Beginning September 1, 2022, the City’s Office of Worker Protections is pleased to open applications for the Community Education and Outreach Fund application. The fund is an opportunity for community organizations to partner with the Office of Worker Protections (OWP) to provide community outreach and education on Philadelphia’s municipal labor laws. the City’s labor laws such as Wage Theft and Paid Sick Leave. As workplace protections have grown include COVID-19 Paid Sick Leave, the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, Fair Workweek, and Wrongful Discharge from Parking Employment, expanded outreach has been a priority for the Office. During the past few years, the OWP has been working diligently to grow relationships and build trust with communities hit hardest by labor law violations. We want to create a standard where labor law compliance and exercising your rights is typical and expected in Philadelphia workplaces.

This initiative of the Office of Worker Protections has been selected to receive funding from the Operations Transformation Fund (OTF) announced on July 12, 2022. The OTF is a $10 million fund that’s supporting transformative projects within City government for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.

The Community Education and Outreach Fund will provide over $16,000 to up to 14 trusted community organizations and selected organizations will participate in programming that will equip them to support communities and protect Philadelphia workers. The online public application will close on September 20, 2022.  A multi-stakeholder group comprised of various labor partners will select grantees through a formal review process based on specific criteria including:

• Organization mission (this does not need to be specific about labor or employment).
• The community served such as demographic, zip code, and household income
• Size and make-up of the organization.
• Experience or history with the Office of Worker Protections.
• Relationship to communities most impacted by Office of Worker Protection labor laws.

OWP will announce up to 14 awarded community organizations publicly and awardees will receive an agreement outlining participation requirements as well as an orientation to the program’s design, support, communications materials, and resources.

Awarded community organizations must then carry out the required worker protection programming which includes:

• Receiving education on the City’s labor laws such as wage theft, paid sick leave, and COVID-19 health order retaliation. This will include multi-session staff trainings.
• Small business compliance supports programming education.
• Coordinated outreach communications using Office of Worker Protection-related resources.
• Administering and completing anonymous surveys for staff and community members.
• Distributing Office of Worker Protection resources at community events and on-site and recruiting community partners to distribute resources.

The Mayor’s Fund for Philadelphia is serving as the fiscal sponsor for the Community Outreach and Education Fund, and will issue grant awards on behalf of the Office of Worker Protections. Interested applicants may apply on the Mayor’s Fund website.