Empowering Workers, Building Leaders

On October 9, 2025, thirty participants celebrated their graduation from the first Housekeeping Technician and Leadership Development Workshop Series, a collaborative training effort between Labor Leadership Initiatives at Cornell’s ILR School and the Worker Justice Project (WJP). The program was held in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and delivered entirely in Spanish to meet the needs of its participants who are all immigrants from Latin America currently living and working across New York City.

This workshop marks a new chapter in a partnership designed to combine WJP’s deep experience in worker advocacy and organizing with ILR’s academic resources and long-standing commitment to public engagement. Together, the two institutions are creating spaces where workers not only build professional skills but also step into leadership roles within their workplaces and communities.

Over the course of four days, the training provided both technical instruction and leadership development. Participants explored professional best practices in housekeeping, including industry standards, safety protocols, and advanced cleaning techniques. Equally important, they engaged in sessions focused on communication, advocacy, problem-solving, and community organizing, core leadership skills that are often out of reach in traditional workforce programs.

For many in the group, this training was transformative. Participants shared that they felt more empowered not only as skilled housekeepers, but as immigrant workers with the right and ability to advocate for themselves and others. They described leadership as the capacity to negotiate fair wages, demand dignity in the workplace, and build a better future for their families.

This inaugural cohort represents the beginning of what ILR and the Worker Justice Project hope will be a long-standing and growing partnership that recognizes and elevates the voices, labor, and leadership of immigrant workers across New York City.