The Brazilian Worker Center is a left-of-center advocacy organization focusing on illegal immigrant-related labor law, gender issues, and other issues concerning expansionist immigration policies. The organization is fiscally supported by a number of labor-union aligned organizations and works to promote labor organizing with workers in Boston, Massachusetts and multiple cities in Connecticut.

The organization also runs a legal clinic to provide attorneys to workers in wage-related legal cases. It has also worked with large labor unions to promote legislation regarding labor organizing and employment mandates in the state of Massachusetts. ^{1 2}

Labor Union-Aligned Advocacy

Natalicia Tracy, executive director for BWC, worked closely with 11 Massachusetts branches of the AFL-CIO to write the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, a Massachusetts state bill designed to place increased mandates on households employing domestic workers. The bill also covers a number of liberal issues such as expansionist immigration issues, and gender-based issues. The Massachusetts bill was signed into law in 2017. ³

Racial Agenda

The Brazilian Worker Center has advocated for left-progressive racial activism, producing a film series with Showing Up For Racial Justice, a far-left agitation group focused on getting white Americans to participate in racial reconciliation advocacy. The organization also took part in a city-wide “race dialogue” in Boston, an event organized in order to protest the housing of higher-income people and broader revitalization in Boston. The event was hosted by the Hyams Foundation, a left-of-center grantmaking organization that funds left-of-center and liberal racial-interest groups. ^{4 5}

Partner Organizations

BWC lists a number of left-leaning and liberal organizations as advocacy partners on its website. Most notably, the organization lists National Domestic Workers Alliance, a labor-union-aligned left-of-center organization funded by major left-wing funding organizations such as the Ford Foundation and George Soros’ Open Society Foundations that campaigns for mandates on the employers of domestic workers. The website also lists a number of smaller, labor-aligned organizations local to Boston, such as Community Labor United, the Labor Resource Center of the University of Massachusetts, and the Boston Women’s Fund as partners. ⁶

Leadership

Natalicia Tracy is the executive director for Brazilian Worker Center. She also works as a sociology lecturer at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where she teaches classes on labor studies, immigration policy, and race issues. ⁷ She was named one of the nations “25 Key Black Women Leaders” by the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the United States. ⁸ In 2019, Tracy was recognized as a Barr Fellow, a fellowship offered to Boston-based left-progressive leaders by the Barr Foundation, a left-of-center Boston-based grantmaking organization. ⁹

Funding

BWC lists a number of funders, many of which are left-leaning or liberal grantmaking organizations, or organizations aligned with labor union interests. Notably, the organization received a grant of $35,930 in 2018, from National Domestic Workers Alliance;¹⁰ $100,000 from the Nathan Cummings Foundation, a left-of-center grantmaking organization that funds labor-aligned organizations;¹¹ and an undisclosed amount from a recently defunct Berger-Marks Foundation, an organization that made grants to labor unions and organizations advocation for labor union interests. The organization also received a $129,800 grant from OSHA, the government agency tasked with enforcing workplace-safety legislation. ¹²

1. “Archive of past events.” Brazilian Worker Center. Accessed July 26, 2020. https://www.braziliancenter.org/about/bwc/Archive_of_Past_Events.
2. “Organizational overview.” Brazilian Worker Center. Accessed July 26, 2020. https://www.braziliancenter.org/about/bwc/Organizational_Overview.
3. “Archive of Past Events.” Brazilian Worker Center. Accessed August 3, 2020. https://www.braziliancenter.org/about/bwc/Archive_of_Past_Events.
4. “Mayor Walsh Announces Continuation Of Race Dialogues With Partnership Of Hyams Foundation.” Boston.gov. Accessed August 3, 2020. https://www.boston.gov/news/mayor-walsh-announces-continuation-race-dialogues-partnership-hyams-foundation.
5. “Racial Justice.” Brazilian Worker Center. Accessed August 3, 2020. https://www.braziliancenter.org/about/programs/Racial_Justice.
6. “Foundations and Funders.” Brazilian Worker Center. Accessed August 3, 2020. https://www.braziliancenter.org/about/partners/.
7. “Natalicia Tracy Staff Profile.” UMASS, Boston. Accessed August 3, 2020. https://www.umb.edu/academics/cla/faculty/natalicia_rocha_tracy.
8. “Natalicia Tracy Profile, 2019.” Barr Foundation. Accesd August 3, 2020. https://www.barrfoundation.org/bios/natalicia-tracy.
9. “2019 Fellows.” Barr Foundation. Accessed August 3, 2020. https://www.barrfoundation.org/barr-fellowship.
10. “2018 IRS 990 Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax: National Domestic Workers Alliance.”
11. “Grant Recipients.” Cummings Foundation. Accessed August 3, 2020. https://www.cummingsfoundation.org/grants/grant_recipients.htm.
12. “Susan Harwood Training Grants 2019.” OSHA. Accessed August 3, 2020. https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/FY_2018_Susan_Harwood_Grant_Awardees_Abstracts.pdf.