Day laborers represent a socially marginalized community that endures a disproportionate burden of avoidable workplace hazards. The informal, temporary nature of their work and their limited social and economic resources increase the laborers' exposure to hazards and their sensitivity to the consequences of injury and illness. The field of environmental justice recognizes such affected populations have limited opportunities to name problems and inform decisions that affect their lives. This project aims to improve the Day laborers' working conditions by increasing their social and economic resources and by influencing changes in the social and structural contexts that contribute to hazardous working conditions. The project builds upon an existing partnership involving San Francisco immigrant Day laborers, community organizations and governmental institutions responsible for immigrant worker welfare and utilized assessments conducted and strategies identified by this partnership. More specifically, through adapting a model process of communication for social change the project will (1) will convene a Community Council as a space for dialogue among Day laborers, their employers, community organizations and participating research and governmental institutions based on mutual interests, equitable participation, and the goal for collective action; (2) prioritize, plan, and implement integrated and culturally relevant interventions to reduce workplace hazards; and (3) evaluate the change the collective capacity of Day laborers, employers and participating institutions resulting from the process. The proposed Community Council broadens the stakeholders represented in the existing partnership to employers and laborers. The project applies resources and structure to a participatory process of assessment, planning, intervention, dissemination, and evaluation conducted by the Council. Interventions will be implemented that aim to address both hazards faced by Day laborers as well as the social factors and institutional structures that influence those hazards. The participatory evaluation will be in place from the beginning of the project implementation and recognizes a distinction between the capacity for achieving change and the actual achievement of change. Outcome indictors will be formulated to reflect changes in hazardous work conditions and their social and structural context and changes in the collective capacity of the community.
