History

2018 – A unique collaboration of community organizers and cultural activists came together to establish the Center for Social and Economic Justice in the historic Redstone Labor Temple building at 2940 16th Street, at Capp Street, which for more than a century has been a center for labor unions, social service organizations, non-profit community groups, artists and theater companies. The Center provided workspace, meeting space, event space and support services to community-serving organizations.


2019 – groups that the Center assisted with free event and meeting space and provided technical support:


  • Housing Rights Committee held a series of workshops to develop peer tenant counselors, particularly in the Spanish-speaking immigrant community

  • Brass Liberation Orchestra, a marching band that participates in marches for social and economic justice, had rehearsals.

  • IATSE Local 16, the stagehands union, met for the purpose of starting a women’s caucus. 

  • A coalition of housing and tenant organizations met to form the Regional Tenant Organizing Network.

  • Sunrise Movement held leadership development workshops to start a youth-led climate justice organization

  • AFT Local 2121, the community college teachers’ union, held a training workshop to develop rank-and-file leaders.

  • League of Filipino Students and BAYAN held educational events on the Philippines.

  • Poor Magazine held workshops to develop “poverty scholars,” poor people who report on issues of poverty.

  • Western Regional Advocacy Project held a conference of homeless advocacy organizations and unhoused people from five western states.

  • San Francisco Living Wage Coalition and Labor Council for Latin American Advancement held rehearsals of Teatro Popular, street corner theater to educate undocumented workers about protecting their rights.

  • The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador held educational programs on social movements in El Salvador.

  • Causa Justa/Just Cause held workshops to develop tenant leaders in immigrant communities.

  • The NorCal TPS Coalition held a regional meeting that brought together 24 organizations to campaign to save Temporary Protected Status for migrants who could not safely return to their home countries.

  • We brought together El/La para Translatinas, an organization of transgender Latinas, and other tenants of the Redstone Labor Temple building for a workshop on how to respond to an unwarranted raid by ICE and how to protect the rights of undocumented immigrants in the building, and letting undocumented immigrants know that the building is a “Sanctuary Community.”


2020 – At the onset of the pandemic, we used large event spaces to do intake questionnaires with more than 2,000 San Francisco residents who were not eligible for unemployment insurance or federal aid because of their immigration status. Promoted by Marcos Gutierrez, host of the popular “Hecho en California” show on KIQI 1010, we raised money and received donated goods to provide emergency cash grants, fast passes, personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, and groceries. The intake was done in a safe, orderly and socially distanced manner by taking small groups into a large and airy space and disinfecting anything that was touched before another person touched it.


We have acted as an intermediary between the Day Labor Program and the Department of Elections in providing payroll services for day laborers who worked on processing ballots on election night. The payroll was done in a safe and socially distanced manner. 


A key lesson that we learned was being able to pivot from supporting events and meetings to using spaces to provide mutual aid – cash grants, fast passes, food pantry, PPE and household goods – to immigrant workers who were excluded from unemployment benefits and stimulus spending. It demonstrated the resilience of the community and our base of support that we managed to continue functioning as an “essential service” at a time that many organizations needed to close their offices. It also demonstrated that we could do it carefully with needed precautions to minimize risk to staff and volunteers.

 

2021 – 2022


  • The Coalition on Homelessness held focus groups of transitional-aged youth and a neighborhood needs assessment.

  • The Center provided space to Colectiva de Mujeres, an organization of largely Spanish-speaking domestic workers, meeting space and space for rehearsals to develop their play “Nuestro Trabajo, Nuestra Dignidad” which premiered on September 24, about the lives of domestic workers.

  • The Center provided audition and rehearsal space to Poor Magazine for its Theatre of the Poor production “Crushing Wheelchairs, a play by homeless people about issues of being unhoused.

  • As it became safer to hold outdoor events, we also acted as an intermediary between the Day Labor Program and large community events such as Carnaval and the AIDS bike marathon in providing payroll services for day laborers who worked on those events.

2023 – The Center served 17 community organizations in accessing subsidized meeting and event space with tech support and shared administrative services.


The Center provided space and resources to hold 16 community meetings and workshops with 510 attending overall. We created a safe space for the community to gather to discuss, strategize and plan. We followed COVID safety protocols of social distancing, air circulation and wearing masks. We set “community guidelines” to create a space that is inclusive and welcoming to racial and gender diversity and diversity in sexual orientation and age. 


The Center facilitated the space, resources and infrastructure for community-serving organizations to hold 12 larger events, around 50 attendees in each event gathering in a safe and socially-distanced manner, 555 attendees overall. These events informed community members on the issues that impact their lives and how they can have agency in making positive changes. Through engagement of cultural workers, these events included art and culture as a tool for a better understanding of the topics. We distributed 3200 pieces of promotional material that provided information on the Center to the surrounding communities. 

We supported with infrastructure and resources:


  • Caminante Cultural Foundation with Fuerza de la Raiz / Strength from the Roots workshops using popular education techniques in which people share how previous difficult experiences have given them the strength to face and overcome present day challenges whether individual or collective, involving music, poetry and artistic expression. We provided space and food, funding, along with coordination, curriculum development and facilitation.

  • Poor Magazine/Prensa Pobre with Theatre of the Poor/Teatro de los Pobres, workshops for low/no-income and houseless people to create their own theatre for healing, life and change. The workshops involved bi-lingual writing, directing, and story-telling. The group performed the final pieces at the Medicine for Nightmares bookstore on 24th Street.

  • Colectiva de Mujeres, an organization of domestic workers, in developing and rehearsing a dance that was a creative expression of their work cleaning houses in preparation for their participation in the Carnaval parade

  • California Domestic Workers Coalition with workshops on state health and safety standards for domestic workers

  • Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, an AFL-CIO constituency organization, with workshops on leadership development and developing connections between organized labor and the community

  • Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador in holding community forums with culturally significant music for Salvadoran community members, workshops on Temporary Protected Status, Deferred Action with Childhood Arrival and immigration policy, and a poetry event to celebrate the life of the Salvadoran poet Roque Dalton. These gatherings helped connect Salvadorans in the diaspora, and helped make them feel connected to events and developments in their home country.

  • Filipino Migrant Association in holding a Filipino Migrant Workers Symposium with workshops for undocumented Filipino workers on their labor rights

  • Social and Economic Justice Film Festival that showcased 11 films dealing with battles fought by low-wage working people of color for a better life

  • Calle 24 in providing jobs to day laborers to clean and garden along 24th Street

  • San Francisco Living Wage Coalition in establishing an art gallery and holding a Spring Art and Lit event that promoted local poets, musicians and artists with themes important to low-wage and immigrant workers

2024  – Current Activities

Because of the greed and intransigence of the new landlord at the Redstone Labor Temple building, nor only did the Center for Social and Economic Justice have to move out of the building but the community lost three theater spaces that have been stripped and the equipment demolished. The groups in the Alliance for Social and Economic Justice moved together across the street and have been able to open a new cultural venue in the community. We inaugurated the Larry Lattimore Memorial Art Gallery, named after the late homeless activist, in the new location, with art from local artists, poetry by local poets and music by local street musicians from the Mission District. 


We are assisting In Defense of Prostitute Women’s Safety Project, Global Women’s Strike and Crossroads Women’s Center in a universal basic income pilot program for women who were formerly incarcerated women, or who are at risk of being incarcerated, and who are at risk of having their children taken from them. This program provides a thousand dollars monthly to a group of 10 women. The results of the pilot program would be evaluated for a larger program.


We are assisting an organization of day laborers and domestic workers that is restructuring to be more autonomous, member-run and independent. We are providing infrastructure and support to day laborers and domestic workers for weekly community meetings and workshops on the following topics:


  • Workers’ and immigrants’ rights under federal, state and local legislation

  • Health and safety in the workplace in conjunction with the UC Berkeley Labor and Occupation Health Program

  • How to negotiate on working conditions

  • How to write up a labor contract

  • How to create community among peer workers

  • History of the labor movement in the United States

  • Common sense economics

  • Patriarchy

  • Skills development in moving, gardening. sheet rock, stucco and painting

  • Mental health and liberation from substance addiction


We are assisting weekly choir practices to develop a chorus of day laborers and domestic workers with a goal of holding a concert and recording a music album this year in a project called Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds to provide artistic and wellness spaces for low wage workers to come together to find relief from stress, uplift their voices and work together towards a common goal.


Working with MyPath, we are facilitating weekly meetings with 20 to 25 high school aged youth leaders to work on financial capability training, advocacy and public policy to connect youth of color with opportunities to bank, save and build credit and financial confidence


We are facilitating the Social and Economic Justice Film Festival at the historic Victoria Theatre at 16th Street and Mission and the Social and Economic Justice Music Festival on Martin Luther King, Jr. week-end in 2025


We facilitated day laborers and domestic workers cleaning streets during Carnaval.


We are working with the Department of Elections in facilitating day laborers and domestic workers working on election night in processing ballots for the March primary and November general elections.