 The UCLA Labor Center is launching the Miguel Contreras Worker Resource Center this spring, after two years of planning. The Contreras Center will be housed on the first floor of the UCLA Downtown Labor Center. Named after the late, great labor leader Miguel Contreras, the center will work to carry out his vision of building bridges between the civil rights, immigrant rights, and labor movements to bring about economic justice for Los Angeles.
The Contreras Center’s key programs will focus on leadership programs for workers, an online resource center, monthly clinics, and cultural events. In the next few months, the Contreras Center will offer a series of monthly workshops for organizers and worker-leaders on topics relating to the rights of immigrant workers. In June the Center plans to hold a two-day intensive training for worker-leaders to provide these workers from different campaigns with the opportunity to learn from each other and share best strategies on maintaining strength and unity in the face of opposition.
 A unique function of the Contreras Center will be to house a web site and onsite library of resource materials, such as DVDs, tool kits, leadership development materials, and research documents and studies on immigration and immigrant workers. The Contreras Center will incorporate art and culture to build unity among workers from different ethnic backgrounds.
“The Contreras Center is building a new generation of working-class leaders in Los Angeles. It is forging alliances among the labor movement and community-based centers, and unifying immigrant and native-born workers. This is where the future of L.A. lies,” states María Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.
The Contreras Center will be having its grand opening celebration soon. For more information, contact Victor Narro at 213/480-4154 x-209. |
