UFE participated in the Southern Workers School with the Southern Workers Assembly (SWA) in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 17-18, 2024. This powerful gathering of over 170 workers and organizers across the country displayed the power of an organized multiracial working class. 

(Photo credit: Southern Workers Assembly)

Durham city workers organizing with UE150 — a member group of the UFE-coordinated Raising Wages NC coalition — are out in the streets and testifying at City Council for fair pay. UFE is there with our movement supports.

We are still shining from our annual Spring Training of Trainers — at our beautiful Avila Center for Community Leadership in Durham, North Carolina — where emerging and seasoned leaders from Alabama, North Carolina, and beyond came together to build, dream, heal and grow.

 GOSA 2024 cohort members, facilitators, interpreters and children 

UFE’s Grassroots Organizing School of Alabama (GOSA) – co-founded with the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice –  is developing organizer-leaders from Alabama’s Black, Latinx, and immigrant communities to advance base-building initiatives that promote economic justice. 

UFE's Eroc Arroyo-Montano, Director of Cultural Organizing, speaks about the value of “working small” to build our movements.

Should movement organizations prioritize scaling up, or is there value in operating on a smaller scale within social movements? Gabrielle Dominique, UFE's 2023-2024 Tisch Scholar, sat down with Eroc to explore this question.

We recently re-watched UFE's webinar on Personal & Collective Healing for Liberation, and fell in love with it all over again.

Featuring UFE's own Eroc Arroyo-Montano, Director of Cultural Organizing, and frequent UFE collaborators Luana Morales and Lawrence Barriner II, the conversation has us reflecting on agency, joy, boundaries, rest, family and ancestral legacies, breaking spells, and so much more. Give it a listen!

The UFE-coordinated Raising Wages NC (RWNC) coalition converged with the NC Families Care (NCFC) coalition at the Avila Center in Durham, NC from Wednesday, January 10th, to Thursday, January 11th, 2024.

This powerful gathering of organizers, workers, and revolutionaries was used to analyze the political, social and economic landscape of North Carolina and strategically plan for the new year.

by Gabrielle Dominique

United for a Fair Economy hosted our annual Fall Training of Trainers (ToT) at the Highlander Research and Education Center from Thursday, November 9th to Sunday, November 12th, 2023. 

Fall ToT 2024 participants, Gabrielle Dominique at the far left

In this personal recount, Gabrielle Dominique, UFE’s Tisch Scholar, shares her experiences of learning popular education, making connections, and being in a fully bilingual space.

UFE welcomes the newest member of our team - Victor Urquiza, Workers' Rights Organizer. Based in our Durham, NC office, he will coordinate the Raising Wages NC coalition and support worker organizing statewide.

Following a months-long development process, UFE and Equipo Maíz launched a new training curriculum – “Racism in the Mind, Skin, and the Action” – earlier this year.  A resource for learning and reflection about anti-Blackness in Latinx communities, the curriculum debuted in an epic month of trainings and workshops in each of UFE’s geographic hubs: North Carolina, Boston, and Alabama. We are now ready to bring it to a wider audience.

UFE is delighted to welcome two recent/new program staff and one new intern to our team. Together, the three span each of UFE’s home bases - Boston, North Carolina, and our newest addition, Alabama. Please join us in welcoming them!

Jeannette Huezo, UFE's Executive Director and Senior Popular Educator, was recently featured on MassLive as an inspirational and accomplished leader with a commitment to social change.

How does UFE support movement building for economic justice? Watch and find out!

Image credit: Kayan Cheung-Miaw

Image description: a multiracial group of workers wearing uniforms from various industries and face masks are standing in a circle with their fists raised.

The UFE-coordinated Raising Wages NC coalition and the Southern Workers’ Assembly recently hosted a virtual panel discussion with veteran and new organizers to learn from each other as worker leaders and organizers, and connect so we can strengthen our labor movement. Over 50 people tuned in to hear about the challenges workers are facing in North Carolina today and the ways they are organizing for safe conditions, fair pay, and respect for their rights.

On May 11, 2023, 180 Degrees Consulting @ Tufts University presented the findings of their year-long landscape analysis for United for a Fair Economy’s Responsible Wealth project.

Workers meeting to prepare for legislative visits

On April 26th, UFE and our Raising Wages North Carolina partners mobilized low-wage workers and allies to gather in Raleigh, NC for a Lobby Day and “Building Worker Power” Convening. The Raising Wages NC coalition, which UFE coordinates, is continuing to mobilize workers and advocate for the state legislature to raise the minimum wage to $15/hr.

Participants in the Grassroots Leadership Institute receive their certificates, Irma Flores, front right

An interview with Irma Flores

Irma Flores is the Spanish Service Coordinator for the SomerViva Office of Immigrant Affairs in the City of Somerville, Massachusetts. Over many years, she has partnered with UFE to develop popular education facilitation and leadership skills, and apply them in her work to civically engaged immigrant communities. She identifies as a Latina, a person of color, and an immigrant from El Salvador. 

Irma is one of many local leaders who have come through UFE’s workshops, trainings, and mentorship who is multiplying UFE’s impact in Boston and throughout Eastern Massachusetts through her work as a popular educator, facilitator, and trainer.