The author is a resident of Lake Worth and attended the City Commisioner’s meeting on Sept. 2nd.
After months of struggle by local residents and activists, the Lake Worth Resource Center was approved by the Lake Worth City Commission in a 3-to-2 vote Sept. 2. The center, which will be housed at the Municipal Shuffleboard Court, will provide numerous services to the large immigrant population living in the surrounding neighborhoods.
While the center will provide services to all community members, its main objective is meeting the immediate needs of the local immigrant community. It offers an alternative to waiting on corners for work by providing a structure to connect immigrant workers with employers. It also is a method to combat the work-related crimes committed against day laborers by their employers, ranging from wage theft to lack of workplace safety.
However, the resource center will serve a much larger purpose than just handling employment matters. It will provide a number of activities and services to residents, including after-school tutoring for youth, adult education, public safety education programs, computer education classes in the center’s computer lab, collaborative programs with Palm Beach Community College, and much more.
The El Sol Neighborhood Resource Center in nearby Jupiter, Fla., opened its doors two years ago and has proven to be a successful venture. It will serve as a model for the Lake Worth Center.
The commission meeting attracted a crowd of over 200 Lake Worth residents, business owners and politicians, with clear lines drawn between those fiercely supporting and opposing the center. The meeting room exceeded capacity—with every seat filled, supporters sat in the aisles and latecomers were crammed in the doorways and the adjacent hallway.
Tension pierced the air even before the meeting began, with the opposition attempting to voice their thinly veiled racism through snide comments to supporters. They argued against the center claiming that it would promote what they call “illegal labor” and draw more immigrants to Lake Worth. Several even went as far as to say that the commission should vote against the center because it would be “aesthetically displeasing” to see day laborers upon entering the downtown area.
Support was voiced by a broad range of residents, activists and organizations, including the Palm Beach County Coalition for Immigrant Rights, representatives from the Palm Beach Community College, the ACLU, immigration attorneys, local clergy, and organizers with the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism).
Throughout the entire meeting, we proudly held high signs that read, “I Support the Center.” Although our speakers were unhindered by the increasing outbursts from the opposition, Mayor Jeff Clemens became quite heated, and twice expelled from the meeting people who were yelling racist remarks.
The center was approved by the Mayor, Commissioner Joann Golden and Commissioner Cara Jennings. Jennings, who is a long time community activists, has spearheaded the project in the commission since shortly after she was elected in 2006. She is currently running for re-election for her 2nd District seat. Her opponent is largely running in opposition to Jenning’s courages work around the Lake Worth Resource Center.
The opening of the resource center means a higher level of organization within the immigrant communities that are constantly and increasingly under attack by racist forces both locally and nationally. The battle to win full rights for all immigrants will only succeed in relation to the level of organization within the immigrant rights struggle. This resource center will serve as an important focal point of organization for members and supporters of a community whose battle has become our generation’s civil rights movement.
