Day laborer centers in New York City to get a spruce up
City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, alongside other elected officials and community groups, came to Bensonhurst on Monday, August 3 to announce that day laborer centers throughout New York City will be receiving a total of $500,000 in funding—the nation’s largest investment in day laborer centers to date.
According to the City Council, the half a million dollars in funding was allocated through the Day Laborer Initiative—a citywide budget initiative that sets out to support the development of existing day laborer centers and expand them throughout the five boroughs.
“Day laborers play a fundamental role in the construction, development and growth of our great city,” said Mark-Viverito at the Bay Community Center, one of the city’s first day laborer centers, located at the end of Bay Parkway near Ceasar’s Bay. The center opened in 2002 as a way of taking the workers off street corners where they waited for jobs, and also as a way of giving them security and making sure that those who were hired were in fact paid for the labor they performed.