La Colectiva members celebrate social media campaign launch

The social media campaign, Communicating Our Strengths and Our Hopes" was 2 years in the making. Colectiva Member Yesenia Perez said she is proud to see images of domestic workers on the buses, in BART and on the billboard at Valencia and Cesar Chavez in San Francisco. (The campaign runs for one month starting in mid-November 2009.) She said La Colectiva members have learned a lot about marketing in designing the campaign. They are hopeful for safer work using non-toxic products and more work through the visibility that the campaign provides. In a written press statement, Guillermina Castellanos, La Colectiva member said, "We pride ourselves on being home cleaning experts and a voice for immigrant workers in our community. We are a worker-run collective and we are specially trained to clean homes in a way that’s effective and safe for everyone. Now, we are empowered to bring this message to our larger community and share our materials with other Latinas throughout the nation.” She led the march to the billboard site, chanting "Si se puede." La Colectiva, a group of workers organized by La Raza Centro Legal in San Francisco, has spent the past year collaborating with the Labor Occupational Health Program at University of California, Berkeley, and Underground Advertising to create a campaign that includes advertisements, posters, postcards, bus sides, brochures and a Web site: www.lacolectivasf.org. Video recorded and produced by Bill Carpenter. Shared with permission.

Tags: domestic workers, domesticas, la colectiva, La Raza Centro Legal Women's Collective
Topics: Arts, Business, Immigrants, Work
New Routes Project: Domestic Worker Safety & Dignity Project

© 2009, Bill Carpenter, All Rights Reserved.