PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 11, 2015

PRESS CONTACT:

Miriam Tauber, Development Director

Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. (CDM)

miriam@cdmigrante.org

 

Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. 

Awarded Women of Vision Award by the Ms. Foundation for Women

On May 11th, 2015, Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. (CDM) will receive a Women of Vision Award from the Ms. Foundation for Women. Founded by Gloria Steinem in 1973, the Ms. Foundation supports hundreds of grassroots organizations throughout the United States and is a leading voice on women’s issues. The Award recognizes CDM’s work as a woman-led organization advancing economic justice for low-wage migrant workers, including migrant women, on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. CDM Founder and Executive Director Rachel Micah-Jones will receive the Award at the 2015 Annual Gloria Awards at the Pierre Hotel in New York City.

For nearly a decade, CDM has worked to remove the U.S.-Mexico border as a barrier to justice for transnational migrant workers through direct legal services; community outreach, education and leadership development; and policy advocacy. CDM’s Proyecto de Mujeres Migrantes (Migrant Women’s Project) focuses on the specific issues facing migrant women, including gender discrimination in international labor recruitment and employment. CDM’s 2011 report, “Picked Apart: The Hidden Struggles of Migrant Worker Women in the Maryland Crab Industry” brought to light the dearth of worker protections in the H-2B visa program. This report, along with other CDM investigations and advocacy, have successfully pushed the U.S. government to strengthen protections for the most vulnerable migrant workers, as illustrated by the H-2B visa regulations published in April of 2015.

CDM has collaborated with thousands of workers to recover millions of dollars in unpaid wages and organize to defend their labor and human rights. “I am very grateful to CDM because they have traveled to my community in Mexico, and people there know about their rights now,” said Adarely Ponce, a leader of the Migrant Defense Committee who has worked in the U.S. seafood industry with H-2B visas. “Ten years ago people traveled to the United States, but they didn’t know that they had rights. Through CDM I have also had the opportunity to travel to Washington, DC. I participated in the October 2013 march for immigration reform and was interviewed by Univisión and the New York Times. I have many memories from my work with CDM that encourage me.”

“I am honored to receive the Woman of Vision Award on behalf of CDM,” said Micah-Jones. “CDM will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year. This award is an encouragement as we move into our second decade fighting for labor justice all along the migrant stream.”

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Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc. is a transnational 501(c)(3) non-profit migrant rights organization with offices in Mexico City, Mexico; Juxtlahuaca, Oaxaca; and Baltimore, Maryland.

The Migrant Defense Committee is a group of Mexico-based current and former migrant workers and their families who organize to strengthen and defend their labor rights.