• Mission: The Day Worker Center of Mountain View started as a safe space for informal workers seeking employment on the streets of Los Altos and Mountain View.
In addition to creating a structured place for workers and employers to connect – making the system safer for all involved – the center provides resources and services for the workers and their families, who make up some of the most vulnerable residents of the community.
The workers and volunteers at the center collaborate on educational programs, English classes, daily meals and service projects that benefit the greater community.
• 2021 update: A second year of pandemic crisis continued to transform how some of the area’s lowest-income workers get by, and what support they require. Some casual labor, such as gardening and construction, has rebounded, while other work opportunities – particularly those that supported women, like housecleaning – remain severely impacted. Many women also have faced continuing logistical crises as they provide child care and support within their families while also seeking work.
Executive director Maria Marroquin said that in addition to providing meals seven days a week and helping workers connect safely to employers, the center has expanded the scope of its neighborhood outreach. Many dayworkers live in extremely crowded housing, and the in-person center had operated, pre-COVID, as a safe and welcoming place to receive services and solidarity during daytime hours. With gatherings at the center curtailed due to health concerns, the center’s staff and volunteers spread out through local neighborhoods, setting up mobile tables with health supplies and information to support people within their community spaces.
In addition to helping organize resources including access to testing and vaccination, masks and hand sanitizer, the center provides education and solidarity around everything from workers’ rights to where to get help with rent relief or find access to a hot shower.
“Emotional support is always a big thing – just to help,” Marroquin said, noting that while center staff continue to help the community address crises like disconnected phone service, they are also increasingly supporting workers as they learn to be entrepreneurial, and learn how to use technology, sometimes as simple as texting, to more effectively pursue opportunities.
• Why the Holiday Fund is needed: In addition to supporting fundamental needs such as hot meals and access to a mobile health unit, donations to the center support programs ranging from how to safely work in jobs like housecleaning during the pandemic to using tools such as texting and Zoom to advocate for yourself and your family.
Day Worker Center of
Mountain View
Location: 113 Escuela Ave.
Founded: 1996
Annual budget: $800,000
Staff: 7 employees; 50-100 volunteers
Information: dayworkercentermv.org
