Worker-Centered Power Building

Operates to promote and improve conditions in the show cave industry across the United States through national advocacy efforts.

Operates guided public tours at multiple show cave sites across the United States, including Alabaster Caverns, Appalachian Caverns, Black Chasm Cavern, Blanchard Springs Caverns, Bluespring Caverns, Bluff Dwellers Cave, Bridal Cave, Bristol Caverns, and California Cavern, featuring unique geological formations and subterranean ecosystems.

Offers educational content and facts about caves and caverns through its website's Learn section and by making brochures available for public order online.

Provides access to information about the nation's finest show caves, emphasizing their scientific, historical, and aesthetic significance through online resources and public materials.

Conducts education and advocacy efforts aimed at improving the lives of fast food workers, their families, and communities in New York City.

Running a campaign to establish a minimum wage of $25.08 per hour in Tompkins County by 2026, with future increases tied to the cost of living, supported by coalition-building and worker storytelling.

Empowers low-wage workers to take leadership roles in campaigns such as the Living Wage initiative and builds organizing skills through training and engagement opportunities to foster long-term activism.

Co-released the 2026 Annual Living Wage Report for Tompkins County and conducted the first-ever study of the Certified Living Wage Employer workforce to inform policy and advocacy efforts.

Builds coalitions across businesses, community organizations, labor groups, and local government, and educates the public through networking, presentations, tabling, and media to shift norms around workers’ rights and employer accountability.

Provides social justice internships, volunteer roles, and service learning to hundreds of students from local colleges and secondary schools including Ithaca College, Cornell University, and Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3).

Provides free and confidential assistance to over 450 workers annually through a hotline that responds to employment-related issues such as unemployment claims, discrimination, harassment, wage theft, and union formation. Between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022, served 312 individuals through the hotline.

Co-developed a resource booklet on safe and healthy work conditions and updated the Workers Rights Manual in 2015, which has served as a model for other Workers’ Centers in Upstate New York. Also provides access to the WNYCOSH Workers Compensation Guide.

Published the Restaurant Owners Manual to encourage legal and equitable employment practices in the hospitality industry; the manual is distributed by the Tompkins County Department of Health.

Has won over $1,600,000 in wage theft judgments for more than 350 workers since 2003 by supporting workers in asserting their rights to fair compensation.

Operates a certification program that promotes fair wages by recognizing local employers who meet living wage standards; certified 12 new employers between July 2022 and June 2023 and 11 between July 2020 and June 2021, with a total of 29 certified employers to date.

Provided direct support to successful unionization campaigns at Family and Children’s Service of Ithaca and Cayuga Medical Center, and has assisted over 700 workers in organizing their own unions over the past fifteen years through the Workers Rights Hotline.

Launched the Movement to Organize for Restaurant Equity (MORE) to promote equitable and sustainable restaurant workplaces through advocacy and organizing.

Provides free adult education programs in digital literacy, English as a Second Language (ESL), and high school equivalency (GED) preparation for low- to moderate-income families in New York City. Offers 11 ESL courses, 4 digital literacy classes (2 introductory and 2 advanced), and 2 online HSE preparation classes, delivered both in person and online.