Social Justice at Southside
Southside's Programs
Southside Presbyterian Church sponsors three programs: Cross Street Ministries, the Southside Worker Center, and Samaritans.
About the Southside Worker Center The Southside Worker Center was opened by Southside Presbyterian Church as one of their social justice ministries in 2006 to provide a safe place of workers to wait for employment and to negotiate a just daily wage with potential employers. In the beginning, the Center attracted as many as 100 workers a day, but with the inception of the anti-immigrant worker employer sanctions laws in 2008, work began to dwindle as did workers who moved on in search of a more politically tolerant environment. Currently, the Center sees approximately 50 men daily, who, in spite of the hostile climate created by employer sanction laws and anti-immigrant legislation such as Arizona Senate Bill 1070, continue to maintain that they have a right to work by gathering at the Center. Along with offering a space for workers to wait for work, we also focus on empowering the leadership of the workers through a variety of trainings, shared decision making, and by maintaining the Center as a worker-run organization.
About Samaritans Prompted by the mounting deaths among border crossers, they came together July 2002 to provide emergency medical assistance, food, and water to people crossing the Sonoran Desert. More information is can be found here. Samaritans meetings every Tuesday at 7pm in the Kiva. Trainings are held the first Sunday of every month at 1:30pm in the Kiva.
Southside's Ministry Partners
Southside's partners are ministries in which the Southside community participates in conjunction with other churches and members from the larger community. A list of Southside's ministry partners can be found here.
About the Southside Worker Center The Southside Worker Center was opened by Southside Presbyterian Church as one of their social justice ministries in 2006 to provide a safe place of workers to wait for employment and to negotiate a just daily wage with potential employers. In the beginning, the Center attracted as many as 100 workers a day, but with the inception of the anti-immigrant worker employer sanctions laws in 2008, work began to dwindle as did workers who moved on in search of a more politically tolerant environment. Currently, the Center sees approximately 50 men daily, who, in spite of the hostile climate created by employer sanction laws and anti-immigrant legislation such as Arizona Senate Bill 1070, continue to maintain that they have a right to work by gathering at the Center. Along with offering a space for workers to wait for work, we also focus on empowering the leadership of the workers through a variety of trainings, shared decision making, and by maintaining the Center as a worker-run organization.
About Samaritans Prompted by the mounting deaths among border crossers, they came together July 2002 to provide emergency medical assistance, food, and water to people crossing the Sonoran Desert. More information is can be found here. Samaritans meetings every Tuesday at 7pm in the Kiva. Trainings are held the first Sunday of every month at 1:30pm in the Kiva.
Southside's Ministry Partners
Southside's partners are ministries in which the Southside community participates in conjunction with other churches and members from the larger community. A list of Southside's ministry partners can be found here.