Working with the Community

Efforts to deal with the complexity of issues around day labor in Graton have required intensive, ongoing dialogue and negotiation with residents, business owners, environmentalists, local government officials, and many others in the county.

The challenges that Graton faces are very similar to those of many other communities in the United States. However, federal and state policy have provided very little leadership to local communities in adequately addressing the needs. The burden, unfortunately, has been on local communities like Graton to address some of these complex, challenging issues in the absence of intelligent laws on issues such as immigration, employment, drivers licenses, auto insurance, and health care.

Because these issues remain controversial in our communities, lots of dialogue was required in the town of Graton before the community was able to reach consensus on a local approach.

In late 2002, Centro Laboral de Graton enlisted the services of the North Bay Consensus Council, a local non-profit dedicated to helping communities develop consensus to solve difficult, divisive issues. Graton was going to attempt to reach consensus on solutions that had previously been elusive.

Eleven months and many hundreds of person-hours later, a couple of dozen people representing diverse interests in our small town were able to reach consensus on all topics it tackled! The consensus agreements were presented at a community meeting in October of 2003, setting up the guidelines for establishing a day labor center in town in a manner that respected the priorities of many interest groups in town.

Since the establishment of the consensus agreements, an committee that grew out of the consensus process, the Community Implementation Subcommitee, meets regularly with representatives from the day labor center, Graton residents, Graton business owners, the Graton Community Services District, the Graton Community Club and the Atascadero/Green Valley Creek Watershed Council. This group regularly reviews developments regarding day labor in the town of Graton, making sure that actions of all parties are consistent with the agreements established by the 2003 consensus process.

For more information on community consensus and day labor in Graton , please contact Terry Winter at (707) 823-1626.

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