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It is 7 a.m. and 8-year old Mariana and her mother Silvia, who live in an RV in Mountain View, grab their cloth masks provided by The Day Worker Center of Mountain View and make their way to the center. It is cold and rainy, and because of the pandemic and Silvia’s health conditions, they go to the one place that they know they are able to receive a free hot meal.
Because of our love of community and the ongoing support we receive, The Day Worker Center of Mountain View has been able to become a safe space for families such as Mariana’s who are in need of mutual aid. With the support from our community we can continue to safely connect day laborers with employers while ensuring our community has the necessities, resources and connections they need to continue working.
Since 1996, the Day Worker Center of Mountain View has been serving Mountain View and other neighboring counties on the Peninsula. We work with our community to connect day laborers with employers who need honest, hardworking, resilient and respectful workers. These day laborers work to help employers with their projects and businesses in a safe and supportive environment. By serving as the bridge between employers and day laborers, we are able to empower workers to improve their socioeconomic conditions through fair employment, education, job training and all-around quality-of-life services.
When COVID-19 changed our lives, the Day Worker Center of Mountain View adapted to the pandemic and has been standing side by side with the community’s most vulnerable. We transformed our services by offering, within our means and capabilities, mutual aid for folks seeking assistance. This was a necessary shift as we all know it is impossible for people to work without access to basic quality of life services. We have provided masks to our community through our women-led collective “Cosera,” a service that is funded through community support and donations.
Our center has also shifted to support workers by providing delicious healthy meals made in house by our kitchen collective. We continue to serve our community by providing resource referrals to other agencies and programs that would better assist a community member’s needs. Through this pandemic the Day Worker Center has also served as a testing site for COVID-19 screenings as we do our part to help educate and protect our communities from the spread of the coronavirus. Through grants, generous donations and contributions, we have been able to provide direct aid to our community’s most vulnerable.
We have not forgotten our commitment to assisting employers in the area. Acting virtually we are able to still serve as a bridge between employers and day laborers. By acting virtually we are following CDC and Santa Clara County Public Health protocols by taking all the steps necessary to ensure the health and safety of both employers and workers.
For anyone in need of a helping hand to assist with an ongoing project or for anyone looking for a meal, a mask or a referral to an agency or program, The Day Worker Center of Mountain View is there to assist you. For more information on our programs, please see our website dayworkercentermv.org. We are also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Nextdoor and Yelp, follow us for more updates, blogs, and information.
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A man stands alone on the northbound platform at the Mountain View train station around 5:40 p.m. on March 13, 2020. Photo by Magali Gauthier -
Yvonne Guereca, a pharmacy technician at El Camino Hospital, dilutes each vial of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine with an injection of 0.9% sodium chloride. Photo by Federica Armstrong.
