Labor and Community Projects
Building Labor-Community Alliances
"Building Labor and Community Alliances," was a meeting held by Cornell''s Institute for Women and Work and Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children''s Defense Fund, in March of 2001 at IWW offices at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. In attendance were advocates from labor, policy and workers'' and women''s rights groups. The purpose of the meeting was to develop ways in which the Children''s Defense Fund and its local state chapters, as well as other grass roots community organizations can work with labor on mutual interests and concerns at the national and local levels.
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The New York City Working Women''s Rights and Education Project: Promoting Workplace Health and Well-Being
In a recent report regarding women''s status, New York received a grade of "F" on a composite index designed to measure the health and well-being of women in our State. On the basis of this report and other indicators, Cornell University''s Institute for Women and Work at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) is undertaking a special initiative funded by the New York State Assembly Labor Committee. The purpose of the project entitled, The New York City Working Women''s Rights and Education Project aims at promoting the health and well-being of New York''s working women, especially low to middle income wage earners and immigrant workers by developing a series of case studies that will serve as the basis for peer education awareness workshops on (1) workplace rights; (2) workplace risks; and (3) access to family support systems.
The objective of this project is to provide working women with culturally sensitive information on health and safety, preventive health care, and family support services and to develop a group of intergenerational "trainers" from various age groups, from college students to retired union workers, as workplace and union "peer educators." These "peer educators" will receive training on the various aspects of workers'' rights, including but not limited to identifying and addressing occupational risks, and to access vital health and family service information to promote greater health and well being. Upon successful completion of the training, these new educators will conduct presentations for unions and workplace rights'' advocates.
