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Through a grant program in its second year, organizations like El Comit\u00e9 de Trabajadorxs de Restaurantes and Philly Black Worker Project are teaming up with Philly’s labor department to reach workers.<\/p>\n
The city of Philadelphia\u2019s Office of Worker Protection has chosen 10 organizations that will receive a combined $95,000 in funding<\/a> for 2024 to educate workers about local labor laws.<\/p>\n The awards are part of the office\u2019s Community Outreach and Education Fund, in its second year. As part of the program, the organizations will work with the office through June 2024 on awareness efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe main focus of the fund is to really invest in our relationships with trusted community leaders who are truly the human element to connecting these laws with workplaces across the city and families across the city,\u201d said Candace Chewning, director of the city\u2019s Office of Worker Protections.<\/p>\n Three organizations, as \u201ccommunity programming partners,\u201d will receive $20,000: Coalition for Restaurant Safety and Health\/El Comit\u00e9 de Trabajadorxs de Restaurantes, VietLead, and Restaurant Opportunities Centers of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n Seven more \u201cresource sharing partners\u201d will get $5,000 each: Blackwell Culture Alliance Inc., Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, Haitian American United for Change, National Domestic Workers Alliance-Pennsylvania Chapter, New Options More Opportunities (NoMo), Philly Black Worker Project, and Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Associations Coalition (SEAMAAC).<\/p>\n Many of the workers who are covered by Philadelphia labor laws are not represented by unions, Chewning noted, and community organizations can help to educate those workers about their rights. Last year, she said, the program allowed the office to work with more than 40 organizations that reach workers in 25 languages.<\/p>\n She also noted that her office\u2019s fund requires far less documentation and auditing than the typical grant program. \u201cWe\u2019re trusting their expertise to provide this information to their community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Each of last year\u2019s recipients received more than $16,000 in the fund\u2019s first year, when the office had more than $200,000 to divvy up. Chewning said the program was made possible last year by the city\u2019s Operation Transformation Fund<\/a>, but this year is coming entirely from the city labor department\u2019s budget. She hopes it will grow in coming years.<\/p>\n