Inside the Inland Empire: A Case Study in Cross-Issue Grantmaking Neighborhood Funders Group Working Group on Labor and Community Partnerships Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrant Rights Inland Empire Site Visit, September 13-14, 2011 9/13 6:00pm – 8:00pm Over dinner – welcome & 1.5 hour panel (overview) 9/14 8:00am Breakfast is served 8:30am – 9:30am Over breakfast 1 hour panel (workforce) 9:45am – 12:00pm Bus tour 2.25 hours 12:00pm - 12:30pm Break 12:30pm – 1:30pm Over lunch 1 hour panel (economic justice) 1:30pm – 2:15pm Break 2:15pm – 3:45pm 1.25 hour panel (civic participation) 3:45pm – 4:00pm Break 4:00pm – 5:00pm Funder-only Debrief 5:00pm End Detailed Schedule 9/13, 6:00pm Welcome and Introduction by Henry Allen , Executive Director, Discount Foundation, GCIR board member and former co-chair of the Working Group Understanding the Inland Empire: An Overview of its Economy, Environment, Politics and Demographics Moderated by Margarita Luna , Program Manager, California Endowment Juan De Lara is an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California. Juan received his PhD in geography from UC Berkeley. His research interests include: the geographies of global commodity distribution, emerging scales of metropolitan and regional growth, the role that labor and community organizations play in the social production of space, urban political ecology - especially as it relates to environmental justice and the green economy movement, and the politics of race and representation in California's rapidly expanding inland counties. Penny Newman , the Executive Director for the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ), a non-profit organization working on environmental justice issues. The Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice is one of the oldest and most accomplished environmental justice/health organizations in the nation. CCAEJ’s believes the key to effectively solving community problems lies in bringing the diverse segments of the community together in democratically based, participatory organizations and networks in ways that empower. Penny has gained wide recognition for her work on Environmental Justice issues with the emergence of toxic waste sites in the early 80’s. Her activities at the Stringfellow Acid Pits, California’s top priority Superfund site, led to extensive public policy changes on the state and federal level. Penny’s primary expertise on public participation methods and community organizing has made her a highly sought speaker on environmental health and justice issues. Alicia Villarreal , Regional Representative for U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. In April 2010, Secretary Solis named Alicia her regional representative for California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Hawaii. She is based continued in Los Angeles, Calif. Villarreal returned to government from the law firm Morgan Lewis, where she handled internal corporate investigations, and the development and assessment of compliance programs for private and publicly traded companies. She also represented clients in civil and criminal law enforcement matters. Previously, Villarreal served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California for 14 years, where she investigated and prosecuted federal criminal cases involving public corruption, government procurement fraud, corporate fraud, bank fraud, tax fraud, health care fraud, and breaches of national security and espionage. 9/14, 8:30am The Warehouse Industry and its Workforce: An overview Nicholas Allen is a Campaign Director at Change to Win, a coalition of labor unions representing 5 million workers in North America with a mission to rebuild the American Dream for working families. Since 2007 he has been working to develop Warehouse Workers United, an innovative program to organize warehouse workers at the heart of the supply chains that feed giant retailers such as Walmart. Prior to working at Change to Win, he worked in SEIU’s global program in France for a year following a ten-year stint organizing health-care workers with SEIU. He holds a BA in history from Yale University. Ellen Widess , Director of Cal/OSHA. Widess was the senior program officer for the Rosenberg Foundation from 2000 to 2010, a consultant for the Centers for Disease Control on updated child labor standards from 1998 to 1999, executive director of Lead Safe California from 1994 to 1998 and the director of health policy at the Children’s Advocacy Institute from 1991 to 1994. She previously served at Cal/OSHA as the chief of the pesticide program from 1978 to 1984. She has worked as a consultant in the field of occupational safety and health and immigration policy since 2010. Julie Su 9:45am Three-stop bus tour of San Bernardino/Riverside (2.5) hours Warehouses. We’ll meet with workers outside warehouses not far from the DoubleTree. We’ll hear from worker activists about their work, their challenges, and their success improving conditions inside, as well as get a sense of the scale of the warehouse complexes. (Two stops) San Bernadino Railyards . We’ll meet with residents near the railyards, and see first-hand the environmental devastation caused by the goods movement industry. Warehouse Workers United office. We’ll have lunch and conclude our afternoon programming at the offices of the Warehouse Workers United. 12:30pm Organizing for Economic Justice Moderated by Judy Patrick , President & CEO, California Women's Foundation Suzanne Foster has been the Executive Director of the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center (PEOC) since 2007, and oversees the organization’s work in Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, and the Inland Empire. She started the ESL program at the Center in 1999 as a volunteer when she was a student at Pitzer College, and was Vice President of the PEOC Board from 2000-2001. She has a Masters in Urban Planning from UCLA with an emphasis in Community Economic Development. She has extensive experience in program management, grant writing, and coalition-building, and has been active in the day laborer movement for nearly 11 years. Ana Sanchez is a warehouse worker from the Inland Empire of Southern California. Originally from Oaxaca, Mexico, Ana worked in the warehouse industry for five years. She was injured working in a warehouse serving Walmart and other large retailers in the U.S. The injuries left her unable to work in the industry. She joined Warehouse Workers United in 2009 to improve conditions in the industry, even though she will never work in a warehouse again. She was part of the organization's development of the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, learning about workplace health and safety and training other workers on how to protect themselves on the job. Pastor Art Lucero is from Sunrise Church in Rialto and a leader with Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. As President and Founder of Multi Cultural Ministry, Arturo Lucero is a leading expert in cultivating multi-ethnic churches and working with local churches to help them reach their immigrant community. He serves as an Adult Ministries Pastor at Sunrise Church in Rialto, Calif., a multi-ethnic congregation of 4,000 and one of Outreach magazine’s 2008 Top 100 Fastest-Growing Churches, and has experience and insights into assimilation, spiritual growth, small groups, outreach and Spanish ministry. 2:15pm Opportunities for Increasing Civic Participation Moderated by Cathy Cha , Senior Program Officer, Walter and Evelyn Haas, Jr. Fund Astrid Campos is a lead organizer with California Partnership, a statewide coalition of community-based organizations that fights poverty in California. Astrid is the lead organizer on California Partnership’s state budget work and is co-chair of the HHS Network field committee. Astrid also helped to lead and give guidance to the first Inland Empire electoral table effort that California Partnership undertook during the November 2010 election in collaboration with Mobilize the Immigrant Vote. Astrid started organizing in college on immigrant right issues and later collaborated with the Federal and statewide DREAM Act campaigns. She worked on several congressional campaigns and as deputy field director for a Los Angeles city council campaign. She has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Ethnic studies from California State University, Fullerton. Sheheryar Kaoosji has been a project coordinator of Warehouse Workers United since 2009. He has been involved in applied research and analysis in service of organizing for his entire career. After graduating with a BA from UC Santa Cruz, he organized community-based research projects and policy advocacy in the Mission and South of Market districts of San Francisco, focused on increasing community access to the citywide planning and land use policies that affected the dwindling working class in those communities during the dot- com boom. After receiving his Masters' of Public Policy degree at UCLA with the goal of joining the Southern California labor movement, he worked for Change to Win as a research analyst, working with the United Farm Workers of America and United Food and Commercial Workers, and with the Warehouse Workers campaign starting in 2008. 4:00pm Funder-only debriefing Reserve your spot: Contact Dania Rajendra | 718.730.4672 | [email protected].