A New Space for Worker Organizing and Skill Building in Astoria

Daniela Jaramillo Cardona, left, and Noah Meixler, right, are the Astoria Worker Project's new community organizer and director.

It has been a tough few years for New York workers. Between the pandemic, recession, inflation, and a part-time, gig economy, workers need more power over their lives.

In 2019, the Consortium for Worker Education created a new initiative, the Astoria Worker Project, to test whether an infusion of new resources into a neighborhood and greater networking between existing community organizations could make a difference in empowering workers. It is led by CWE with foundational partners Queens Economic Development Corporation, Urban Upbound, Boys and Girls Clubs, and Hellenic American Neighborhood Action Committee (HANAC).

“The Astoria Worker Project is a response to the need for a more worker-centric economy where workers have power,” says Noah Meixler, the new director for the project.

The pandemic quickly put the fledgling initiative to the test. Hundreds of residents used the Astoria Worker Project website for help accessing government funds and services. Astoria Worker Project also surveyed residents to understand how COVID was affecting them and their families, which has served as a guidebook for what programs to bring to the community.

That survey, commissioned by the Consortium for Worker Education for the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School, included responses from over 700 Astoria workers. It found high levels of economic uncertainty, with most households having lost income and most workers unsure of whether they would be able to return to their old jobs post-pandemic. Notably, mental health help was reported as a top immediate need, alongside economic assistance.

Listening to the workers surveyed, along with an advisory board of other community stakeholders, the Astoria Worker Project established four working groups to develop programs: workforce development and worker rights, worker cooperatives, mental health, and immigrant rights and services.

Astoria Worker Project also now has an address, co-located at Astoria Food Pantry, which allows the project to serve as a home for worker organizing and support.

“The goal is not to just provide workers with education, but to create a community space where local workers can build solidarity,” says Meixler. “This is a space where workers can get a cup of coffee or deliveristas can park their bike and use the bathroom.”

Workers who come to the new office can get help enrolling in job training or immigration services at CWE partners. They can also join a growing list of programs by and for the Astoria community.

Raices (which translates as “Roots,” in English), was launched in partnership with Immigrant Assistance Services and provides mental health support to Colombian refugees and survivors of violence. Other initiatives are planned to support workers dealing with the mental health crisis that was revealed by the Astoria survey.

“The mental health of workers cannot be isolated,” says Daniela Jaramillo Cardona, the project’s Community Organizer. “You don’t leave the stress of home behind when you go to work, and the stress of the job doesn’t stay at work.”

Astoria Worker Project is also partnering with Astoria Food Pantry to collect winter clothing and other supplies for Venezuelan migrants who have been placed at shelters in the neighborhood. Cardona recently met migrants at the city’s migrant tent shelter on Randall’s Island, who told her that they also need help learning English, particularly the language skills they will need to find jobs, and help learning how to navigate New York City. Astoria Worker Project is developing programs to meet those needs as well.

They are also working with local Starbucks workers on a series of “know your rights” training sessions for Astoria workers. The training shares what the Starbucks workers learned while successfully organizing a union at the coffee chain’s Astoria branch.

The pandemic has left workers in a state of crisis. The Astoria Worker Project is creating a space for workers to organize their way to stability, together.