Reflecting on 2019
This season invites us to reflect on the year at our backs: winning historic rent laws, supporting the first worker cooperative franchise, launching a city wide domestic worker training program, confronting policies and corporations that separate immigrant families, and so much more!
We are humbled by the opportunity to be part of and shape this work, to imagine and practice futures rooted in housing and domestic worker justice alongside tenants, workers, and allies. We are filled with gratitude to be able to organize and dream with our leaders, partner organizations, and coalitions, in Southwest Brooklyn, NYC, and beyond.
From the Block to the Capitol: Growing the Tenant Movement
As members of the Upstate Downstate Housing Alliance we were successful in passing the biggest expansion of tenants’ rights in New York’s history! Over the course of the year we knocked on doors, canvassed on our blocks, hosted town halls, participated in direct actions, and made countless trips to Albany.
In 2020 we will be organizing to collectively enforce the new rent laws on the local level while continuing to build statewide power, ensuring that every New Yorker has an affordable, safe, and secure home.
Centering the Leadership of Domestic Workers
Along with six other worker cooperatives and worker centers across NYC, we launched the We Rise Nanny Training Program, the first of its kind peer education workforce development program that looks to train workers while raising standards in the domestic work industry. In our first year, trainers from the Carroll Gardens Nanny Association and Hopewell Care Cooperative facilitated four training cycles (in Spanish and English), with over 70 workers graduating!
In 2020 we will recruit new members to become trainers and support an emerging leadership team that will design, plan, and implement our new year of trainings.
Deepening our Commitment to Worker Ownership
This year we were honored to support Brightly Carroll Gardens launching the country’s first worker cooperative franchise. Since the launch two NEW Brightly’s have developed in East Harlem and Washington Heights, the worker cooperative movement is growing! In addition to Brightly Carroll Gardens, we continue supporting Hopewell Care, a childcare cooperative that enters into its third year of business.
In 2020 we look forward to continue supporting these two cooperatives along their path to independence!
Cultivating a Powerful Domestic Worker Base
We spent countless hours in the parks and libraries meeting nannies, sharing know your rights information, and inviting them into the growing Carroll Gardens Nanny Association. While organizing on the local level we turned out at City Hall to support Intro 339 which will amend the New York City Human Rights Law to include protections for domestic workers.
In 2020 we will continue our local base building and leadership development work while turning to the national scene, sending a delegation of 15 workers to the the National Domestic Workers Alliance assembly in Las Vegas and supporting the first federal Domestic Worker Bill of Rights!
Dreaming Up and Organizing Towards a New Economy
We brought together domestic workers, tenants, coop members, and allies to sharpen our analysis of the economy and start building our collective muscle of imagining alternative models rooted in racial, gender, and economic justice. We joined Public Bank NYC, a growing coalition of organizations looking to divest from Wall Street and establish a public bank- to close out 2019 the coalition held the Inaugural Worst NYC Banks Awards.
In 2020 we are excited to integrate more political education into our work, learning about the History of the Tenant Movement in NYC, the Solidarity Economy Movement, and more!
Calling for an End to Family Separation and Detention
We organized play date protests at Banks and Congressional offices, joined a delegation at the Elizabeth New Jersey detention center, and held a Dia de Los Muertos Action at Whole Foods, calling on our elected officials to close detention centers and demanding corporations end their business with ICE.
In 2020 we will continue working with our partners Hand in Hand, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, and Make the Road NY to dial up the pressure and ensure the end of these policies.
Cultivating Community
All of our work is about connection and relationship building. This year we hosted several community potlucks and our annual Southwest Brooklyn Street Fair, bringing together hundreds of neighbors, small businesses, and artists.
In 2020 we will look to hold more community events: political board game nights, documentary screenings + discussions, and offering our space to groups who want to hold meetings or workshops.
