Post-Disaster Worker Empowerment Journal Assessment: A Research-to Practice Fellowship Project

Abstract

Fe y Justicia Worker Center [FJWC], Houston’s only organization dedicated to immigrant and low-wage worker rights, partnered with their volunteer, and human trafficking researcher, Dr. Melissa Torres [of the Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (IDVSA)] to assess and evaluate a journaling program through the new worker promoter program, part of the organization’s post-disaster worker safety response. The Worker Empowerment Journals were the vehicle with which this project was based and guided. Assessment of the journals through focus groups have helped to guide the development of the meetings, trainings, outreach, and leadership for the FJWC Worker Empowerment Clinic....Focus group participants who were in more stable work settings had more time to review the journals and document their work experience, and shared very helpful feedback on how to better promote the need for documenting work experiences and the need to journal for mental health and empowerment by learning their rights through the journal. Because FJWC is a member organization where members educate, train, promote, and work with each other in peer-led interactions, discussions evolved from exploring the efficacy of the journal to discussing the mental health needs which arose from the discussions on various work experiences, labor abuse, and political anti-immigrant rhetoric. [The Center for Victim Research (CVR) funds and supports local-level Research-and-Practice (R/P) Fellowships. The IDVSA and FJWC partnership was part of the 2018 cohort]. (Author Text)