Voz Workers' Rights Education Project

Mission

Voz is a worker-led organization that empowers diverse day laborers (including domestic workers) and immigrants to improve their working conditions and protect civil rights through leadership development, organizing, education and economic opportunity.

Bottom Line for Portland

Voz is the only organization in the state of Oregon working with the day laborer community. We are a vehicle for social change and community mobilization. Voz was founded by day laborers who came together, began identifying shared community needs, and were dedicated to fueling grassroots solutions. We continue strongly in this legacy today. Voz believes that sustainable and transformative justice work must be led by the communities most affected and with the greatest lived experience. At Voz, we actualize this ethos by being a worker-led and worker-run organization. Our authentic commitment to elevating those most impacted by the issues at hand to leadership positions with real organizational decision-making power is the embodiment of our organization’s name - voz, meaning “voice.” 

Quote

“The difference between working through Voz versus working independently on a street corner is that there is more security through Voz and a feeling of relief knowing that someone else knows who I’m with. If anything happens, I can rely on someone else to back me up. When working independently, there’s a sense of anxiety not knowing who I’m working with or where I’m going and knowing whether I’m going to get paid or not.”  - Adalberto, Voz Member for 10+ Years

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Voz annually serves approximately 200 day laborers and domestic workers, representing a diverse range of backgrounds from Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Afghanistan. Our members have a wide range of identities, including immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, parents, seniors, Latinx, Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ, houseless individuals, and people with disabilities. About 90% of our community identifies as BIPOC.
 

Voz is deeply committed to ensuring that our staff and board reflect the diverse community we serve. At the moment, our entire staff is comprised of Latinx women. Four of the five board members identify as women and/or gender non-binary, and three are part of the BIPOC community. As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance representation, we are actively working to recruit additional board members who mirror our community. 
 

Furthermore, Voz promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion by rejecting the often patronizing power dynamics of traditional service providers. We empower day laborers through our worker-led structure, which includes our worker assembly and Day Laborer Committee.