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Published on 02/15/1999 All articles from this issue

Los Altos day worker center may merge with St. Vincent de Paul

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By Bruce Barton / Town Crier Staff Writer

Representatives of St. Joseph the Worker Center and the local St. Vincent de Paul Society have reached a tentative agreement to combine forces in an effort to aid the day workers that have congregated for years at San Antonio Road and El Camino Real in Los Altos.

The agreement and its details still need to be finalized, said Elizabeth Keller, executive director at St. Joseph the Worker Center. But if it goes through, the possibility exists that St. Joseph the Worker operations for employing day workers would move to the St. Vincent de Paul site at Old Middlefield Road and Rengstorff Avenue in Mountain View.

The possibility also remains that the Los Altos site could remain open, Keller said.

"It's a good match," said Assistant City Manager Layne Long, who is on a joint-city task force to resolve the day worker issue. "Their objectives and goals, and purposes are very similar."

Both have missions that call for "service to the poor and working for economic and social justice," Keller said.

Serious talk of a merger comes as the task force, comprising St. Joseph organizers, and Mountain View and Los Altos representatives, prepares to make recommendations to both city councils either later this month or the next. The group's work may result in the drafting of a loitering ordinance that could allow police to force off the sidewalks the still-dozens of workers who hang out in the early morning hours.

"The end goal is to get them off the streets," Long said.

The possible St. Joseph-St. Vincent de Paul merger may also help achieve that, organizers said. The St. Vincent de Paul site is 4,000 square feet, many times larger than the small Los Altos worker center currently on the corner of Jordan Avenue and El Camino Real. Keller said having more space would allow for more connections between day workers and potential employers.

"Part of the problem now is - when we take them off the street, there's no other place for them to go," Long said.

Keller said both boards of St. Joseph the Worker Center and St. Vincent de Paul have to vote on the merger. The subject is before the St. Joseph board Thursday and subject to St. Vincent board approval on Feb. 24.

Advantages of the merger, Keller said, are more administrative resources, such as staff, additional funding, because of reputation of St. Vincent de Paul, and a much larger, assembled workforce from which local employers could draw. Workers from the San Jose day worker center are already being filtered through St. Vincent de Paul.

"The only downside would be an adjustment for workers and employers (in Los Altos), getting them over to the other site," Keller said.

"We're very impressed with the cadre of volunteers they have. That's what we try to establish," said Steve Pehanich, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul Society in San Jose.

He said the merger idea is good for both programs because it means greater, stronger resources, and accommodates more workers. It also means bringing new services to Mountain View such as workshops on workers' compensation.

A larger day worker center would be more beneficial to employers as well, Keller said.