La Fuente

A Tri-State Worker & Community Fund, Inc.

La Fuente, a Tri-State Worker & Community Fund is a not-for-profit organization working to bring together organized labor and community partners around immigrant and worker rights issues. 

We were created in 2003 by labor unions and community allies in the New York area. Allows unions to effectively engage in community work, develop members and participate in immigrant advocacy and organizing with community allies. La Fuente raises funds from private foundations, unions, individuals and others for this work.

Despite the immense number of unions, advocacy organizations and community groups working on an array of issues impacting immigrants and workers, very few groups have the capacity to bring together the power of unions and advocates at the city level with the voices and untapped power of immigrant communities at the grassroots level.  We were created to foster this type of collaboration, and to demonstrate that immigrant communities (new and old), unions, and community groups can all benefit significantly through such a partnership.

We focus on developing leadership and expanding democratic participation by politically and economically empowering the immigrant communities so that they may participate fully in shaping the City’s future. 

La Fuente’s project the New York Civic Participation Project (NYCPP), created three years ago has succeeded in creating an active base of over a thousand active new immigrants (union and community members) that have developed, participated in and won campaigns for justice on immigrant and worker rights. 

NYCPP’s training programs build the skills and capacity of new immigrants to participate in civic life and directly participate in constructive social change.  We believe the participation of new immigrants in this process not only builds and strengthens our democracy in our city but can also serve as an important model for other cities in the country where there is a large influx of new immigrants.  

La Fuente’s project in New York City, the New York Civic Participation Project (NYCPP), has been successful in creating a model that can be tailored to meet the needs of other communities struggling to defend immigrant and worker rights. 

Through this organizing work and coordinated policy work that brings together progressive labor unions and community organizations around a pro-immigrant and pro-worker platform, we have created a unique and successful model of labor/community collaboration that extends beyond single issue coalitions.

We believe this model can be successful and beneficial to target areas in the Northeast and Mid Atlantic regions. La Fuente is currently in the process of creating similar projects on Long Island and in New Jersey.