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who we are
The Southern California Black Worker Hub for Regional Organizing advocates for the economic empowerment of Black workers throughout the region. We do that by supporting Black Worker Centers in Los Angeles, the Inland Empire and San Diego as they fight for economic inclusion and opportunity for the region’s Black workers.
OUR VISION
For generations, Black workers and their families have been excluded from economic advancement opportunities in Southern California and as a result, Black families are overwhelmingly represented in converging crises of housing affordability, health and community safety.
Black Worker Centers, together with partners, policymakers and community members, are fighting to increase access to quality jobs, reduce employment discrimination, and expand pathways to gainful employment. By organizing and advocating for increased economic opportunity for Black workers, we will create a more equitable Southern California.
OUR values
- Worker empowerment
- Lifting and uniting Black worker’s voices
- Trauma and wellness
- Black mental health and wellness
- Black equity
- Quality jobs
- Workplace protection
- Accessible resources for Black workers
Theory of change
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Our mission is data driven, informed by the lived experiences of our current base of Black workers and those who participated in our Essential Stories report. This report detailed the impacts of a long history of anti-Black economic structures whose negative effects are disproportionately felt by Black workers, creating a Black jobs crisis. This long-standing crisis is characterized by chronic unemployment, underemployment, and systemic racism. The Hub was created to address these issues and fight for economic inclusion and opportunities for the region’s Black workers through programming and advocacy.
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We provide Black workers with the support, resources and information that equip them to navigate issues of anti-Black racism. Our ‘Know your rights’ training informs workers of workplace safety and pandemic related workplace protections/regulations. The Hub’s organizing work builds power within our communities and holds elected officials accountable to community needs. By identifying worker’s needs and pressuring elected officials to exercise their political influence, we continue to enact legislation that addresses systemic racism within the workplace. Lastly our programs equip workers with the skills needed to gain employment and additional support including barrier-removal stipends that increase access to gainful employment.
origin story
The Los Angeles Black Worker Center (LABWC) founders and colleagues from many organizations across Southern California (SoCal) came together in 2019 and 2020 to investigate the potential of organizing worker centers throughout SoCal beginning with the Inland Empire and San Diego. What became clear early on was there was a need to support the capacity building of the Black Worker Centers to avoid the challenges LABWC face, and to engage in important campaign work that burgeoning BWCs do not have the capacity for. Those efforts came to fruition during the COVID pandemic and the groundbreaking report on Black Worker rights and wellness, the Essential Stories Report. More than academic research, Essential Stories revealed the inordinate burden on Black essential workers in their own voices and in 2021 brought new leaders into the organizing of the Inland Empire Black Worker Center and the San Diego Black Worker Center, and us, the Southern California Black Worker Hub for Regional Organizing. Now building on that work we continue to build the capacity of LA, IE, and SD BWCs and engage in work to leverage policies, funding, and programming to benefit Black workers.
