“Attempting to liberate the oppressed without their reflective participation in the act of liberation is to treat them as objects that must be saved from a burning building.”
Under the program area of Participatory Democracy, C2C focuses on:
Formación Cívica
Immigrant Rights
Racial and Environmental Justice
Each area combines community education, action, and reflection as we strive to shift the balance of power at every level. We define Participatory Democracy as:
1. creating opportunities for all members of society to make meaningful contributions to decision-making
2. broadening the range of people who have access to such opportunities.
Formación Cívica
In the Formación Cívica project, we work with newly registered Latino and Immigrant voters to provide non-partisan civic education and training on effective ways to participate in our democratic system.
Our points of focus for civic engagement:
Protecting Civil and Human Rights
Increasing Access to Safe and Affordable Housing
Sustainable Jobs that Provide Healthy Livelihoods
Access to Quality Education
Access to Affordable Health Care
Fair and Just Immigration Reform
We work to educate our communities to: Vote their needs, priorities and values.
Recent Activities
Farmworker Tribunal
Every year, C2C organizes our Annual Farmworker Tribunal in Olympia, WA. This historic event provides an opportunity for WA state farmworkers to give testimony about their experiences in the fields and to speak with elected officials about policy changes. These powerful testimonies cover all aspects of farmworker’s lives and well-being and have directly influenced policy changes like overtime after 40 hours a week for farmworkers, which passed in 2021. The ongoing tradition of Farmworker Tribunals creates a designated space for farmworkers to make their voice heard about policy that impacts their lives.
Just Transitions Assemblies
In summer of 2015 C2C partnered with Got Green? to host the Pacific North West’s first Just Transition Assembly. A Just Transition includes a framework for governance, for how we relate to the Earth, how we produce and consume, for reparations within the US and in the Global South, for how work is defined and valued, and for how people relate to each other. It is a step towards a complete re-imagination of our world, grounded in practice and solutions offered up by communities that have been the most exploited and neglected by capitalism. At the end of the day, we are not talking about a gentler capitalism, we are talking about transforming the way we relate to the world and each other.
Dignity Campaign
C2C is a founding member of the Dignity Campaign, a network of organizations and individuals who affirm the need for an immigration reform bill based on human and labor rights. This bill would include legalization of the undocumented immediately, de-criminalization of immigration status and work, equal rights, reunification of families, an end to temporary and guest worker programs, and an end to free trade and the policies that cause the dislocation of people. Below is an outline of the Dignity Campaigns core values and demands.
A PROPOSAL FOR ALTERNATIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM BASED ON HUMAN, CIVIL AND LABOR RIGHTS FOR ALL
Legalization
Legalize all people without status quickly, with low fees
People will receive permanent residence status
Newly legalized people are entitled to public benefits
Anyone in the country for five years can apply for legal status
Family Reunification
Raise the number of family visas available, and issue all unused visas
Process all applications for family preference visas
All immigration rights will be equally available to same sex permanent partners
Repeal Employer Sanctions and Enforce Labor and Cultural Rights
Immediately repeal employer sanctions, and dismantle the E-Verify database
Enforce worker protection laws, for all workers
Make threats from employers using immigration status a crime
Job creation and job training programs for all unemployed workers
A Social Security number for everyone, regardless of immigration status
Protect the cultural and language rights of indigenous migrants
Guest Workers and Future Flows
All existing guest worker programs (H1-B, H2-A, H2-B) will end after five years.
Reform existing guest worker programs during those five years, force employers to hire domestic workers first
Guest workers are free to organize and join unions, and can sue over violations
Make green cards available during times of low unemployment for migrants who don’t qualify for family preference visas
Trade Policy and Displacement
Hold hearings about the effects of NAFTA and CAFTA, and collect evidence about the way those agreements displace people.
Existing agreements will be renegotiated to eliminate causes of displacement.
No new trade agreements that displace people or lower living standards.
Prohibit U.S. military intervention or aid to support trade agreements, structural adjustment policies or market economic reforms
Due Process and Detention
Repeal federal laws barring drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants
Prohibit local law enforcement agencies from enforcing immigration law, repeal 287g
End roadblocks, immigration raids and sweeps
Close existing detention centers and prohibit future government or private detention centers
Families with children may not be separated by detention or deportation.
Repeal Border Militarization and Enforce Human Rights
Dismantle the wall and the “virtual wall” along the border
Remove National Guard troops from the border
End the privatization of border control and security operations on the border
End criminal charges to prosecute immigrants based on their immigration status
Prosecute private vigilante groups for violations of the rights of migrants
Reduce the budget for border enforcement and detention, and redirect the funds to social services, healthcare, education, family reunification, processing visa backlogs and enforcing civil rights.