Economic Justice

We at The Center for Community Problem Solving have designed a series of campaigns in direct response to requests from the thousands of clients, community residents, and service providers with whom we regularly partner. As central elements of each campaign, we have developed educational workshops (and accompanying written materials) that we deliver on a regular basis to diverse audiences in New York City and in other parts of the State and that we share as part of our Training Institute with people across the nation. Our current menu of economic justice community education workshops includes:

• Streetwise About Money Workshops


• Fair & Just Workplace Workshops

Our Streetwise About Money Campaign helps people manage their money as wisely as possible. Through ambitious financial education drives, engaging in-person workshops, and comprehensive manuals, we aim to help participants sort their way through the often confusing worlds of checking and savings accounts, credit unions, check cashing, credit reports, credit cards, payday lending, credit counselors, and more. By sharing knowledge about financial services and developing skills about how to make the most of available options, we hope to help everybody involved make the most of the money they have and build for the future. Our Workshop and written materials help participants appreciate various money management strategies everyone can use, reviewing vital topics like how to create and maintain a budget, how to shop around for bank and credit card services, and how to understand credit reports. We also provide participants with our comprehensive Glossary, which offers straightforward explanations of many key financial terms that often come up in practicing money management. And our forthcoming Streetwise About Money Workbook complements all that we aim to accomplish through the Campaign. Jam-packed with useful information, our Workbook includes all the topics we cover in our Workshop, offers down-to-earth examples of numerous money management concepts, and provides valuable budgeting, banking, and credit tips.

Our Fair & Just Workplace Campaign – undertaken in coordination with the New York State Attorney General's Office – aims to establish living wages and safe conditions in all workplaces, while providing thorough and accessible information about the rights workers and employers currently have and the mechanisms already available to enforce those rights . R eaching out to workers, employers, and the wider public, our Workshop, written materials (including our Workers' Rights Guide ), and public awareness drives explain rights to fair wages and fair hours (promised pay, minimum wage, overtime, breaks), to Workers' Compensation, and to safe and healthy work environments. We describe available resources and ways to access those resources – including ways to engage in collective action, to negotiate with bosses and employees, to report grievances to government agencies, and to file complaints in small claims court and (with the help of lawyers) in other courts still. Specially designed versions of our Workshop deal head-on with the specific workplace rights of people with criminal records, of people with current and past drug and alcohol abuse histories, of people living with HIV/AIDS, and more. During our Workshop, we distribute pocket-size calendars we have designed to help keep reliable records of work days and weeks. Our Workshop helps everyone – workers, bosses, and the public-at-large – understand the importance of fair and just workplaces, how we all benefit from abiding by and enforcing existing laws, and why we should sensibly aim always to ratchet up minimal standards of decency in every sector of the labor market.

For more information or to schedule a workshop, please contact us at law.cps@nyu.edu or 212-998-6614.