SP Homeowrk 2

This case was prepared by Bruce Lamb, while a candidate for a Masters in Public Administration, at the Evans School of

Public Affairs, under the general supervision of Associate Professor Jonathan Brock. The author wishes to thank Casa

Latina for its cooperation. Some events have been simplified in order to facilitate the presentation, and a number of

names are disguised, or characters are composite or fictionalized examples in order to protect confidentiality. All rights

reserved to the contributors.

The Electronic Hallway is administered by the University of Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. This

material may not be altered or copied without written permission from The Electronic Hallway. For permission, email

[email protected], or phone (206) 221-3676. Electronic Hallway members are granted copy permission for

educational purposes per Member’s Agreement (hallway.evans.washington.edu).

Copyright 2011 The Electronic Hallway

CASE STUDY: CASA LATINA (A)

The former labor organizer bore the physical and emotional scars of torture at the hands

of paramilitary forces in his home country. With his name on a death list, David Ayala

fled to the United States to escape almost certain execution for his political belief in

workers’ rights advocacy. Six years later, he became a U.S. citizen.

The Day Laborers

On the streets of Seattle were hundreds of Latinos, mostly male, with less publicized

stories. Many had come to the city fleeing war and persecution in their home countries.

Others had braved the trip from Mexico and Central and South America to escape

deprivation and severe poverty. They had in common homelessness, lack of access to

healthcare and other basics, and little or no voice in the community. They also shared a

desire to work. Many had already worked in orchards, fishing vessels, yards, and

construction sites in other parts of the country. Some had just arrived in Seattle; some had

been there for a year or two. Many of them began to look for work as day laborers, and

the number of people looking for work on the streets of downtown Seattle quickly

doubled and then tripled.

Local authorities, with whom they often had difficulty communicating due to the

language barrier, had sometimes treated them unfairly. When disputes arose, such as

following street fights, most homeless Latino day laborers could not explain their side in

English. Some had trouble discerning where they were allowed to be and for how long.

Others did not understand the differences in culturally acceptable behavior toward

women. Some were singled out for arrest and referral to the Immigration Service.

Casa Latina (Casa) was started in response to the difficulties encountered by these

immigrants in the Seattle area. After steady progress in program development, including

helping the immigrants understand their rights and limitations, and to be better able to

find employment, Casa was up against economic interests that wanted immigrant day

laborers out of the neighborhood. Steady redevelopment into condos and shops of the

area where they waited for work and received other assistance meant that their presence

Casa Latina (A)

2

was worrisome to the developers and new residents. A small nonprofit for Latino day

laborers was not only unpopular in the neighborhood, but poorly understood and

overmatched by the array of interests they were facing. Concerned for the survival of the

programs and desperately hoping to preserve the lifeline that Casa represented, the

fledgling nonprofit was looking for a way to survive.

Casa Latina’s Background

Casa first began to take shape when David Ayala began work to help fulfill homeless day

laborer’s needs. Their problems were social, legal, economic, and language-related,

among others. To respond, David obtained a small grant from the City of Seattle for a

one-year project to organize the growing population of homeless Latino day laborers and

began to hold meetings in Pioneer Square. It was difficult to make progress from one

meeting to the next because the group was constantly changing. Most could not regularly

attend meetings. They were occupied trying to find day jobs and a place to sleep each

night. Those who heard of work outside the area moved on.

David invited social workers and other allies of the Latino day laborers to work on a

vision for a program to address the problem. One of the members of this group, which

called itself the Grupo Sin Nombre (Group Without a Name), was Hilary Stern. Hilary

had been running an ESL program in the old Seattle YMCA. She had worked and lived in

Nicaragua during the heady days of the early Sandinista rule and had a strong belief in

adult education as part of social change movements. David, Hilary, and the Grupo Sin

Nombres wanted to create positive, long-term social change for the benefit of the Latino

homeless.

Other organizations in the city served the same population in different ways, including a

Latino community center in another part of the city. The Immigrant Rights Project

recruited volunteer attorneys to provide pro bono legal representation for indigent

persons in immigration court. There were already homeless shelters and food banks;

other organizations provided mental health and domestic violence programs.

A split developed within Grupo Sin Nombres. One faction wanted to begin with a focus

on shelter. The other, which included David and Hilary, wanted to focus on education.

The split was fueled by the fact that most of the homeless Latinos day laborers were

illiterate in their native language and could not participate in ESL courses, offered

through the community colleges and elsewhere, that relied on native language literacy as

a starting point. In addition, they had to pursue any work they could get, however menial

or sporadic. When they could find work, they could not also attend class, so regular class

attendance was unrealistic for most. Still, David and Hilary felt strongly that education

would make the biggest positive changes in the lives of these homeless workers.

In discussions with the Latino day laborers about the barriers they perceived, language

was a primary concern. Difficulty communicating with prospective employers inhibited

their ability to obtain work, negotiate a fair wage, and to understand the type of work and

Casa Latina (A)

3

conditions under which they would be working. They also had difficulty opening bank

accounts to put their money in a safe place and obtaining housing even when they could

afford it because they could not understand and complete rental applications.

The discussions revealed other needs. The day laborers wanted to understand why they

were often misunderstood, even when they had help with translation. Sometimes

behavior that was tolerated in their culture, such as suggestive compliments to women

passing by, was regarded as inappropriate. Conversely, they frequently felt that they were

being treated disrespectfully. Was this too simply a cultural difference? They heard about

“rights” in the U.S. and wanted to know what theirs were. Did they always have to

answer questions asked by the police? Immigration agents? They wanted a place where

they could obtain reliable information, in their native language, in or near downtown

where the bosses or “patrones” came to pick them up for day labor.

Hilary and David listened closely; they looked at the services other agencies and

programs offered, and they found there were no other ESL programs that met the needs

of the day laborers. The only existing Latino community center was located in a Latino

residential neighborhood far from downtown where the pick-up zone for day laborers and

homeless shelters were located.

Building Casa Latina

Starting with a mission—to empower homeless and low-income Latino immigrants—

David and Hilary founded a new nonprofit organization, Casa Latina. Instead of waiting

for funding, they started by doing and built funding support along the way. They used the

skills they already possessed and developed others driven by the mission of the

organization. Hilary had a Masters in Teaching and practical experience in popular

education, which was based on the participants deciding for themselves what was most

important to learn, and had experience applying it and training others in it. She recruited

volunteer teachers, and they developed a unique curriculum of self-contained lessons that

invited the participant’s input on content and was designed to provide useful skills to

them, regardless of whether or not they could regularly attend.

David had a job at another nonprofit organization, the Immigrant Rights Project, that had

its own 501(c)(3) status and extra space in the building it leased, which Casa Latina used

for an office and evening ESL classes. Casa also obtained a $4,000 loan from the

Immigrant Rights Project, which acted as their fiscal agent for the first two years. The

Millionair Club, located next to the unofficial day laborer pick-up spot, gave them

permission to hold ESL classes in their building during the day.

With volunteer teachers and virtually no budget, Casa Latina began providing classes for

Latino day laborers to learn communication skills and acquire practical knowledge such

as how to fill out a job application. The classes helped them learn to navigate a new

culture and were scheduled at times which allowed them to pursue the day jobs that

provided their income. Casa Latina also developed street theater performances that taught

Casa Latina (A)

4

Latino immigrants about their rights and responsibilities and trained volunteers to

conduct the theater workshops in the shelters and streets of Seattle.

Hilary convinced the YMCA to spin off their federal ESL funding and a small private

grant to fund the Casa Latina street theater program, and she and another YMCA

employee, Estrella, both were paid half-time salaries to run Casa Latina and its ESL and

street theater program. When the street theater grant ran out, Hilary went on

unemployment for eight months while she continued to write grant proposals for more

funding. Six months later, the City of Seattle allocated Casa Latina a grant which was

enough for Hilary to get back on a part-time salary. Since many clients and allies had

been consulted during the conceptual stages, they felt “ownership” of the new enterprise,

which made them invaluable advocates in expanding and building Casa Latina’s base of

support. Hilary introduced these allies and supporters, and later, prospective members of

the first board of directors to clients, who described in specific, personal ways the

difference Casa Latina’s programs were making in their lives.

Once the initial programs were up and running, Hilary looked for ways to increase Casa’s

capacity to make a difference. She attended free United Way training in budgeting and

board recruiting and training. With input from the clients and volunteers, the organization

developed a new mission statement capturing the goals of the clients in a way that also

embraced values that would appeal to potential sources of financial support. It used

phrases such as “financially independent” and “contributing members of society.”

David served as the first president of the board of directors. The board recruited people

with diverse skills who were passionate about the mission, with interest or ties to the

community Casa Latina served. The initial board members included community activists,

educators, and a writer for the local daily newspaper. Many of them had been involved in

the initial conceptualization of the organization.

To measure the benefit of its programs, Casa staff instituted an intake form for outreach

staff to complete for each new client. Class attendance records tracked who was taking

classes and how many classes they took. Periodically, Casa staff conducted follow-up

interviews with clients to see if their living, employment, or other circumstances had

changed. Due to the often transient nature of the population, long-term change was often

impossible to track. Still, Casa Latina kept empirical evidence when it could, and it kept

at least anecdotal evidence when it could not. Hilary recognized the importance that data

would play in evaluating the success of Casa Latina’s programs and in securing funding.

Hilary utilized existing federal programs, VISTA and AmeriCorps, to obtain additional

staffing at minimal cost to the organization to supervise the growing programs. She and

David, with input and assistance from the fledgling board, began rudimentary fundraising

activities such as holding a small auction of donated art to repay the loan from the

Immigrant Rights Project. Hilary and David were always careful to give credit to the

volunteers, staff, and board members who each played a role in these early successes.

Casa Latina (A)

5

After one year, Casa Latina filed its articles of incorporation with the state as a nonprofit

organization and applied for and obtained its own independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit status

with the federal government.

Casa Latina Gains Ground

With Hilary as its executive director and David serving as the first president of the board

of directors, the number of people served by Casa Latina’s programs grew continuously,

and the organization consistently found ways to increase its capacity to serve them. In its

first year, over a hundred homeless and low-income Latino laborers had attended classes

and obtained referral services from Casa Latina. As a result of its programs, dozens had

significantly improved their ability to negotiate work, obtain housing, and exercise their

rights.

Under Hilary’s leadership, Casa Latina expanded its base of economic and political

support. She took classes in fundraising and encouraged key staff people and board

members to take United Way’s free or low-cost classes aimed at developing their skills.

The board learned how to identify its own needs, recruit and train new board members,

and give constructive, periodic performance reviews of itself and the executive director.

It conducted in-house training in fundraising for board and staff.

Casa Latina twice brought in outside consultants to facilitate reviews of the mission and

conduct strategic planning that involved constituents, volunteers, staff, and board alike.

Hilary wrote more grant applications for federal, state, and local government grants, as

well as private foundations. Casa Latina’s fundraising gradually became more

sophisticated, and it started sending a newsletter to an ever growing population of

supporters.

Casa eventually raised sufficient funds to lease its own office downtown, closer to its

constituents. With the growth of its funding base, Casa began to afford to better provide

for its own staff. Health insurance and modest retirement benefits were introduced. As

the organization grew, to the extent possible, Hilary hired staff from the population that

Casa served. Still, the vast majority of the work carried out by Casa was done by

volunteers, and a large number of constituents could be served at relatively little cost. It

provided well-leveraged public value.

The quality of the volunteer teaching was high, and continued to improve. The training

programs were supplemented and updated each year. The reputation of Casa’s popular

education grew, and the number of people wanting to serve as teachers consistently

exceeded the number of teaching spots available. The process of selecting volunteer

teachers became competitive, and the quality of the volunteers’ effort continued to rise.

The programs continued to improve and grow to provide services to a larger number of

clients and equip them with more of the skills they needed. Casa moved the evening ESL

classes in the basement of nearby Holy Cross Church, which donated the space. A

Casa Latina (A)

6

“family literacy” program was started to provide a safe place for children while their

parents took classes, enabling many, especially women, to attend classes who could not

otherwise have done so. Each step of Casa’s program growth was dictated by the needs of

the clients. Responding to their unique issues, a women’s program was started. With

enhanced English abilities, many Casa constituents went on to obtain stable employment

and housing. Some even matriculated to community colleges and became fluent in

English. Some became U.S. citizens.

The Effects of Gentrification

As Casa matured as an organization, its neighborhood, Belltown, was changing. The

economic boom of the late nineties had brought unprecedented wealth to Seattle. The

resulting construction boom and the extra money homeowners had to put into remodeling

and landscaping created more “cheap labor” opportunities. The availability of more day

jobs attracted more hopeful Latinos to the area.

However, the economic boom also created demand for high-priced condominiums for

young urban professionals, and new development plans and zoning to encourage

revitalization of the waterfront and nearby area north of downtown made Belltown a

prime location for gentrification. The city, which owned a few small lots and rights-of-

way in the vicinity, was constructing a variety of amenities to encourage development,

including a pedestrian walkway from the waterfront close to the spot in Belltown where

day laborers had hung out for decades, waiting for work. As developers, architects, and

other interested parties familiarized themselves with the neighborhood, some perceived

that the day laborer presence, particularly at that spot, might be of concern to prospective

commercial and residential tenants. They saw groups of men who did not speak English,

in old clothing and with dark skin, “hanging around.” Fights occasionally broke out

among day laborers over who would get the job when a potential employer drove up.

Some drank, left empty bottles on the sidewalk, and got sick or urinated in the vacant

lots. Pressure increased to remove the day laborers from the neighborhood. Development

interests made their case to the mayor, the city council, and others in the neighborhood.

The day laborers wanted to be able to stay and find work in the location that had for

decades been the place where contractors, homeowners, and landscapers knew they could

come to pick up day labor. Their network of amigos, on which they relied for housing

and community, was downtown. They did not want to go elsewhere. They did not want to

be misidentified with the few problem drinkers among them. Although this behavior

reflected badly on the rest of them, they had no authority to stop it. Both the day laborers

and their employers wanted a safer place for cars to pull up. Many wanted a more

organized way to take turns on jobs. They wanted to get paid a fair wage for their work,

and they wanted a warm place to wait on cold days.

The Latino day laborers had few financial resources and many were ineligible to vote, but

they were growing community support from organized labor and others. Organized labor

Casa Latina (A)

7

had supported some of the laborers’ marches and vice versa, and could mobilize and

generate publicity.

The mayor wanted to resolve the dispute without alienating important interest groups or

voting blocs. He didn’t want the negative publicity that could be generated by protests,

violence, or demonstrations in Belltown or City Hall. He wanted a resolution that was

acceptable to the police. He wanted to “clean up” the area, but did not want to antagonize

the interest groups that advocated for the homeless.

The city traffic engineers did not like the fact that cars stopped frequently in a busy

location with poor visibility to pick up workers, sometimes blocking or slowing traffic.

The police wanted to know what their mandate was. Were they supposed to arrest every

worker for every municipal offense, however minor? Should they only focus on drug and

alcohol concerns? Should they use the threat of coordination with INS and potential

deportation for the many undocumented workers? They wanted to know how they should

use their limited resources.

The condominium developers wanted to rid the neighborhood of the day laborer

“problem.” They did not want homeless, poorly dressed, non-English speakers who

would make tenants fearful or “uncomfortable” in the neighborhood. They thought that

another location could be set up for day laborer pick up somewhere outside the city,

perhaps at a major mall somewhere.

Belltown residents had mixed views. Some worried about the growing number of day

laborers, while others liked the cultural variety and vibrancy that they brought to the

neighborhood. Some of them contributed to Casa Latina. One of them was a former law

partner of Casa’s current board president, now a Superior Court Judge, and the president

of the condominium owner’s association in his building.

The INS did not have the resources to identify and deport all of the undocumented aliens

in the country, variously estimated to be many millions in number. It had adopted a

policy of selective enforcement, focusing on those picked up by local authorities on

criminal charges. It was less interested in the undocumented workers who otherwise

obeyed the laws.

The individual city council members had different political perspectives, but like the

mayor, did not want to antagonize either the developers or the homeless rights advocates.

One, David Smith, was a firm supporter of the workers.

The local business owners, like the local residents, were divided. They too wanted to

“clean up” the neighborhood and get rid of drinking, drugs, and violence. However, many

supported the rights of the workers to be present in the community and obtain work.

Casa Latina (A)

8

Casa Latina Organizes

Hilary brought the growing neighborhood tensions to the attention of the board of

directors at the annual board retreat. The board initially felt powerless. Still, the members

were concerned about where the laborers would go if they could not be where they had

always gone to find work. They looked at the mission statement and it said the Casa

Latina’s mission was to help homeless and low-income Latinos to become economically

independent and contributing members of society “through education and other services.”

Hilary, the board, and staff discussed the potential consequences to the constituents that

the organization served and invited some of the day workers to talk to the board about

their circumstances.

The board did not know what the organization should do next, but they did know that the

day laborers needed to have a voice in any negotiated solution. By the end of the retreat,

they had added the word “organizing” to the mission statement and had agreed to allocate

funds to hire an organizer in order to have a new tool for addressing these pressures.