Local Summit Awards 6 Grants to Benefit Day Laborers

by Doreen Kushel

(June 5, 2008) The Larchmont-Mamaroneck Summit has awarded grants totaling $42,000 to five social agencies and a church to better the education and well-being of local day laborers and their families.

Receiving grants are: St. Thomas Church, The Hispanic Resource Center, KEEPS, the Community Action Program, Furniture Sharehouse and Washingtonville Housing Alliance.

The grants are made possible by a donation to the Summit specifically for providing social and economic support to day laborers and their families who reside in the tri-municipal area. The grants are part of a $70,000 donation from the law firm of Dewey & LeBouef, LLP, which, together with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, represented day laborers in a successful 2006 federal lawsuit against the Village of Mamaroneck. The donation reflects the law firm’s strong interest in the welfare of the Larchmont-Mamaroneck day laborer community and will be dispensed over a two-year period. (See: Nonprofits Can Apply to New $70K Day Laborer Fund.)

The Local Summit, a community nonprofit organization devoted to improving the well-being of the tri-municipality, was designated by Dewey & LeBouef to select appropriate organizations to receive grants. The Summit established a committee which formulated selection criteria, invited applications from all interested community groups, and then made the selection. Under the process, local organizations were required to submit program proposals.

The recipients selected and their programs are:

• St. Thomas Episcopal Church, which currently houses the Hispanic Resource Center, will use a grant of $11,000 to mount a bilingual program to teach sewing skills to the families of day laborers. Childcare will be provided during the training sessions. The children will receive language skill instruction while their parents are attending classes.

• The Hispanic Resource Center, an immigrant agency, will use a grant of $8,000 to teach home repair and maintenance skills to day laborers. The grant includes hiring a BOCES teacher, providing a small stipend to workers attending class, and buying basic tools. The tools will be available for graduates of the class for work purposes.

• KEEPS, an after school day-care program, will use its grant of $8,000 to provide scholarships at KEEPS for laborers’ children.

• The Community Action Program, known as CAP, will apply its $5,000 grant to after-school leadership training for Hispanic youth in the community.

• Furniture Sharehouse, an organization that provides furniture to anyone in need, will use its $5,000 grant to defray furniture trucking and delivery expenses for day laborers and their families.

• Washingtonville Housing Alliance, an organization that builds and locates affordable housing, as well as helps tenants who are facing eviction, will use its grant of $5,000 to specifically help day laborers and their families who make up part of its clientele.

The remaining $28,000, plus earned interest, will be reserved for a second round of grantmaking in early 2009.

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