Creating a More Just Future: The Importance of Philanthropic Support for Black Worker Centers

For instance: In the summer of 2022, the Los Angeles Times detailed the two largest racial bias cases brought by the federal government in California in the last decade, which alleged widespread abuse of hundreds of Black employees at warehouses in the Inland Empire — a region east of Los Angeles, covering more than 27,000 square miles of Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

In interviews, Black employees described a torrent of racist insults and discriminatory treatment. The story was not isolated to Black warehouse workers in the region and is just a snapshot of a much larger issue that demanded more time and resources to fully understand the challenges these workers faced and how to address them. For the past two years, the Inland Empire Black Worker Center (IEBWC) has been part of those solutions.

Black worker centers (BWCs) provide the services you’d expect at worker centers but also address the systemic barriers and anti-Black discrimination Black workers face, including low-wage jobs, service jobs, and those that require skilled labor but do not provide adequate training. They also provide a platform for Black workers to organize and advocate for their rights and interests, including fair wages, safe working conditions, and opportunities for advancement.

For example, one worker who was struggling to make ends meet in his low-wage job and facing discrimination and harassment from his employer attended a worker’s rights workshop hosted by the IEBWC. He learned of his workplace rights and the resources available to him, and, with the support of the IEBWC, was able to advocate for himself.

Beyond BWCs' support of individual workers, we aggregate workers’ voices and lead advocacy efforts to improve working conditions and change systems at the local, state, and national levels.

The IEBWC is one of three BWCs in Southern California (along with Los Angeles and San Diego) and one of nine across the country. We are headquartered in San Bernardino, California, and serve the counties of Riverside and San Bernardino. 

Our mission is to build a Black worker-led movement that successfully organizes for quality jobs and economic and social mobility. We advocate for policies through cultural practices that ensure Black workers, their families, and the community thrives. We are proud of the impact we’ve had through outreach, advocacy, organizing, power-building, policy change, and workforce development initiatives.

The IEBWC's workforce development initiative has graduated two cohorts of Water Industry Pre-Apprentices (WIPA), 70% of whom were Black, and has provided numerous industry internships. Nine in 10 of first cohort graduates now have full-time employment. The initiative has been essential in providing Black workers with access to family-sustaining jobs.

IEBWC has also convened union organizers, community-based organization, educators, and faith leaders to address the regional unemployment crisis in the Inland Empire’s Black community. It’s been critical to create a space for Black workers to come together, learn together, analyze what's happening in the economy, and develop solutions — as evidenced by the findings of our yearlong work.

We held extensive, one-on-one and group listening sessions with Black workers in the Inland Empire over the last 12 months to identify several significant challenges facing Black workers: pervasive discrimination and harassment in the workplace, a disproportionate number of low-wage jobs, lack of job security, inadequate access to healthcare and other benefits, and underrepresentation in leadership positions.