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

• ✨ As the only worker-led nonprofit in Oregon directly serving day laborers and domestic workers, Voz fills a critical gap. Through leadership development, education, and organizing, Voz connects workers with fair wage jobs, combats wage theft, and advocates for economic justice and workers' rights.
   
• 👷🏽‍♂️ Our mission is rooted in justice, worker power, and community solidarity, with a vision of a world where all work is dignified and just, and workers have the tools and self-determination to improve their lives and communities.
   
• ⚒️ Founded by day laborers who united to identify shared community needs and drive grassroots solutions, Voz proudly continues this legacy today. We believe that sustainable and transformative justice must be led by the communities most affected and with the greatest lived experience. At Voz, we live this ethos by being a worker-led, worker-run organization, where those most impacted by the issues are elevated to leadership roles with real decision-making power in our Day Laborer Committee. This commitment to amplifying the experiences of those most impacted is captured in our name—Voz, meaning "voice."

Quote

📣 "If it weren’t for Voz, surviving without connections or jobs would be difficult. I wasn’t able to support my family before I came to Voz, but now, because of the jobs I get from the Worker Center, I can pay my rent and support my family back home in my country. Voz is here for everyone. If you need skilled laborers, we’re ready to help. And for those who want to donate, know that your support goes a long way, as Voz never asks for anything in return. Your friend in need is your friend indeed.” - Augustine, Day Laborer from Sierra Leone

📣 "Voz is a lifesaver for many people who need help - people who are immigrants, who don’t have families, who don’t have anywhere else to go. Voz supports them, helps orient them, and helps them look for work opportunities and trainings. With Voz, you feel that you aren’t alone, and that you have a family and a community.” - Sergio, Day Laborer from Mexico and Vice-President of the Day Laborer Committee

📣 “It is important to continue supporting Voz because we are witnessing an increase in the number of members - more people are joining, including more migrants from different countries. Voz is growing, and we want to ensure that we have the capacity to support everyone. We want to create more opportunities for newcomers through training and work, ensuring they can thrive in this country. We need assistance to ensure that our Worker Center flourishes and creates opportunities for everyone." - Jesus, Day Laborer from Venezuela
 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

🌎 Voz’s impact reaches 1,526 individuals annually. Our members are day laborers and domestic workers, representing a diverse range of backgrounds from Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Afghanistan. Our members come from a variety of identities, including immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, parents, seniors, Latinx, Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, houseless individuals, formerly incarcerated people, and those with disabilities. About 98% of our community identifies as BIPOC.
 

🗣️ Currently, 91% of our participants speak little to no English. In response to our community’s needs and the increase in asylum seekers arriving from all over the world, Voz transitioned from being a bilingual organization to one that now serves at least 12 different languages. Our members speak Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Persian, Wolof, Lingala, and various Indigenous languages such as Maya, Nahuatl, Purépecha, and more. Though our staff may not speak all of these languages, we do not turn anyone away, ensuring that language barriers do not limit access. Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is central to our work, making our programs accessible to all, regardless of background or identity.
 

💙 Voz also 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.
 

👥 Voz is deeply committed to ensuring that our staff and board reflect the diverse community we serve. As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance representation, we are working to recruit additional board members who mirror our community.

Incentives

• 🎨 The first person to donate $100 or more during the Give!Guide campaign will receive $150 worth of art prints from Justseeds!
• 🔍 The first person to donate over $25 on Giving Tuesday (Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024) will win a gift certificate for Escape Games PDX!
• 🖤 The first person to donate $500 or more will win a $200 tattoo session from Jungle Candy Tattoos (Details: Tattoos are limited to arms and legs; Flash and available designs only; One standard size option)
• 🎁 The Voz Board will match the first $200 in donations given on launch day - Friday, November 1st, 2024!
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Partner(s)

Donate to our Nonprofit Partners! ✊🏽

• - Project Access NOW partners with community to create equitable access to whole person care and social services and to advocate for systemic change.
• - Familias en Acción (Familias) was founded in 1998, in response to the need for a culturally specific organization to promote health for Latino/x/e communities. The mission of Familias is to strengthen the health and well-being of Latino families and communities in Oregon.
• - At the Oregon Center for Public Policy, they believe that everyone who calls Oregon home — Black, brown, and white; rural and urban; immigrant and Indigenous — should enjoy economic security and the opportunity to flourish. This vision of an equitable Oregon won’t be achieved by accident or chance; good public policy is essential. Their mission is to achieve economic justice for all Oregonians, and they aim to accomplish that by changing public policies to ensure that economic prosperity is more broadly shared.
• - Pueblo Unido creates hope for and amplifies the voices of communities with vulnerable immigration status by connecting them to legal, social, and Indigenous language interpretation services. We envision a world in which all people live in freedom, and where we and our communities can be safe, feel supported and thrive.
• - Momentum Alliance’s mission is to inspire young people to realize their power individually and collectively and to mentor future social justice leaders.
• - Hygiene4All provides clean toilets, hot showers, first aid and personal care supplies, as well as access to community health workers and clean clothes and bedding through a unique laundry exchange - guided and run by a team of coordinators & unsheltered staff.
• - ReBuilding Center is a climate justice organization on a mission to make reuse and repair accessible to all as a means to reduce waste, end overconsumption, and empower homeowners and renters by making better use of our existing resources.
  
  Thank you to our Business Partners! 🫱🏼‍🫲🏽
• - Escape Games PDX is a fun, exciting and challenging interactive escape game that you can challenge with friends, family, and co-workers. You have 60 minutes to work together: find the clues, crack the code and solve the puzzle to win!
• - Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative is a decentralized network of 41 artists committed to social, environmental, and political engagement.
• - Jungle Candy Tattoos, or Kavi, is a licensed tattoo artist located in Portland, Oregon.