Renting in Johnson County? Want to learn more about your rights as a tenant? On August 19, from 5:30-7:00 PM, Iowa Legal Aid’s Fair Housing Project and Johnson County Affordable Housing Coalition will host the Tenants’ Rights Webinar. The webinar will describe the rights you have as a tenant, as well as resources you can…
We are delighted to announce that two of our board members, Elizabeth Bernal and Marcela Hurtado, are being inducted into the Iowa Latino Hall of Fame for being outstanding community members! To help celebrate National Latino & Hispanic Heritage Month, join us to honor the inductions of all these incredible community members and leaders on…
The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. Showcasing a diverse range of themes, voices, and perspectives, the NEA Big Read aims to inspire conversation and discovery. This year we are excited to be reading Into the…
¡Buenas noticias para quienes están completamente vacunados!
They’re here!! The much-anticipated covid relief stimulus checks are inbound and arriving in bank accounts across the country as you read this! For some this relief comes as extra money to invest in their favorite local businesses or a safe outdoor activity with the family. However, for many more, this stimulus check means a payment on…
This upcoming weekend, the University of Iowa Free Mobile Clinic will be at CWJ on Saturday, January 23 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm to provide basic health services. You do not need health insurance; all services are free! Please share with friends and family!
Este fin de semana, la ClÃnica Móvil Gratuita de la Universidad de Iowa estará en CWJ el sábado 23 de Enero de 11:00 am a 1:00 pm para brindar servicios básicos de salud. No necesitas seguro médico, ¡todos los servicios son gratuitos! ¡Comparte con amigos y familiares!
Let’s Pass our Checks to Local Families in Crisis ! Just one individual federal stimulus check will provide life-sustaining resources to at least two local families in crisis. Donate here: https://cwjiowa.salsalabs.org/FromMyHometoYours/index.html Low-wage and immigrant families in CWJ’s network have given our community so much. The workers at the heart of the Center for Worker…
Because none of us is safe unless all of us are safe. The COVID-19 crisis is an urgent reminder that everyone in our communities is interconnected. The safety and future of every one of us depend on each other, and an injury to one is truly an injury to all. This national emergency exposes the…
Read an article about some of the work that we do on The Gazette Newspaper : New data shows Iowans filed more than 600 unpaid wage claims, with limited success, in 2019 Franz Dunsworth said he was “hurting for work†when he began his third stint with Jet Services last fall. The Ainsworth, Iowa, native…
Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa would like to honor and remember our great friend Diane Finnerty, who passed away on December 29. A memorial service to celebrate Diane’s life will be held on Sunday, January 26, 2020, at 1:00 pm at The Park Lodge at the Terry Trueblood Recreation Area located on 579 McCollister Blvd,…
Be an active participant in the Iowa Caucuses. Make your voice heard. This is what democracy looks like! How do the caucuses work? What you need to know. How have the rules changed? Help shape a platform that represents the concerns of immigrants and low wage workers. — On immigration — On wage theft and…
For the last year, CWJ members have shared their recipes, flavors, ingredients in our community. We were able to empower aspiring restaurant owners’ to create unique dishes from their diverse backgrounds. Exploring cultures and flavors from the Middle East and South America we were able to connect through our shared passion for food. Together we…
We had an excellent night celebrating its Seventh Anniversary and Fourth Annual Gala Fundraiser this past Saturday, October 5th; We are so grateful to have shared food, music, and conversation with our many friends and supporters in the community. We began the night by hearing from CWJ’s Executive Director, Rafael Morataya. We were pleased to…
North Liberty, Iowa: A coalition of community members took action on Thursday, September 12 in support of two North Liberty workers who are victims of “wage theft” – when workers aren’t paid the wages they are legally owed. Wenceslao Mendez and Norma Diaz quit working at BeerBurger in North Liberty after their payroll checks bounced.…
We invite you to celebrate with CWJ as we reach our Seventh Anniversary and Fourth Annual Gala Fundraiser! Since last year’s Gala, we have recovered $15,000 in wages lost from wage theft, bringing our grand total recovered over $80,000 CWJ members have taken the initiative to create a social enterprise with the goal of opening a café using family recipes, transmitted by…
Take a look at the Media Articles from the Lights for Liberty Vigil in Cedar Rapids on July 12: https://cbs2iowa.com/news/local/hundreds-gather-to-protest-border-child-detentions-and-mass-deportation https://www.thegazette.com/protestors-rally-in-cedar-rapids-against-border-detention-20190712 https://www.press-citizen.com/picture-gallery/news/2019/07/13/photos-hundreds-rally-lights-liberty-vigil-cedar-rapids/1721312001/?
Leaders in Johnson County say they’ve seen a lot of success in its community identification cards. County leaders say there are many benefits to having identification. They say it makes simple daily tasks easier. People can apply at the Johnson County Auditor’s Office every Monday through Friday. The cost is $4 or children and $8 for…
CWJ is proud to celebrate 4 years of the Community ID The ID was established to ensure that all members of our diverse community are welcomed and can participate fully in the economic and social life of our county. The Johnson County Community ID can be used in a wide variety of day-to-day interactions, such…
In an era of serious challenges for low-wage residents, the Center for Worker Justice is celebrating several victories this week – and local community members are stepping up to help support its continued success. On Tuesday, the Iowa City Council voted unanimously in support of a groundbreaking affordable housing agreement, which residents of the Forest…
We all know how difficult it is to go to the hospital or see a doctor, that is why we have made a partnership with the mobile clinic of the university and hope that one day we can expand the services they offer to our community, we share several photos of the last clinic in…
CWJ, TeamCan, Teamsters & other Allies are supporting Gulfview Residents, we’re sharing an article about it: https://kwwl.com/news/2019/04/09/north-liberty-mobile-home-residents-getting-priced-out-of-property/ According to Golfview resident Don Lund, the meeting at the North Liberty Recreation Center on Friday, April 5 was standing room only. More than 100 people met to hear from Mazahir Salih of the Center for Worker Justice and Jesse…
On February 21, 2019, the Iowa City zoning commission meeting was packed with people, lining the walls and filling all of the available seats. There were two items on the agenda for the members of the commission to discuss that night; the most significant being the rezoning of the Forest View mobile home park. The…
For the last six years CWJ is been facing a lot of challenges but that has not stopped us to continue fighting for a better community, this time we are sharing an article from Mike Kuhlenbeck a reporter from Little Village: Please click to read the article: Top five 2018: Workers in Iowa continue to…
CWJ is able to continue Social Change with the Social Justice and Racial Equity Grant that we received. We wanted to offer classes in which the students could learn new skills and apply them to their everyday life. We wanted to offer them skills that they could then use to help themselves become sustainable. With…
During our Third Gala we release our report for the last 6 years of Social Change in Eastern Iowa, please read it on the following link:Â Six Years Retrospective
It was 2002, and the tragedies of September 11, 2001 were still fresh and raw in everyone’s hearts and minds. And I was reading, for the first time of many, Hannah Arendt’s classic study of the patterns of thought and behavior leading up to the Holocaust, The Origins of Totalitarianism. In particular, I had just…
One of my earliest memories as a little girl in the Midwest in the early 1980s is of the smell of graham crackers. But it wasn’t from our pantry–it was from the backseat of our car, where I sat next to a woman wrapped in colorful fabric, quietly looking out the window at her new…
Hundreds march in Iowa City supporting immigrants families on Saturday, June 30 as part of the Mobilization Day to denounce separation of families. [foogallery id=”1328″] CWJ is proud to have sponsored the March and Rally on June 30 and joined the National Day of Families Belong Together. For more information, read the articles linked below…
“On Tuesday June 26, I attended a hearing for 5 men detained in the recent Mt. Pleasant Raid. The experience confirmed something many already know, that ICE makes people disappear without due process. The courtroom was overflowing with supporters, both family members and allies. The federal prosecuting attorney said that 2 of the 5 detainees had not…
Tearing apart peaceful immigrant families is cruel, unjust, and devastating to our communities. Take action now! Fill out this form and click “take action“ to be taken to a sample letter you can review, edit, and send with one click to your Congressman and Senators. It’s been horrifying to watch parents torn away from…
Speech by Mark Schmidt on Cedar Rapids Rally calling for Immigration Reform in front of Senator Grasley’s office on May-14-2018 My great-great-grandfather came to America as a stowaway in a cattle ship in the late 19th century. He came because of prospect of work. He came because he was fleeing the violence of war and…
Blaming too few students signed up for the class, the Iowa City Community School District has decided to cancel the Ethnic Studies elective course scheduled for the upcoming trimester. Brought about amid protests last school year, the student organization Students Against Hate and Discrimination (SAHD) negotiated the addition of this Social Justice class with…
Here at the Center for Worker Justice, we value and celebrate diversity in our community. After receiving reports from multiple community members of racially-charged messages and harassment, the CWJ participated in a forum as a member of the Johnson County Interfaith Cluster that met with city leaders, faith groups, and local police to…
Eleven CWJ members and allies met with the regional directors of Senators Grassley (Fred Shuster) and Ernst (Brittney Carroll) on Tuesday, January 16 to discuss immigrant justice, including the urgent need to pass a “clean†DREAM Act immediately. Every day that Congress fails to pass a DREAM Act, more than 100 young people who…
In 2015, Johnson County workers won a long-overdue, historic minimum wage increase when the Johnson County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved raising the minimum wage in three steps: to $8.20 in November 2015; $9.15 on May 1, 2016, and $10.10 on January 1, 2017. After years of inaction from Congress, County Supervisors joined 29 states…
“We are here to stay! Immigrants are here to stay! Our minimum wage is here to stay! Our unions are here to stay!†CWJ is proud to Honor those Leaders in our Community who have contributed to improving our lives in the last year; here are the Winners: Emerging Leader: Margarita Volunteer of the Year: Sally…
Over 100 businesses have committed to honoring a livable wage within our community – but we’re not going to stop there. Every day, we’re working to make sure that number grows, and working to make sure that each worker in our community is getting what they need and deserve. Click the headline for the full…
Over the past several weeks, we’ve been working hard to make sure that local businesses continue to honor a minimum wage that our community can actually live off of. With the passage of HSB92, local businesses no longer have a legal obligation to continue to pay $10.10, but as Rev. Rudolph T. Juárez points out in…
Celebrate local progress with us at CWJ’s Second Annual Gala on October 21, 2017 at 6:00 PM! Our members and allies have built a vibrant organization bringing hundreds together across boundaries of race, national origin, and immigration status. Through the hard work of our community, we’ve redefined what’s politically possible in our region. We’re delighted to announce…
Case came to the CWJ in April for help in recovering over $400 in unpaid wages owed by her former employer – money needed for car payments, groceries, and other essentials. After working with us and out supporters, she was able to receive pay for her missing hours. Wage theft and abuse has no place…
We’ve been hard at work asking local businesses to commit to continuing to support our community by paying at least $10.10 wage to all their workers, irregardless of what happens in Des Moines. For the full, continually updating list, follow this link or click the headline above: http://cwjiowa.org/moving-forward-local-businesses-who-have-comitted-to-10-10/
HF 295 – the state bill that would attempt to roll back critical and hard-fought victories regarding the minimum wage and worker’s rights – has past its final hurdle in the Iowa Senate, and is now waiting to be signed by Governor Terry Branstad. But we’re not waiting for that day. Writing for the Gazette,…
Asking anyone to live off of $7.25 – just $14,500 a year – is absurd, let alone asking anyone to support a family on such an income. On March 8th, we gathered to call on local businesses to honor the Johnson County minimum wage of $10.10, irregardless of whatever happens because of bills such as…
WHAT: International Woman’s Day of Action with CWJ WHEN: 4:30PM, Wednesday, March 8, 2017 WHERE: Ped Mall, 201 Dubuque St, Iowa City, IA 52240 Corporate lobbyists representing big banks, hotel chains, and grocery stores are backing House File 295 in the Iowa statehouse that would lower our minimum wage and prohibit cities and counties from…
Our community has seen firsthand how the broken U.S. immigration system can lead to devastation after months of confusion, anxiety, and heartbreak. We know the American Dream cannot survive without the hard work and contributions of immigrant workers and families. Take these 5 steps this week to join CWJ and protect immigrant workers. Take our…
Friday, March 3rd, from 3pm-4:30pm on the Pentacrest / Viernes 3 de marzo, de 3pm a 4:30pm en el Pentacrest Organized by CWJ, CCI, and IASE. ************************************* This will be a rally supporting immigrant rights throughout our community: in the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, and all over Iowa. We will be meeting on…
More anti-worker, anti-immigrant bills are being rushed through the Iowa state capitol, and it’s important that each of us speak up to our legislators against them. While lawmakers continue to make life easier for billionaire corporations by eliminating rules that protect Iowans, lowering wages, and handing away millions in corporate welfare, they are playing an…
[ecwd id=”315″ type=”full” page_items=”5″ calendar_start_date=”y-m” event_search=”yes” display=”full” displays=”full,list,week,day” filters=””] We invite you to attend the monthly meeting of members of the Center, where you will hear news from the community, the work being done; Updates on immigration and what we are doing to protect the community, we will also talk about the education of our…
On February 7, Republican lawmakers in Des Moines filed bills that constitute an all-out attack on workers in every city, county, and school district in our state. CWJ President Mazahir Salih and Vice-President Irund A-wan joined hundreds of union and community members at the capitol yesterday to speak out against these attacks. House Study Bill…