On Wednesday May28th CMS and its coalition partners informed members about reporting housing discrimination and work place safety. Members also received information about a new opportunity for immigrants to share their experiences through technology.
The meeting began with Director at the New York City Commission on Human Rights, Ted Finkelstein who explained housing discrimination and the process through which tenants can report it. The NYC Commission on Human Rights protects individuals from discrimination in housing, prohibiting discriminatory practices that unfairly limit the housing choices of protected groups or individuals. The Commission on Human Rights offers free walk in services for the public to file a complaint if they have been a victim of discrimination in NYC. The office also covers employment discrimination, public accommodation discrimination, and bias-related harassment and protects the public against retaliation. Ted emphasized that landlords cannot discriminant against people with Section 8 or people who are undocumented.
Alexis Sypek a representative from Significance Labs spoke to members about a new project that the organization is developing. Immigrants will have the opportunity to share their experience and receive payment for those stories. Significance Labs is an organization that builds technology for the 25 million families earning less than $25,000 a year. Significance Labs helps technology’s brightest minds build high impact products for low-income Americans. Members were interested in sharing their stories in order to begin necessary conversations about the immigrant experience in NYC.
Finally Catholic Charities concluded the meeting by generating awareness about their Worker Safety Program. In order to promote worker’s safety Catholic Charities is offering a 10-hour Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) outreach trainings in English and Spanish for entry level workers. The course helps workers become knowledgeable about workplace hazards,prevention of safety and health hazards at work. The goal is to prevent exploitation and workplace abuses including the collection of unpaid wages.
Click here for more information for the NYC Commission on Human Rights
