The South County Dayworker Center is out of work, but hopes to
be on its feet again soon with help from a nationwide charitable
organization.
Morgan Hill – The South County Dayworker Center is out of work, but hopes to be on its feet again soon with help from a nationwide charitable organization.
So far, however, only preliminary talks have ensued with Catholic Charities USA, but there’s a “logical connection” that could bring the two parties together, said Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County CEO Greg Kepferle.
Kepferle, a new Morgan Hill resident, explained his organization has useful expertise running an immigration program at St. Mary’s Church in Gilroy and also providing employment services in San Jose.
“And because the dayworker center was sponsored by St. Mary’s, it made sense for them to approach Catholic Charities to help out,” he added.
South County Dayworker Center Committee Chairman Julian Mancias said the next step now is finding a new location for the center, which had operated near the corner of Depot Street and E. Main Avenue from March 2005 until April this year.
If a new office can be found, a deal might then be worked out with Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County to open and fund a social services center in Morgan Hill that would include the previous day worker center and its staff.
“We think there is a need, otherwise we wouldn’t have spent all this time and energy on the center,” Mancias said. “The underlying concept has been the humanitarian effort. It’s not only about the work, but about directing (day laborers) toward legal services, medical services and answering immigration questions.”
The South County Dayworker Center’s mission is to empower day laborers to seek employment in a dignified manner and to improve their quality of life.
Eloisa Gamez, the center’s program director, said the center registered more than 300 day workers during its 13-month life span. Staff members, all of them volunteers, recorded the names, addresses and phone numbers of the laborers, Gamez said, helping many of them budget their money to stay afloat and help their families back home, usually in Mexico.
“The center provided a safe environment,” she said. It offered English classes twice a week, weekly visits by a nurse and monthly presentations on topics such as basic nutrition, opening bank accounts and guarding against sexually transmitted diseases.
Still, despite its admirable social intentions, Gamez said it was sometimes hard to get employers who were likely hiring illegal immigrants to put their names down on paper.
They were asked to volunteer contact information so day workers might be able to retrieve forgotten personal items from job sites and, more importantly, have some recourse if employers failed to pay them.
Mancias said most nervous employers eventually came around to offering their contact information, once they understood it would not leave the center. He said about 80 to 90 percent of employers cooperated with the request for disclosure.
At this point, there’s no guarantee a new center will open quickly, or with help from Catholic Charities.
But if someone were to donate office space, things would be that much easier to work out, Kepferle said.
The South County Dayworker Center previously benefited from a generous $1 per month lease from Morgan Hill developer Charles Weston. But there was an understanding that the lease could not be renewed when it ran out.
Mancias said he looks forward to any funding and administrative support Catholic Charities could provide. The organization’s staff includes seasoned grant writers.
“It was a full-time, year-round job for us,” he said. “We were always in search of money. We didn’t have a grant writer, so we instead resorted to fund raisers.”
Kepferle said if they could get a new center off the ground, they’d start looking for donors and government grants to make sure it’s a viable program.
“What we’re doing right now is figuring out what the level of need is, what’s the availability of jobs ,” he said. “To get something running again, it always takes longer than one would hope, unless there’s a donor.”
For now, Gamez said, many day laborers will spend the busy summer months “pushing themselves out there,” flagging down employers in the street.
