With one of the largest and fastest-growing immigrant populations in the country, Los Angeles is the birthplace of the immigrant worker movement that has pioneered new organizing, service, and civic-engagement models. The city has also produced some of the country's most dynamic and eloquent immigrant leaders, and led the way in innovative public policies that seek to protect the rights of low-wage workers and promote immigrant integration. Participants will see downtown's lively Garment District on the way to our first stop, a day labor center at Home Depot whose innovative service model is the subject of a prospective ordinance to expand such centers throughout L.A. Next stop will be a car wash where the city's estimated 12,000 "carwasheros" are part of a new labor coalition aimed at improving wages and working conditions of this unsung workforce. Participants will enjoy the Central and South American cuisine of Mama's Hot Tamales, a social enterprise that trains new immigrants to successfully compete in the restaurant industry, while a dynamic panel of national leaders discusses the issue of immigrant labor. In the course of this tour, participants will learn about the daily challenges that low-wage workers face in entering the economic and social mainstream, unprecedented collaborations between immigrant workers and national labor unions, and the prospects for immigration reform in the new Congress. For more information, visit www.nfg.org.
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