The Texas Organizing Project (TOP), founded in 2009, organizes Black and Latino communities in Dallas, Harris and Bexar counties with the goal of transforming Texas into a state where working people of color have the power and representation they deserve.Our greatest strength is the more than 285,000 members and supporters who help lead our direct-action organizing, grassroots lobbying, and electoral organizing. In addition, we provide training to develop everyday leaders in our Black and Latino neighborhoods; people hungry for positive change who want to be champions for their communities. With every campaign we run, every issue we fight for and every neighborhood we organize, we focus on creating effective ways to ensure that voices of Latino and Black people are not only heard, but that we have sufficient power to advance our issues.At TOP we fight with two fists. We organize around issue-­based campaigns, winning tangible improvements for our communities. We then mobilize our members and supporters around electoral campaigns, effectively increasing voter participation in communities that historically have had low voting rates.By mobilizing people through issue-­based campaigns and linking those issues to the importance of voting for leaders who are in the fight with us, TOP is changing Texas by changing our cities and counties.

The Texas Organizing Project (TOP), founded in 2009, organizes Black and Latino communities in Dallas, Harris and Bexar counties with the goal of transforming Texas into a state where working people of color have the power and representation they deserve.Our greatest strength is the more than 285,000 members and supporters who help lead our direct-action organizing, grassroots lobbying, and electoral organizing. In addition, we provide training to develop everyday leaders in our Black and Latino neighborhoods; people hungry for positive change who want to be champions for their communities. With every campaign we run, every issue we fight for and every neighborhood we organize, we focus on creating effective ways to ensure that voices of Latino and Black people are not only heard, but that we have sufficient power to advance our issues.At TOP we fight with two fists. We organize around issue-­based campaigns, winning tangible improvements for our communities. We then mobilize our members and supporters around electoral campaigns, effectively increasing voter participation in communities that historically have had low voting rates.By mobilizing people through issue-­based campaigns and linking those issues to the importance of voting for leaders who are in the fight with us, TOP is changing Texas by changing our cities and counties.

www.mionefairwage.org

We are a vibrant community of restaurants committed to professionalizing our industry, raising wages and work conditions, and raising standards for America's 13 million restaurant workers. We are committed to taking the "high road" to sustainability. We believe in fair wages, better benefits, racial and gender equity in the restaurant industry. We believe that building equity in our business is not only the right thing to do but is profitable. We build tools to support professionalizing the restaurant industry by raising standards. We are an national association of over 500 employer members (www.raiserestaurants.org).

The COLORS Hospitality Opportunities for Workers (CHOW) Institute is among ROC’s most rewarding programs. CHOW provides in-depth and advanced professional training in both front- and back-of-the-house restaurant skills at no cost to either employers or employees.CHOW participants enjoy a multi-tiered curriculum designed to prepare them for living-wage jobs as fine dining wait staff, bartenders, and in managerial roles. The results have been stunning. ROC trains over 1,000 employees nationwide each year, with a living wage job placement rate of 60-75%, depending on the location.The restaurant industry needs CHOW. Our industry is facing a serious labor shortage. Programs like CHOW fill this labor gap while ensuring the majority of those job opportunities offer fair wages and workplace practices for all.

Business Agent, Organizer and Union Representative for Kroger and grocery market employees in the Michigan market.

The Xicano Development Center has been building powerful communities and voices within the Chicano community since 1997.

Professionalizing the Michigan restaurant industry through policy and program initiatives. Founded in June 2008 and based in Detroit, the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan (ROC-MI), is an affiliate of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United. Our mission is to improve working conditions and opportunities for advancement of Michigan restaurant workers.ROC-MI uses a unique, tri-pronged model to achieve systems-change that includes: (1) workplace justice campaigns to move restaurant companies that take the low-road to profitability; (2) promoting the high-road to profitability through partnerships with responsible employers and workforce development programs that move low-income workers into living wage jobs; and (3) participatory research and policy work that lift standards industry-wide. We have over 1,700 low-wage restaurant worker members, with the majority of our low-income membership base living in Detroit. ROC-MI operates COLORS Detroit Restaurant (a non-profit social enterprise) which houses the Colors Hospitality Opportunities for Workers (CHOW) Institute and the Colors Co-Op Academy. ROC-MI also convenes the local tables for Restaurants Advancing Industry Standards of Employment (RAISE) and Diners United (a group of ethical diners).