Cultivating Resilience
Miami Workers Center Impact Report 2023
Mission
Miami Workers Center builds the power of working-class Black and Immigrant communities in Miami-Dade County. Through leadership development and grassroots campaigns, we seek to transform ourselves, our workplaces and our neighborhoods to win the respect, rights, and resources we all deserve.
Vision
A Miami-Dade in which we all can live in our full dignity with autonomy over our bodies, our labor, and our neighborhoods.
Our Staff and Board of Directors
Our Board
June Barrett
Board Chair
Melissa Larette
vice-chair
Patty Viafara
board treasurer
Eric Brakken
board parliamentarian
Aidil Oscariz
Board member
BOARD TRANSITIONS
Kamalah Fletcher
Board Secretary
Trenise Bryant
Board Member
Rosalie Whiley
Board Member
Thank you for your years of service!
Our Staff
Santra Denis
Executive director
Merita Blanchard
Operations support
Magdala Orelus
Tenant organizer
Vanny Veras
Tenant organizer
Norma Uriostegui
immigrant worker organizer
Ketia Pierre
Operations director
Lizzie Suarez
Communications manager
Devetria Stratford
Tenant organizer
Marie Francois
Domestic worker organizer
Kathlyn Belizaire
Reproductive justice organizer
In 2023, we grew our team...
Rebecca Garcia
Civic engagement manager
Octavio Perez
Office manager
Maria Llorens
Policy and research Director
Pierrot Mervelier
Field manager
and hired Eviction Diversion Canvassers!
Dieulane Pierre Louis
Bertha Pizarro
Marie Carmelle Lindley
Emiliano Cambra Morales
Hill Blackett
Barbara Johnson
Johanne Goutier
Letter from the executive director
Dear Comrades,
For 24 years, Miami Workers Center has been on the frontlines, envisioning and diligently working towards an ambitious agenda to transform our broken housing ecosystem, improve worker conditions, and build a beloved community of mutual support, sisterhood and solidarity. In 2023, we had some incredible highs fueled by the success of our collective action, securing $5 Million for ERAP and Eviction Diversion in Miami-Dade County and mobilizing hundreds for our newest campaign: a Domestic Worker Bill of Rights. We have also had some lows hollowed out by powerful corporate interests and their elected officials and lobbying friends with disproportionate access to power, including preempting some of our Tenant Bill of Rights by governor Desantis, the real estate lobby, and the complacent Florida Legislature.
Nelson Mandela reminds us that our impact will not be judged by our successes or even by our losses but by our ability to get back up! So we have celebrated our wins with joy and we have responded to our losses with deep reflection, an appreciation of lessons learned, reassessing our hypothesis and regrouping, and centering our resilience as an organization, as a movement and as a beloved community.
I am so proud of our work, our members, and our team. We grew our membership and strengthened our member-led committees, built our member leaders' capacity as critical thinkers and strategist to lead campaigns, we sharpened our strategies and tactics, and, and most importantly, we shored up our collective strength through the cultivation of loving, healing and caring spaces for our beloved community. From our direct outreach, to committee meetings and tenant and domestic worker organizing meetings, to campaign planning, to monthly Women's Circle, to mass mobilizations and direct action, members of MWC are demonstrating our commitment to deep transformative organizing, collective resilience, and keeping our eye on the future.
We are clear-eyed and sober-minded about our opposition. We are organizing in an extremely difficult, challenging, and ever-changing political terrain. We are organizing in Florida and the South, a region where the far right’s stronghold, power, and control is centralized, organized, and well-resourced. Our corner of the country is the testing ground for regressive policies that threaten all of us. The work ahead feels daunting but hope is our discipline. We are fighting for our lives. We will continue to organize. We will continue to get back up.
Join us, support us, and double down in your commitment to us as we stand up, fight back, and demand the Miami-Dade County, Florida, and South we want and deserve!
In solidarity,
Santra Denis
Executive director
wont stop change
Tenant Organizing Under State Preemption
In June, 2023, a little over a year after winning our hard-earned Tenant Bill of Rights in Miami-Dade County, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law HB 1417, which gave preemption powers to the state against local ordinances that establish renter protections or regulations that go beyond those granted under state law. Components of our Tenant Bill of Rights had been preempted.
The Powerful realtor and corporate landlord lobbying groups influencing the Florida Legislature have not stopped us from organizing before, and we aren’t going to stop now. Housing is a human right, not a luxury. Despite the setbacks, we are continuing to shape a path forward and advance Housing Justice in Miami-Dade County.
Eviction Diversion Program
MWC and our partners (Legal Services of Greater Miami, Community Justice Project, Cuban American Bar Association, and the Haitian American Lawyers Association) won $2.9M in 2022 to pilot the Eviction Diversion Project. Every week of 2023 canvassers knocked the doors of our community members at risk or experiencing eviction in Miami-Dade County. By the end of the year, we reached 6,100 families.
With our partners we held monthly legal clinics and public education sessions to ensure that families have access to critical self-help information. In 2023, we connected 1,180 families facing eviction to legal representation and we won $4.7 million for the Miami-Dade County Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP).
The [Know Your Rights Training and Legal Clinic] was so helpful because I was going to be evicted. I learned a lot from that event, a lot about my rights to protect myself as a tenant. My message to others having their rights violated is to fight back and defend yourself!
Johnson, 43 year old tenant and construction worker
Rally for Tenant Protections & County Budget Wins
In 2023, both the rent and eviction rates continued to soar. When it came time for our County Commissioners to vote on the budget, members and tenants organized together to advocate for to include our Tenant Protection Priorities: continuing the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) and our Eviction Diversion Program.
Alongside our allies, we met with Miami-Dade County Commissioners to make our demands and ask if we could count on their support. Member leaders and tenants rallied outside of the chambers ahead of the budget hearings to share their stories and make our voices heard – Tenants Need Protections, Now!
We were successful in our advocacy and won over $4.7 Million to be allocated towards Rental Assistance and $260,000 to continue our Eviction Diversion Program!
Everyone should know about the Miami Workers Center and stand firm, don't give up until you get the help you deserve.”
Laura jean-baptiste, 35 year old haitian tenant, mother to 2
My message to other tenants is you’re not alone, there's always going to be somebody who will listen to you, and to stay united always is better because unity creates strength, and not to give up until things change.
claudia ericka romero perez, 35 year old mexican mother, miami-dade tenant
Section 8 Organizing + Ending Unjust Expiration of Vouchers
In Miami’s housing crisis, 60 days is not enough time to locate an appropriate unit, which in our tumultuous and overpriced rental market can easily prove impossible. Members of MWC who are Section 8 voucher holders identified this issue and got together to strategize a path to put an end to the unjust expiration of vouchers.
Our member-led Section 8 tenant committee held meetings with the Public Housing and Community Development Department to share testimony and make our demands. As a result, we were able to get PHCD to double the search period to 120 days before the voucher expired! This administrative change will directly address the concerns of hundreds of voucher holders we've met while canvassing, phone banking, and at community events.
The original 60 days [Section 8 search period] was insufficient. And it was so completely terrifying, because we were like, what happens when we run out and we have nothing? To win [our demand] was an adrenaline of excitement. because my family and I had experienced so much discrimination hunting left and right for a place to rent.
Mercedes cabrera, section 8 tenant and member leader
protection, dignity, & respect
Advancing a Domestic Worker Bill of Rights
In partnership with WeCount!, we launched our Domestic Worker Bill of Rights Campaign. The launch was supported by Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins.
The campaign is a political and collective vehicle for domestic workers to stand up against mistreatment and abuse on the job. Nearly 60,000 women in Miami-Dade are domestic workers - our campaign is fighting for the rights of domestic workers to:
Privacy at Work
A Written Contract
A Guaranteed Rest Break
Fair Notice of Termination or Interruption of Employment
Safety and Protection Against Harassment and Discrimination
We expanded our domestic worker base which is building momentum for demands for increased worker rights and the expansion of existing rights to care workers.
We elevated the stories of Black and immigrant care workers in Miami-Dade and invited people to take action at our campaign launch rally and online.
The work we do is very important, we are essential to society. We, domestic workers, make all other jobs possible for everyone.
merita blanchard, haitian domestic worker, mother of 4, and member leader
We hosted 4 workshops to provide care workers with information and training on chemical safety, wage theft, as well as topics such as how to charge for cleaning, self-defense and CPR training.
Confronting Wage Theft
Through our outreach we engaged 417 workers to learn more about their rights and how to assert those rights and we were able to train immigrant workers in wage theft.
There were things we didn't really know, for example, we didn't know what was called wage theft, we didn't know what a written contract was. The Miami Workers Center provides [domestic workers] training on all these things, and they provide you training again on cleaning, on how to use chemicals, on how to use them safely. All these were very important to us.
Santenia Guerrier, haitian domestic worker member leader
Developing Worker-owned Cooperatives
In 2023, we continued our work to establish domestic worker shared ownership and cooperative models through our Cooperatives Academy and incubation of an emerging cooperative led by MWC trained domestic workers. Our worker leaders traveled to New York to hold a domestic worker exchange with the Cooperative Home Care Associates and Center for Family Life to further explore cooperative home care and cleaning models.
The Cooperative project is the impact of a mission, vision and values to change and improve our financial conditions, as well as others. We guarantee quality, coherence, and responsibility in our incomparable services, and expect to meet a social, cultural, and financial human need. The owner members are profoundly committed with the success of the cooperative.
mari capcha, 59 year old peruvian mother, domestic worker, and cooperative member leader
cultivating a culture of care and resiliency
Women’s Circles
Throughout 2023, we held monthly Women’s Circles to create a safe space for women of color to come together and explore topics, learn and access healing support. We began the year with vision boards, covered trauma reduction, financial wellness, period poverty (lack of access to costly menstruation products), learned methods of self-defense, and skills for hurricane preparedness.
I'm very quiet. I would come in and sit, and younger women from the circle would always come to greet me. I feel a deep sense of connection. It was in the Women’s Circle that I found my voice, that I was able to kind of come out from where I was and step into that light, tell my story around sexual harassment at the workplace, and tell my story about so many issues that I was facing.
june barrett, non-binary jamaican domestic worker member and women’s circle participant
Sisters in Struggle: Practicing Mutual Aid
Needing support is not a personal failure - we are living in an unequal society without safety nets. This is not our fault, and the Miami Workers Center believes that while people commit themselves to fighting for justice, they deserve dignity and stability in their lives.
In 2023 we hosted a Mother’s Day Block Party, featuring our member’s market, Back to School Beach Party, where families received school supplies while centering rest and community fun, as well as Giving Thanks Potluck, and our Annual Christmas Party.
Digital Equity Lab
From applying to apartments, writing resumes, accessing banking information, and identifying disinformation, workers are expected to be equipped with technological skills in order to navigate and participate in our economy and increasingly digital world.
In 2023, we launched our Digital Equity Lab to mend the growing digital literacy gap and respond to the needs of our members. The Lab includes an accessible computer lab, peer digital navigators and includes a Haitian Creole and Spanish language that will provide culturally competent, relevant, accessible. MWC will support the development of peer digital navigators, who will serve as a focal point for community members seeking support and information.
Structures to Win: Committees and Leadership Development
Membership Orientation & Members Welcoming
In 2023, 65 members participated in our Membership Orientation and implemented a bimonthly space to welcome and ground new members in our mission, vision, and values, and deepen members’ understanding of our ideology and programmatic areas.
Worker School for Solidarity and Dignity
Our annual Worker School for Solidarity and Dignity is a training intensive for rising leaders in the organization to deepen their organizing skills. In 2023, 12 member leaders representing tenants and domestic workers graduated from the 2-week program where they learned tactical skills like how to design effective meeting agendas, and interpersonal skills like facilitating tense conversations or guiding a group in making decisions.
Committees
Committees are an essential structure of MWC’s leadership development process. Committees are composed of member leaders: members who have exemplified high participation, influence in their community, and dedication to building other leaders and the organization.
Tenant Defense Committee
Committee Members
Ericka Varela, Yoselin Murga, Pedro Rafael Castro
Committee members for Tenant Defense have made great strides not only in their personal leadership development, but also in growing MWC’s tenant organizing project. Committee members organized monthly tenant organizing meetings and legal clinics, conducted outreach through weekly canvassing and phone calls, co-facilitated tenants know-your-rights clinics, and planted the seeds for strategic collaboration with local organizations and churches. Finally, the committee advanced material wins for tenant defense in Miami-Dade County by winning an allocation of $5M for the Emergency Rental Application Assistance Program and Eviction Diversion Project.
Section 8 Tenant Committee
Committee Members
Keisha Guyton, Sonya Brown-Wilson, Mercedes Cabrera, Milagros Cabrera, Deborah McCloud
Section 8 tenant members of MWC are practicing governance, strengthening their organizing skills, and advancing the interests of voucher holders through the Section 8 Tenant Committee. In 2023, committee members organized meetings with the department of Public Housing and Community Development, and as a result successfully doubled the search period for section 8 voucher holders across Miami-Dade County! Committee members also showed up in solidarity with tenants of Lincoln Fields by organizing a rally and press conference to expose the inhumane living conditions caused by negligent management, and supported the tenants in holding union elections to strengthen their collective power.
Las Defensoras del Hogar
Committee Members
Zulma Cabrera, Julia Neira, Maria Bendezu, Gloria Escobar, Maria de Jesus Pantoja, Sara Santalla
In 2023, members of Las Defensoras del Hogar (Defenders of the Home) committee increased their commitment to organizing with other domestic workers in Miami-Dade. Committee members participated in fellowships, Workers School, and weekly outreach to advance their organizing goals and capacity to lead. A memorable moment for the committee this year was to see over 200 people, domestic workers, and allies at the launch of our campaign for a Domestic Worker Bill of Rights!
Fanm Vanyan
Committee Members
Melissa Laratte, Ermana Etienne, Saintenia Guerrier, Merita Blanchard, Elsie Saintil, Roseleine P Etienne, Frantzia Augustin, Urnette Cene
From sharing their stories online and at a podium to a crowd of hundreds to canvassing weekly to build a base of Haitian domestic workers, members of the Fanm Vanyan (Brave Women) committee worked diligently in 2023 to advance their goals. Committee members engaged in our leadership development programs, recruited new members, and developed strategy for the launch of our Domestic Worker Bill of Rights campaign.
Reproductive Justice Committee
Committee Members
Nadirah Sabir and Rochelle Jackson
In 2023, RJ Committee members embedded the values and practices of reproductive justice in our organizing efforts. Member leaders on the RJ Committee coordinated mutual aid and care for members experiencing loss or hardship, making calls weekly to members, conducted issue-identification surveys with mothers and women workers and tenants, and organized monthly Women’s Circles.
Fellowships
6 tenants developed their leadership and completed the Tenant Power Fellowship, which included political education, daily canvassing and conversations with tenants impacted by Miami’s housing crisis to get to know the issues that matter to them and invite them to take action with us.
10 domestic workers participated in a 4-week Care Worker Health and Safety Fellowship to develop their skills as organizers and recruit other domestic workers in Miami-Dade into our campaign for a Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, invite them to Know-Your-Rights workshops, and inform them about their rights as workers and immigrants.
Assemblies
Our 2023 Tenant Power Assembly brought together dozens of tenants and members to strategize and create plans for reaching hundreds of tenants across Miami-Dade as we advance our campaigns for housing justice and fight for Tenants’ Right to Counsel.
To win a Tenants’ Right to Counsel would give more hope, and open spaces for those of us who haven't had those spaces. It would give more hope because it would give us an opening to feel safer - because it's not about an attorney to represent us before a jury, but it's about us living as human beings; that everyday our conditions may get closer to what they should be, as humans altogether.
pedro rafael castro, 69 year old colombian father, miami-dade resident, and tenant member leader
Our 2023 Worker Assembly convened care, in-home, and immigrant workers to share essential information on workers rights and immigration law, hold workshops, and talk about our work to strengthen domestic workers’ rights in Miami-Dade County.
Member Congress is a democratic decision-making space where members come together to evaluate the year and the goals we set to accomplish, engage in political education, receive organization updates from the Board of Directors, set organizational priorities for the next year, and vote on strategic priorities, campaign priorities, board members, and committee co-chairs.
In 2023, our members voted to explore deepening our climate justice work, reassessing our relationship to building state electoral power, and supporting the abortion ballot initiative.
mwc in the news
"We can do better," shared Miami Workers Center Executive Director Santra Denis. She helps spotlight another looming threat, evictions. Signs from tenants and community activists call for it to end.”
"There is an extra layer of fear because of immigration or misinformation. They think they don't have any rights, when labor laws do cover them," [immigrant worker organizer Norma Uriostegui] says.
“We are here mobilizing domestic workers to raise their voices, to link hands, to ensure that they have a right to a written contract, that they’re not experiencing wage theft, that they’re not experiencing abuse on the job,” said Santra Denis, executive director of the Miami Workers Center.
“Right now we need tenant protections more than ever.” said Miami Workers Center communications manager Lizzie Suarez. “Just like in criminal court, [tenants] should also have the right to legal counsel because we’ve seen in other cities where when they do, they actually have a higher chance of staying housed.”
Miami Workers Center is proudly supported by the following individuals , partners, and foundations
BEA Fund
Butler Family Foundation
Fondation Chanel
Community Catalyst
Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida
The Allstate Foundation
Groundswell Fund
Homes for All South
Commissioner Eileen Higgins, District 5
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Miami Dade County
Commissioner Marleine Bastien, District 2
Community Justice Project
Florida Immigrant Coalition
Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
Work Better Now
Sophie Brion
Catalyst Miami
Marcus Braswell
Fanm Saj
Legal Services of Greater Miami
National Domestic Workers Alliance
WeCount!
Allapattah CDC
The Miami Foundation
Haitian Lawyers Association
Black Collective
Nu Life Solutions
Cindy Lerner
Beyond the Bars
Right to the City
Miami Climate Alliance
Florida Rising
SEIU 32BJ
Power U for Social Change
Miami Homes for All
Grassroots Global Justice
Green Family Foundation
Health Foundation of South Florida
SEIU 1199
Housing For All South
U-Turn Youth Consulting
National Employment Law Project
Radical Imagination Family Fund
RISE MIAMI
Roblee Foundation
From Now On Fund
Movement Voters Project
Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program
WellSpring Foundation
Family Action Movement Network
JP Morgan Chase