Worker Justice DC Alternative Spring Break

Georgetown University’s Alternative Breaks Program gives students the opportunity to learn through social justice immersion in conjunction with our Jesuit Values of Women and Men for Others. In collaboration with the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service, the Kalmanovitz Initiative facilitates Worker Justice DC (WJDC) – a program designed for students interested in exploring issues of labor and the working poor in the District of Columbia. During our week-long social justice immersion program, students visit workplaces, day labor meeting spots, rallies, and picket lines, and learn about how workers organize, from traditional unions to more informal networks, and how these organizations protect workers’ rights.

Furthermore, WJDC participants explore, discuss, and reflect upon the history of labor and the contemporary challenges facing workers and the broader labor movement. The program engages with the people, groups, and institutions that affect workers in order to link local struggles to national and global systems of inequality and oppression. By examining and reflecting on the roles of grassroots organizations, unions, and public policy, we learn how these entities effect meaningful change for workers’ rights. Through interaction with various dimensions of social justice, including racial justice, immigration, and gentrification, WJDC also highlights the importance of intersectional solidarity. Overall, KI’s WJDC seeks to emphasize the inherent dignity of laborers and empower participants to become activists for change in diverse and dynamic communities.

Led by awesome student leaders, students on WJDC will immerse themselves in the DC community to work, learn, and reflect in solidarity with workers, community organizers, and policymakers. We hope this experience will encourage students take action on issues relevant to workers, their advocates, and their communities as well as foster lasting commitments to social and economic justice. To learn more or get involved, please contact Juan Belman at Juan.Belman@georgetown.edu.

Read a student participant’s reflection on the Worker Justice DC 2018 alternative break program.