ Transition Forthcoming in Handbook of Diverse Economies Edited by Katherine Gibson and Kelly Dombroski Edward Elgar Publishing April 8, 2019 Marianna Pavlovskaya Department of Geography and Environmental Science, Hunter College Ph.D. Program in Earth and Environmental Sciences, Graduate Center – CUNY <b>Introduction The end of state socialism and the transition to a market economy at the turn of the 21st century have powerfully redefined the economy in Russia and other former socialist states. The transition, informed by neoliberal ideology, was designed to re-set Russia on the path of democracy and prosperity that had been interrupted by a “deviant” socialist system (Winiecki 1988). It was advocated by reformers as a somewhat painful but fully worthwhile effort to return to the family of “normal” and “civilized” countries. Neoliberal ideology celebrates individual liberty and prosperity, and presumes that private property, the foundation of capitalist economic relations, is the only means to free the economy from state control (Friedman 1982 [1962]). Under its influence reformers aimed to quickly privatize the enormous assets of the Soviet state in order to reduce state control of the economy and jumpstart private entrepreneurial development. The assumption was that other social and economic realms such as state welfare, informal livelihoods, and domestic economies would successfully adjust to capitalist markets or wither away once made irrelevant by market efficiencies (Sachs 1995). A major outcome of the structural adjustment policy known as “shock therapy,” has been wide- spread and persistent poverty. For three decades now, the capitalist economy has consistently failed to provide stable employment in Russia.
    [Show full text]
  • Working and Poor
    ResourceMFG | 2019 WORKING AND POOR Employer strategies that align business needs with workforce dynamics “Manufacturing employers are advised to recognize fundamental challenges experienced by their workforce, which often includes the working poor. Employers that address these challenges combine awareness and empathy with the opportunity for increased recruitment, attendance, retention, and productivity.” HARD FACTS “Being in poverty is The experiences of the middle class and the working poor are substantially different. Those rarely about a lack of hiring are often the former, and those employed intelligence or ability.” are often the latter. Employers in manufacturing need to understand the extent of in-work poverty Bridges Out of Poverty and the challenges it poses to their workforce. by Ruby Payne HOW BIG IS THE PROBLEM? According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau statistics, about 40.6 million people are living below the poverty line in the United States. While many of those in poverty are children, the elderly and other people not participating in the WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE WORKING AND POOR? workforce, about 7.6 million people in America make up the The working poor and their families often have difficulties “working poor.” A third of working families have inadequate finding affordable housing, managing transportation, benefits and little chance of advancement, according to The buying necessities, and obtaining childcare. They can Working Poor Families Project. This figure was corroborated struggle to manage unpredictable work schedules and by the United Way’s ALICE project which indicated that the multiple jobs. There are further psychological and social federal threshold for poverty may be placed too high.
    [Show full text]
  • The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David Shipler
    The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David Shipler Chapter 4: Harvest of Shame Summary and Questions by UAA Faculty Deb Periman SUMMARY Chapter 4, “Harvest of Shame,” details the cycle of poverty in which migrant and immigrant agricultural workers are enmeshed. With no transportation, many are effectively marooned long distances from any town. Dependent on their employers for food and housing, the costs of which are deducted from their pay, these workers live in a kind of contractual slavery. Workers are housed in cramped, filthy, inadequately ventilated cell-like rooms; their mind acceptance of these conditions is telling both about the conditions many left behind in Mexico, their vulnerability to exploitation, and their expectation for life in the United States. Their employers’ perspective of these workers as a commodity to be maintained for the good of the business, and their view of labor as a business expense to be managed within the larger context of the financial risks associated with modern agriculture is also presented. Finally, this chapter clearly portrays the physical hazards, emotional stresses, and fractured family bonds associated with illegal immigration. QUESTIONS 1. What economic or social policies in the United States have contributed to the cycle of poverty in which agricultural workers are caught? 2. Does the United States have a moral obligation to provide welfare and health benefits to illegal immigrants? Why or why not? 3. Do illegal workers help or harm the United States economy? Does your answer to this question affect your view of the government’s obligations to these workers? 4. What should the state’s policy be toward educating the children of illegal workers, and why? 5.
    [Show full text]
  • A Contextual Definition of the Underclass by Martha Van Haitsma
    A contextual definition of the underclass by Martha Van Haitsma Spatial concentration of poverty in and of itself need not constitute a problem distinct from general poverty. The neighborhoods in which people live do alter the mix of Martha Van Haitsma is a graduate student in the Department opportunities and difficulties they face, but not everyone in of Sociology at the University of Chicago. This article is the an area of concentrated poverty belongs to the same socio- revised and edited section of a paper presented at the 1989 economic class. Spatial concentration cannot be ignored, Midwest Sociological Association Meetings in St. Louis, however, as it constitutes part of the mechanism that links Missouri, April 5-10, 1989. nonnormative3 patterns of income generation and family formation to chronic poverty. When an area is largely popu- lated by chronically poor persons, the opportunities for climbing out of poverty are dimini~hed.~Residents of such Assessing whether or not an underclass exists, how it came areas have weak links to job networks, and therefore find to be, and what policies are likely to affect it all turn on how alternate means of generating income. Higher rates of infor- the term "underclass" is defined. The underclass has been mal and illegal means of accruing income, as well as welfare variously defined by any or all of four characteristics: use, strengthen networks of information tied to these ave- chronic poverty; nonnormative behavior with respect to nues rather than to formal work. With few visible career income generation and family formation; spatial concentra- prospects and few "marriageable" (i.e., stably empl~yed)~ tion of such poverty and/or behavior; and intergenerational men, young women are more likely to opt for single mother- transmission of such poverty and/or behavior.? The manner hood as a route to adulthood.
    [Show full text]
  • HIDDEN SLAVES: FORCED LABOR in the UNITED STATES Victims of Forced Labor Often Suffer Psychological Assaults Designed to Keep Them Submissive
    HIDDEN SLAVES FORCED LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES FREE THE SLAVES & SEPTEMBER 2004 HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY FREE THE SLAVES,WASHINGTON,D.C. Free the Slaves is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to ending slavery worldwide. Founded in 2000, Free the Slaves works to empower grassroots anti-slavery organizations, educate the public about the existence of slavery, eliminate slave-made goods from product supply chains, encourage governments to enact and enforce anti-slavery laws, and conduct social science-based research on slav- ery and human trafficking. Free the Slaves seeks to: create an inclusive and diverse movement, respect- ing the dignity and views of all people involved in eradicating slavery; base all our strategies on accurate research; support sustainable solutions, preventing adverse repercussions for those we aim to assist; and seek guidance and ideas from agencies around the world that are carrying out local and regional anti-slav- ery programs. THE HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER,UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,BERKELEY Founded in 1994 with the assistance of The Sandler Family Supporting Foundation, the Human Rights Center (HRC) is a unique interdisciplinary research and teaching enterprise that reaches across academ- ic disciplines and professions to conduct research in emerging issues in international human rights and humanitarian law. The HRC complements and supports the work of nongovernmental human rights orga- nizations by drawing upon the creativity and expertise of researchers from several diverse university pro- grams and departments including anthropology, demography, ethnic studies, geography, journalism, law, political science, and public health. The HRC collaborates closely with the International Human Rights Law Clinic and the Berkeley War Crimes Study Center at the University of California, Berkeley.
    [Show full text]