After a tough battle, the Albany legislature has passed a budget that will raise the minimum wage to $9 over the next three years. This means that 1.5 million workers will get a much needed raise.

Members of MRNY and our allies organized to make sure that the wage increase now includes most tipped workers, including car wash workers, who were nearly pushed out of the final deal.

However, the minimum wage agreement in Albany still excludes our brothers and sisters in the food service industry.

Read more from carwashero Santos Garcia and sign our petition telling Governor Cuomo to act fast to increase the minimum wage for food service workers!

MRNY Spearheads Sandy Relief Initiative

Members participate in OSHA health & safety training for Sandy cleanup work in Long Island.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported how victims of Superstorm Sandy are in serious need of legal services and how multi-faceted service programs like MRNY's are so important for immigrants and other vulnerable populations with limited access to aid.

Your donations have helped expand not only legal services, but also our workforce development program and policy advocacy in order to make a real impact for affected communities in Staten Island, Long Island, Queens, and Brooklyn. Click here to meet our new Sandy Response Team.

Sandy Relief Snapshot:

Members participate in OSHA health & safety training for Sandy cleanup work in Long Island.

In the last three months, we've helped 328 families with:

• Accessing FEMA aid, disaster unemployment assistance and emergency food stamps
• Negotiating insurance claims
• Representation in housing court
• Job skills trainings and access to new employment opportunities. 

We've held 26 legal clinics and continued our door-to-door canvass, reaching more than 2,000 people in order to both connect them to aid and to monitor the status of government relief efforts. Read more...

MRNY Releases Report on Sandy's Devastation of Immigrant Communities

Our report, "Unmet Needs: Superstorm Sandy and Immigrant Communities in the Metro New York Area," reveals the astounding absence of government and private support for immigrant victims of the storm. Read more...

WATCH: MRNY featured at Robin Hood's 2012 Heroes Awards with Geoffrey Canada

How You Can Help:

1. Please donate to assist victims in need.

2. Our offices are accepting food, blankets, diapers, baby formula and other supplies for families in the areas hardest hit by the storm. Find your nearest MRNY location for drop-off.

3. We need both English and Spanish-speaking volunteers to help deliver supplies, conduct needs assessment surveys, and collect toys for children during the holiday season. Email us at volunteer@maketheroadny.org to sign up.

Resources:

Download the most up-to-date resources for obtaining assistance here.

Descargue los recursos más recientes para obtener ayuda aquí.

We are thrilled to announce a major victory for workplace justice and public health in New York City. On March 29, lawmakers reached an historic agreement to give more than 1 million New Yorkers the right to take a paid day off work to care for themselves or a sick family member. New York City is now the largest city in the U.S. to enact paid sick days legislation.

Starting in April, 2014, the new law will protect all workers from being fired for taking a sick day. The law provides workers whose jobs have 20 or more employees with 5 paid sick days; in October, 2015 the law will expand to cover workplaces with 15 employees. Workers at smaller businesses will be able to take unpaid sick days without fear of being fired.

This incredible victory belongs to the hundreds of individual and small business members of MRNY who have shown great leadership and courage in coming forward with their stories and, through tireless advocacy with our partners at the Center for Popular Democracy, the Working Families Party, and the NYC Paid Sick Days Coalition, have helped bring national attention to the need for paid sick leave.

On March 18, 2013, Mayor Bloomberg signed new legislation to stop federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from using NYC’s criminal justice system to deport thousands of New Yorkers.

Building on legislation we helped to win just over a year ago, Local Laws 21 and 22 prohibit not only the Department of Correction but now also the NYPD from spending millions of city taxpayer dollars to hold individuals on behalf of ICE agents for detention and deportation. Each year, thousands of New York families will stay together who would otherwise have been torn apart by overly aggressive, indiscriminate immigration enforcement.

At a moment when the country is debating immigration reform, with these laws, New York City sends a clear message to Washington that tearing apart thousands of immigrant families is bad policy.

With your support, we look forward to winning national reform that keeps families together. We thank our partners at the Center for Popular Democracy, the Cardozo Immigration Justice Clinic and the bills’ sponsors, NYC Council Speaker Quinn and Council Member Mark-Viverito, for their courageous leadership.