Damayan receives Activist Award from Community Development Project (CDP) at the Urban Justice Center (UJC)

Last night, the Community Development Project (CDP) at the Urban Justice Center (UJC) held its fifth annual celebration Supporting Movements for Change in Ludlow Studios, NYC. CDP awarded Damayan the Activist Award which the Damayan Board and staff warmly accepted on behalf of its entire membership.

Other honorees included Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP which received the Ally for Justice Award, and Allen Joslyn who received the Community Service Award. The venue was packed with lawyers, guests, and CDP’s community partners such as Adhikaar, Brandworkers International, and Center for Family Life, among others.

Damayan greatly values its long-standing relationship with CDP. CDP has been providing comprehensive legal support for Damayan for many years now. Damayan and CDP partnered to do a participatory research project from 2004-08 which resulted to “Doing the Work that Makes All Work Possible”, a research narrative of Filipino domestic workers in the ti-state area. CDP has also helped with Damayan’s numerous Know Your Rights trainings and wage theft, fraud, and trafficking cases. One prominent case included a Filipina domestic worker trafficked by a Kuwaiti diplomat who was able to win a T-visa and be reunited with her husband and children. CDP also serves as the legal support for the Damayan Cleaning Cooperation, a project of Damayan.

More importantly, CDP supports Damayan’s organizing strategy of assisting Filipino workers with their legal cases while educating, organizing and mobilizing them. Damayan is truly honored to work with people’s lawyers from CDP who put the needs of Filipino migrant workers front and center.

To view all the photos, please visit the Damayan Flickr.