The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Inland Empire Labor Institute plans to record vital regional history
The leaders of Inland Empire Labor Institute pose a provocative question: How do we learn our own history as we’re creating new history?
Mindfully and consistently, perhaps, and IELI is vigilant on that front.
Founded in 2020, IELI became a 501(c)(3) branch of the Inland Empire Labor Council, the regional AFLCIO affiliate that boasts 290,000 members throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Understanding that labor unions are a vital force for securing workers’ rights and economic justice, IELI partners with economic, social and environmental organizations to prioritize the needs of workers in communities and families.
One part of its mission is to empower workers and their families across the region, and workforce training factors in greatly.
“Our goal with that is really about changing the economic landscape in the Inland Empire so that more people have access to good jobs,” said Hillary Jenks, co-executive director of IELI. “These are jobs that pay benefits, have regular schedules and make it possible to think about getting a mortgage, which feels so out of reach for everyone now.”
IELI has several key initiatives in place.
Plug In IE organizes labor organizations, employers and community, and environmental justice organizations in a partnership that combines emission reduction strategies with industry-responsive training
programs. These lead to greater career opportunities. The goal is to offer a regional approach to work and tech innovation that would place individuals and the environment far above profit.
Another program is CERF-IE Co-convener. Working with Inland Economic Growth & Opportunity, IELI acts as a regional co-convener for the Community Economic Resilience Fund, which was created to promote recovery from economic distress brought by the pandemic. The program aims to diversify local economies and develop sustainable industries.
The result jobs.
A partnership with the Riverside Community College District offers labor training and promotes civic engagement.
Recently, IELI received a grant from Inland Empire Community Foundation, is accessible
which gave the organization an opportunity to expand its reach.
“What the grant has done is given us the opportunity to focus more on documenting the labor history in our region and digging deeper into some of the things that we weren’t even aware of,” said Celene Perez, chief of staff for the Inland Empire Labor Council.
“One of the things we have seen in documenting the labor history in our region is that a lot of it isn’t in writing. It’s oral right now,” she said. “People have lived it and especially as our folks are aging and once they pass away, that’s being lost. With several organizations and elsewhere, what is documented is in terms of pictures. The newer folks in those organizations or even family members don’t know what they even have.”
She points out a former grad student at UC Riverside who recorded several oral interviews of Filipino farm workers in Coachella Valley and their participation in organizing in the fields. The grant assisted with allocating the resources and time to look into what transpired.
“It allowed us to have the conversation, even with our fellow union members,” Perez said. “We’ve been able to learn that one of the previous leaders of the Central Labor Council in our region, San Bernardino-riverside counties, was the first woman in Southern California to lead a Central Labor Council and previously a professor” at Riverside City College. Perez believes she may still be alive and in the area and wants to be able to find her and “report her story.”
In addition to its research and training programs, the Labor Institute is also the co-convener for the California Jobs First program in the region. Upcoming events will further help to get the word out on what IELI is pursuing.
“We work on making more people aware, involved and engaged,” Perez said. “The realization that this is a lifelong project is setting in and the recent grant allows us to dedicate more time to important issues, because how do you build something that could last for a lifetime? It’s important to create systems for these stories to continue to be collected.”
Learn more about Inland Empire Labor Institute at ielaborinstitute.org.