Building Worker Power Through Workforce Development final 10-4-2024 - Flipbook - Page 7
S ITE PRO FI LE
SO N O MA CO U NT Y
W O R K E R O R G A N I Z AT I O N L E A D :
LOCAL CONTEXT PROGRAM ADAPTATIONS:
North Bay Jobs with Justice (NBJWJ)
Sonoma County has been on the front lines of
catastrophic wild昀椀res fueled by climate change. In
response, community will and millions of dollars in local,
state, and federal government funds are focused on
wild昀椀re resilience and prevention work around homes
and in wildland areas. Low-wage immigrant
communities are disproportionately affected by
wild昀椀res due to income inequality and the outdoor,
exposed nature of many jobs in the landscaping and
agriculture sectors. Seizing on this moment, NBJWJ
integrated workers’ rights and safety training into a
workforce development program for these new jobs
and developed policy approaches to ensure the quality
of the jobs.
P A R T N E R O R G A N I Z AT I O N S :
Santa Rosa Junior College collaborated with
community stakeholders on a wild昀椀re resilience
training program for the existing landscaping and
agriculture workforce in Sonoma County. This
hands-on training program focused on 昀椀re-resilient
and drought-tolerant landscaping; vegetation
management and maintaining defensible space
around homes; small repairs for home hardening
and wild昀椀re safety; post-昀椀re cleanup and ash
remediation; and workplace safety and worker
rights. Resilience Works, a national labor brokerage
that employs workers on climate-related projects
like vegetation management, was the High Road
Employer partner for this project.
P O P U L AT I O N S E R V E D :
40 predominantly Indigenous Oaxacan immigrants
who speak Spanish or other Indigenous languages
and are typically employed in and around the
vineyards of Sonoma County.
L O C A L E C O N O M I C C O N T E X T:
A mix of rural, small town and small city communities
heavily dominated by farming, wine production and
tourism. Importantly, this is also an area at high risk
of wild昀椀res fueled by climate change, having
experienced several devastating 昀椀re events since
2017.
To meet participant language needs, NBJWJ and SRJC
partnered to develop and use a bilingual-accessible
curriculum around three key areas of workers’ rights:
1. Challenge: how landscapers and day laborers have
been excluded from basic rights that other workers
have;
2. Resources: Where can workers go when they believe
their rights have been violated (for example, wage
theft or unsafe working conditions);
3. Solidarity: How working people can organize to
improve their jobs and lives. In addition, a new
curriculum was developed on speci昀椀c health and
safety concerns for landscapers.
“ Now that I have more information, I try to talk more with my employers about
our rights and many employers have thanked me because there are rights that
they do not know about as employers at home.”
— Guadalupe, trainee
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B U I L D I N G W O R K E R P O W E R T H RO U G H W O R K FO RC E D E V E LO P M E N T
