Working, Learning, & Growing

The Street Level Health Project has been working with day laborers since its inception under the UCSF Community Occupational Health Program in 2002. As a community health organization, SLHP organized volunteer nurses into a street outreach team, which began Street Level's long tradition of providing free health services and education to uninsured low-wage workers in the places they waited for work. Since then, Street Level has provided an array of services to low-wage workers, especially immigrant workers, including health education, help navigating the health care system, legal referrals, free meals, and primary care through our free community health clinic. In 2010, we launched a needs assessment with sixty-two day laborers from the East Oakland community. Many of these workers wanted to form a worker's collective, and as a community organization that is responsive to the needs of our constituency, we started the planning stage for a collective in 2011. The Oakland Worker's Collective, or "La Colectiva," officially launched March 14, 2012. By educating workers on occupational health and safety, promoting civic engagement, and building community among an often isolated workforce, La Colectiva is a new resource for employers looking for quality workers. To learn more about Street Level Health Project click here.